green manure and the obligatory zea

some of the field peas i planted in the wheat and rye beds as a cover crop/green manure sixty days ago have vined up the critter net...

and a number of them are blooming which presents an issue...it is time to turn the peas under because the window for planting the wheat and rye is open...however i'd like to harvest some seed if the season still has enough time ( which is iffy )...

another complication is the volunteer spuds in the beds ( although this does confirm the spud as a perennial...they are there every year )...the wheat and rye won't wait though...

so i turned the beds trying to do as little damage tot he spuds as i could and leaving the peas on the east end of the bed intact...a compromise that may not work in the favor of any of the plants...or me for that matter...we'll wait and see...

this zea mexicana plant is finishing up and it is doing so much earlier than its compadres out there...

the husks on the individual ears are turning brown and thinning while the ears themselves begin to protrude from the stems in anticipation of shattering...i have harvested more than one hundred seeds from this plant so far and there will obviously be more...some i will leave to fall and see if they germinate in spring ( which, i suppose, means clearing the bed of "native plants"...garden work is perpetual )...

the two plants flanking the maturing one and the rest of the teosinte are still verdant...

with the ears still integral to the stems or, if not, wrapped in though,green husks...there is a way to go before the first frost and past experience shows me that some of the seed in these plants will mature...but probably not all...i will take what i can get as it matures...the rest will make some interesting winter photos...

the somewhat oversize maize...

is still evincing some growths...i see no silks and cannot feel anything like kernels...thinking they may be some sort of auxiliary flowers...awfully late in the season for that...but this is clearly a mutant, or at least an exceptional plant, anyway...again, we wait and see...the garlic and onions are, for the most part, taking their sweet time...and there are peppers and tomatoes and spuds still growing out there...it's winding down...isn't over yet...and, in a few days, i will turn the wheat and rye beds again and another one will start...or, perhaps, you could just call it seamless growth.

rain as habit

i got to the garden in a rain shower that dropped almost two tenths of an inch in my back yard this morning...there is no rain gauge that i am aware of in the garden...an addition to my bed perhaps...what it did mean was there was no need to water today...and if this eveining's forecast rainfall arrives none tomorrow either...

the asparagus has nothing against copious rainfall as long as drainage is good and the unseasonably cool temperatures are allowing it to put up more spears well past the time it should be done and concentrating on feeding the roots...

my bed is unnaturally orderly and looking unfortunately like human intervention run amok...nothing as complex as even a strawberry bed here...

the spuds are still blooming...

they have no grudge against rain or cool temperatures either...

the blooms are attractive...unfortunately i am seeing no signs of fruits..which is the point of the blooms...there is futility in nature at times...

the carolina horse nettle is looking robust in the weather as well and around the beds some of it is preparing to bloom...these will assuredly produce fruit...less selective about weather than their domesticated cousins they will bloom and fruit in any weather the climate throws at them except, perhaps, extreme drought...

elsewhere in the bed the weather is having a more deleterious impact...both alfalfa plants are blooming and both have an abundance of yellow leaves indicating a marked displeasure with the amount of rain we have had lately...the alfalfa in my back yard is sending the very same message...

the hungarian hot pepper is stunted, yellow, and just plain angry ( again, so a re the ones in my yard )...i am uncertain of its resilience in the face of an unusual ( or , perhaps, new "normal" ) weather pattern...there may be no peppers if this continues...

the maize i planted is all up...

it is stalled ( which makes me wonder about the industrial crops around here...time for a drive ) because of the temperatures most likely...it has no beef with rainfall either...and it is looking more robust than the rabbit gnawed specimens in my yard...warmer weather will get it going...along with the tomatoes...

finally there are a couple of zea mexicana plants still holding their own...the maize ancestor is inclined to like the same conditions as its domesticated descendant thrives in...both should do better if a summer actually arrives.

peppers ( and other stuff ) at the community garden

the asparagus at the community garden is doing just fine even though it has produced no new spears this week...

around the back side of the bed the tomato cage is full...there are bean plants up which may find the asparagus amenable to acting as a trellis...

and one of the thriving volunteer spuds has burst into bloom...here's hoping for fruits...

down the row the usda corn and heirloom maize is looking robust...

there are beans up here as well...an even dozen so far...the maize will act a s trellis here...and while we are talking maize...

this heirloom blue has begun to tiller which is a good indication of the overall health of the plant, the environment it finds itself in, and the possibility of multiple ears of blue flint maize...

the volunteer spud in my bed is booming along too and the alfalfa is in full bloom ( even though i did not see any bee related activity...no pollinators or cut leaves )...

my pepper plant has at least one bell pepper under construction...

and peppers have appeared in the library's bed as well...

overall the season is moving along well...come have a look.