stood up

a short but reasonably sharp line of thunderstorms came thorugh here saturday eveining and knocked down some of the zea out back...zea in general and teosinte in particular either wants to ( teosinte ) or doesn't mind ( maize ) falling over...

so i stood it back up...albeit, for some, with the help of some bamboos and twine...for the most part however they simply stood back up when straightened...i worked sunday and so did not have time to make it to the portage garden so i went out there this morning...

i found there was a gap in the maize row as one of the plants had been knocked into the spuds...

which are still blooming prolifically and whose production of actual fruits is seeming to be of a low order of probability...these things happen...

the fallen plant is fairly large so i drove in a garden stake...

and with the help of some jute twine returned it to what will have to pass for verical for the nonce...it may straighten...it may not...as long as it still pollinates the silks it is of little importance...

the stalk has two ears in progress and there are signs of a possible third...

altogether i count seven ears out there and a few coming along out back...perhaps some corn meal and definitely seed for next season...

on other news from bed one, the row of happy beans is now engaging in bean production as well as blooming...cool beans.

blooms

after seven tenths of an inch of rain in the past couple of days ( and more falling now ) i was reasonably sure i would not find a need to water at the garden...

bed one looked to be in good shape...

the maize is looking ever more curryish and gaining height...one has begun to bloom...so looking for ear(s) and silks there soon...

the transplanted quinoa is verdant and working on blooms as well...

there is a row of happy beans down the center of the bed...

and the "unseasonably cool", wet weather has induced the spuds...

to produce...

an irruption...

of blooms...

including something new ( in my experience though, doubtlessly, not unherad of ...different colored bloms in the same bunch...the blooms are not carbon copies of one another but they usually are of a color...if we do not suddenly return to a sunbaked summer there mnay be fruits out there...more on that as it ( does or does not ) crops up...

and just outside the bed...sweet clover.

bed six on july twenty-first

bed six looks reasonably verdant today...peas, peppers, tomatoes are all coming along...

the maize looks like it could be part of a curry landscape...

and there are a fair number of ears coming along...

there are healthy bean plants at the base of the maize...

and there are vines on the cornstalks...however, i find no beans...which doesn't mean something else didn't find them first...still...disappointing...

spud corner is looking robust...

and, while there is an abundance of nightshade blooms there, another disappointment is the apparent dearth, or lack, of potato fruits...spuds are picky about when they produce their seeds and this year does not seem a banner year...the vagaries of the garden.

busy morning

the weather is warming and it is time to do some planting so early this morning i headed over to the portage community garden, where the spuds are doing well...the blues are even just coming into leaf...but they aren't in the photo because the leaves are so dark they are difficult to tell from the soil...they are there all the same...

i put heirloom maize seeds in to soak yesterday and today i took them out to the garden...

and planted them a foot apart in a low hill of compost along the north side of the bed...once they are a few inches tall i will plant pole beans to use the corn stalks as trellises and have two thirds of the three sisters...

i planted fifteen pea seeds in a fairly dense patch...they seem to like togetherness...by the spuds...

i also planted celery ( not a favorite but there was external pressure ) and some kohlrabi...the bed is filling...there will be a few more additions as the season moves along...perhaps some tomatoes and peppers...finished there i headed home...

where i dug these beds for the fifth time and added more compost...

and worm castings in specific areas even though i found a multitude of worms while i was turning the soil...

then i planted more peas, bush beans, borage ( to attract bees to the squash ), and zucchini...then i turned to more important matters...

many ( though not all ) of the tesointe seeds i soaked six days ago are more than ready to go in...

and this is where that "specific" comes in...i took a handful of worm castings,and a teosinte seedling and carefully planted them shoot side up...altogether today upwards of a hundred transplants, seedlings, and seeds went in for the season's start...there is more maize, teosinte, and transplants lurking in the near future...not to mention the cyclic spud planting...there are still seed potatoes to cut and callous...we have plans.