at home and abroad with zea and solanum

a sunday off so i took out early for the community gardens...over in portage the spuds look well...

and i counted seventte glass gem maize plants up...and...

some maize...

and its teosinte ancestor...

before i left i started the process of hilling the spuds...all of them got a dose of compost...then i went to the campus garden...

where the asparagus is still upright...

and the einkorn is verdant...

the only issue is the rye grass i brodacast in eight days ago is coming in sparsely...so i wtaered it thoroughly...

over in my bed the alfalfa continues to make a break for it...conmingling with a volunteer spud to hide out...

the rye grass here is marginally thicker and there are a dozen hopi turquoise maize plants up...this all was watered as well...that accomplished i headed home...

where i turned and hoed another bed...

established compost hills...

planted some hopi turquoise i soaked overnight and tossed in some rye grass for a cover...

and then watered the maize and teosinte that is up as well as the teosinte seedlings i planted yesterday and the rye grass..and that about does it for today..although...

there was an article in the rirday n y times concerning the shift in agriculture in califonia to legal omogrant labor in the country on seasonal visa, mechanization, and the movement of "labor intensive crops" south to mexico..to a degree that's fine however i wonder how many calories of fuel ( not to mention the petroleum based fertilizers ) are being burned to harvest the calories in those radishes...and is it my imagination or do these guy look more like chemical workers than field hands?

at home with zea

the teosinte i direct seeded is doing well and the plants have produced a third leaf...meanwhile...

the seeds i soaked in hydrogenperoxide a few days ago have germinated and seriously need to be planted...so...

turned a couple of beds...

spread some compost over the top...

and planted thirty-nine seedlings...tomorrow a trip to the community gardens to see what is up there and, perhaps, planting some hopi turquoise maize here...squash will need planting soon...and then there's tomatoes...did i leave out the spuds? they are up and running in gardens and here in containers as well...the season is finding some traction.

hierarchy of communities

a day off took me out to campus because there were some things to attend to...

last trip i noticed one of the ferning asparagus plants had become top heavy and capaized...in the interim it had been joined by a couple of others...so...

two hardwood stakes ( five feet long )...

and some jute twine ( we wil be running into that again in a minute ) later...

hey presto! upright again...

the einkorn wheat cohabiting with the asparagus is verdant...

however it is hosting more native growth than i am prepared to countenance so...

after i hit the bed with the weeding hoe ( to keep the bureaucrats happy )...

i seeded the bed with ryegrass which will keep the natives at bay and can be turned in in autumn as a green manure...then it was off to my other bed...

being part of a community means showing some constraint and engaging in compromise...the alfalfa wants nothing to do with that...the twine i used last season was remarkably useless so this season, after i pulled the alfalfa back into the stakes with...jute twine...i coralled al with some critter net...

i know that some of you ( and i can think of one someone in particular ) will think al should be left to his own devices...however i had my reasons...the next step in the day was...

to pull the landscaping fabric off the soil...

in order to turn the bed...carfully leaving the volunteer spud be ( and you plant freedom fighters take note that al is already making a break for it )...

after i turned the bed i established three compost hills...

and planted the hopi turquoise maize i soaked overnight...then i seeded this bed with ryegrass as well...finished on campus i drove over to the portage community garden...

where i did nothing besides taking photos of the seventeen spuds that are up and running there...i planted maize along the perementer of the bed there yesterday...we'll see what that does.