new pangea

"new pangea" is a term some biologists use to describe the way transportation technology used in global commerce and travel have allowed organism to overcome natural barriers to their expansion, such as oceans, and spread to areas far outside their range in a way that hasn't been possible since the earth's landmass was a single continent...it has also allowed the rapid spread of invasive species into new territories where they have left behind competitors and predators which allows them to expand their populations well beyond what would have been possible in their native ranges...a process called "enemy release"...assisted plant movement is not a new phenomenon...humans have moved plants as long as they have been moving to the extent that in many places non-native plants outnumber native species...so i decided to have a look around the garden today..and the next two posts tell the story...this post deals with the non-natives and i am including plants that originated in this hemisphere but not this continent in the list...from top to bottom: cucumbers from india...mashua from the andean region...potatoes form thesame...tomatoes from central america...spinach from sasanian persia...green peepers from central america...asparagus from europe, western asia, northern africa...most of these were moved by indigenous peoples or came via the "columbian exchange" after the arrival of europeans in the western hemisphere...the collards in the bottom picture may actually be pangean...know to both the indigenous peoples of the americas and the romans they are a dinosaur among vegetables...they were in two places at once.

the garden is emptying

a trip out to campus on a holiday weekend shows me that there has been quite a bit of harvesting out in the garden ( and that's not an editorial...it's what we want...the produce put to use out in the community...this is good news folks )...the cabbage ( first photo ) is all gone and the collards in the biology club bed ( second photo ) are pretty well picked over ( and out of the bed ) ...the cherry tomato plants are picked clean ( third photo ) and the bean/cucumber wall ( bottom photo ) is, for the first time i can recall, bereft of pods and cukes...there are still spuds out there nad there is still the jerusalem artichoke harvest to come 9 i was digging around a bit in that bed and it looks like the harvest will not disappoint...hope everyone turns out to like them ) there has been interest in the garden this season out in the community at large ( shannon has certainly expressed interest in working a bed next season as have a few others...still waiting on follow-up from a few other people )...the new site has created some interest and has obviously attracted harvesters...with some work we may be able to solidify a larger community in 2015...community = garden longevity.

collards and maize

i was scolded ( albeit mildly so ) over a dearth of collard greens in the community garden yesterday as i was working away...so in my travels yesterday afternoon i searched for collards to transplant...there would seem to have been a run on collard plants across northwest indiana this season...the stock reply was "out of stock"..."just sold the last of them yesterday"....or some such evasion...so i procured some seeds instead and planted them in the garden this morning...while i was there i noticed some of the maize had taken something of a pounding in yesterday's weather...not to worry...i righted them and hilled some soil around the base opposite the side of the prevailing wind...the plants need to be upright for the pole beans to vine on...the cucumbers...wrapped securely around trellis poles, weathered the storm in their proper orientation...they look to be headed for a prolific season.