a quick walk through the garden

out and about this morning i stopped by the calumet regional archives for a chat with steve and jimbo and then went out the library doors on thirty-fifth avenue and across to the garden...

the asparagus and its attendant cherry tomatoes are doing well and the spuds continue to produce blooms that are falling off instead of producing fruits as the heat does them in...

my best bet is that the few of the now fifty plus carolina horsenettle plants that are blooming will, if left unmolested, have no such heat related issues...they will bloom and fruit and seed and spread rhizomes all over...the spiny colony is gearing up for a takeover...

the maize is john stuart curry's envy and is doing well...it is taller than my six feet and has developed both some massive support roots and a large flower...no signs of an ears ( or beans ) as yet...

i have bell peppers and tomatoes under production...and even in the corn shade the geraniums are doing fine...

the discovery of the day ( for me anyway ) was a bee on the small stand of alfalfa in my bed...always good to see a bee...

i found this untethered object in one of the beds...it is either an extremely small squash or a grossly over-ripe ( and proportionately bitter ) cucumber...given its size and location ( under some cucumber vines ) i will opt for the latter description...you should feel free to have a look and make your own judgment...

after i finished touring the campus i went out to do some errands and my way home took me past some of the many many acres of tariff threatened soybeans i see planted all over the south end of the inland sea...it was always a staggering number of acres...however there seem to be so many more this year compared to last ( including the field behind the big box stores which was beans last season and, anomalously, is again this...if this whole "trade war" nonsense holds one wonders where the will go...is there enough elevator space> wagering not.

peppers, maize, tomatoes, cucumbers, and a usurped watering schedule

when i got to the garden this morning a few of the beds were dry tot he touch and some of the pepper plants here and there looked a tad wilted...it is supposed to be another ninety degree ( fahrenheit ) plus summer day here so i usurped the watering schedule and gave the beds a soaking...if they are watered again it won't hurt...and pardon me if i overstepped...

the populations around the beds are expanding...there are varied types of peppers maturing...

i found cucumbers and there will be no shortage of tomatoes going on ( more there in an minutr )...

and the pollinators are working towards some squash...

the asparagus is doing what it normally does this time of year...feeding the roots...

around the back of the bed cherry tomatoes are ion the way to ripening...

and the volunteer potatoes are still blooming...unfortunately, so far, the blooms appear to be dropping off with no signs of morphing into fruits...just leaving the just of the stalks they bloomed on...

i found neither fruits nor blooms on the spuds cousin carolina horse nettle ( the lawn was probably mowed )...that has not impede their rhizomatic colonization...i counted forty individual plants today as they migrate to the south and east ( towards home ? ) which is more than the last trip out i believe...a marker of climate change that is become native...

down the row the maize is looking robust in its summer green...

the largest of the group has begun to produce a flower and its second tier of support roots are coming to fruition...

the beans continue to find stalks to vine on...i have fair sized bell peppers maturing...and...if you look deep enough into the tangle in the tomato cage there are green tomatoes moving along as well...

nearing the end of the second week of july the garden's season is booming along...looks a though there may be a good cyclical harvest...keep you eyes peeled.

nightshades

there is an excessive heat warning in effect for today so i got to the garden early to look in on things...the watering schedule seems to be holding up well ( i will be back tomorrow for my turn ) and so after i hoed down the jerusalem artichokes in the corner bed ( control takes diligence ) i moved along to see what was going on...

the asparagus is looking well...despite the heat warning the past few days have been rainy and relatively cool...so the one of the plants has put up another spear...that behavior may trail off as the heat builds...

around the back side of the bed three of the four potato plants are blooming or verging on it...

the potatoes' fellow nightshade in the bed has bloomed as well and is working of fruit...there will be red showing soon enough...

down the roe the maize is looking robust and i found a smaller outbreak of jerusalem artichokes...

the beans are fine as well although there is still no sign of any vines...we will wait...

the maize plant that was tillering last time hour has added another...

and a few plants over this one has produced two..the prospect of multiple ears from multiple plants seems to be improving...still early in the season however...again we will wait...

another nightshade in my bed has filled the cage, bloomed, and produced fruit...and with hot weather on the way things should be moving along even faster...

not to be left behind a plant in my bed is working on some green bell peppers...these tow are recognizable and there are two more nascent ones as well as a few more buds preparing to bloom...

speaking of peppers, the one i saw in the library bed last time out seems to have vanished...no worries though...there are more on the way...

and, judging by the blooms in the school of nursing beds, it looks to be a fair season for cucumbers as well...july up next..first full scale ripenings and harvests...should be interesting.