bed 6 today

i went by the community garden after work today to have a look around and see if it was time to plant pole beans...

don't let the wind-driven look of the photo fool you, the spud corner is booming along...and the pepper plant that is cohbiting with them is doing okay as well...

the celery, kohlrabi, and turnips are coming along...

and the peas are beginning to send out tendrils...a trellis will be needed directly...

the row of maize is looking well...

while none of the plants has reached the height needed to start the pole beans...

they are a group of sturdy, robust looking plants...

and as i was leaving i found a bee in the clover.

bastille day

it was seasonably warm when i got to the garden at about nine thirty..it has been in the upper eighties and lower nineties most of the past week...there was some rain last night which obviated the need to water...for the day anyway...

the asparagus is behaving ina way that, in my experience, is most unseasonable...

the spear i fond growing by the worm tower last week has risen above it and there seems to be yet another new spear...this is something i have not run across in hot weather asparagus behavior..i would expect s few late summer, early autumn spears...not ones near mid-july ...something to look into...

the maize is looking even cornier this week and the teocintli on the north end of the bed has found some traction...the family resemblance is startling...

the pepper plant in my bed seems determined to just be angry and let some others do the producing...so be it...especially since my input in this is limited...

both alfalfa plants have good new growth and a few stunted blooms...difficult as it is to see that is a bumble bee dead center in the second alfalfa photo...

one of the spuds was done...so i puled it up and rooted around a bit...

if the average holds up the bed should produce around five pounds of spuds...these were of the bison variety...there are four others out there so the harvest may vary...

finally, my back yard is a full blown dragonfly convention with a multitude of sizes and colors to be found from high afternoon to early evening...

however i hadn't found a green one yet this season until i caught up with this one at the garden...natural aviators and voracious consumer of mosquitoes...always a pleasure to find and watch.

the cornage continues

when i got to the garden after work this morning the first thing i noticed was...

that grounds maintenance seems to have abdicated responsibility for mowing the garden's lawn...it borders on what the municipality i live in would term "rank vegetation"...there would be a citation soon...

further on...even from a distance you can see the maize has been ravaged...

the squirrels have been hard at it on the stalks...

and, even more brazenly, having a picnic lunch at the nearby table...i surmised this might be so by the detritus left on the table...then a tenant of the apartment building told me he actually witnessed the fiesta and "laughed my ass off" confirming the suspicion...

i saved half an ear and brought in two that were done ( that makes four i have harvested...four more than the last time i grew corn here )...the half is a rainbow of color and the other two...

and the two i harvested are purple flints...doomed to be decorations i am afraid...

in other spots around the garden the carolina horse nettle is thriving and still in full flower...although i have sen no fruits...

a somewhat startling visitor on a tomato plant...

and an errant bee that seemed unable to decide whether or not to land...at first i though the fact that i was pursuing it with a camera might have some contributory impact on its seeming diffidence..however i ran across the critter later when i was unarmed and it still was hovering about but not alighting...the season is getting late and perhaps it has had a long and difficult haul...i did not get the camera back out...enough is enough.

helianthis shelter

an upside-down bee in the helianthus...

sheltering from a drizzle...when the rain intensified i went back to look and she was gone.

zea events

a quiet day out back doesn't mean the season isn't moving along...it is doing what seasons do and the plants are moving along, minding their business...and, for today at least, with no drama...this stand of maize...

three of the dozen or so plants are flowering...so there should be ears soon enough...

each of the branches on this teosinte plant has flowered or is producing its own bloom...

it has ears and seeds that are becoming more pronounced...

and the presence of many more silks tell me the ear and seed populations will be growing...which pleases me...

this teosinte plant has flowered with no visible signs of silks,ears, or seeds as yet...

it appears, however, to be hosting a herd of aphids and their any herders...the growers of teosinte in it s native range plant it along the margins of their maize fields because they say the presence of the wild and weedy ancestor makes their maize "stronger"...they also chew the green seeds for their sweet juices and the aphids seem to be doing the same along the leaves...

finally, this maize plant has no flowers, silks, or ears...

but i did find one of the girls taking a break on one of its broad leaves...she sat for a bit while i unabashedly clicked away at the shutter...and then...just before she lost patience and flew off..she raised a leg in my direction...valediction? or some other sort of gesture? who knows...the bee is the only one sure.