backyard conditions

out back the corn in a bucket ( first photo ) is producing ( second )...however not nearly as robustly as its industrial cousins...it is providing a habitat for the praying mantis in the third photo so it is functional...the seedless grapes ( fourth and fifth ) have found the trellis and have firmly attached themselves with tendrils ( sixth through eighth )...no amount of cajoling or insistence on my part could get them to do this...they acted on their own...human intervention in the lives of plants has it limits..at least they did not spurn the trellis...simply adapted it to their purposes in their own good time...the walking onions have "walked " ( ninth ) and the aerial bulbs are looking for the soil ( tenth )...hoping for a self planted crop of onions next season...finally the ramp seed are beginning to mature with a quickening pace ( eleventh )...i harvested twenty-one more today ( twelfth )...some i will plant...some i will share...some i will freeze for future use.

quiet thursday evening

there is always movement in the yard...but sometimes it is barely discernible...there is a need to pay attention...to be native to the yard and it's not always a simple thing to do...changes can be subtle ( and i was never very good with subtle ) to the point of being overlooked...i am not an extraordinarily gifted gardener but i do pay very close attention to a number of plants and plant families i have become attached to...i notice changes in those at least...the corn in a bucket project is moving along ( first photo )..the stalks are all showing male flowers ( second ) and the female flowers have appeared on the ears ( third) soon enough there will be kernels...the teosinte has deployed many male flowers:

however there are no females to be seen...a waiting game is being played...across the yard the stems feeding some of the potato fuits have died back ( fourth ) signaling the time to harvest has come...they are in a paper bag now softening prior to being processed...there will be more on that along with the processing of their cousins the carolina horse nettle fruits later...shifting back to teosinte, it is doing well however it is not nearly as tall as it was last season...it has been an odd summer...alternately very wet or dry...hot or cool...and, perhaps, the oscillations have the plants perturbed...still they are fine( fifth ) and i threw something in to provide scale ( sixth )...there will be a loud whoop when the first teosinte silks emerge...stay tuned.

flower to root with a dash of autumn

the corn in a bucket ( first photo ) is working on further flower ( tassel ) development ( second )... and i found the first silks this morning ( third )...a few of the plants have developed support roots ( fourth )...a sign of maturing growth...the mantis is still dwelling among the stalks ( fifth ) so there must ample prey about...meanwhile the northern tepehuan teosinte is in full flower ( sixth )...no silks to report just yet...they do have impressive, tiered support roots though ( seventh )...support roots are not confined to zea family members...i was claring out some fox tail ( japanese bottle ) grass ( eighth ) and it has some much smaller support roots ( ninth )...while we are in the oriental ( and invasive ) area of the plant world, the chinese yams are happily producing aerial bulbs ( tenth ) to spread their tribe...finally the cucumber plants are still blooming and very green at the tops ( eleventh )...and still producing ( twelfth )...however, as is their wont, they are seriously dying back at the base ( thirteenth ) always an harbinger of autumn ( thirty days..just saying )

it's my blog...i'll be as corny as i like

the corn in a buucket ( top photo ) is finally starting to flower ( second and third ) which may mean ears after all...it is also showing signs of transpiration even though the ambient temperature is not all that warm ( fourth and fifth )...the northern tepehuan teosinte is in full flower 9 sixth ) and i am looking for silks to appear soon...the teosinte, despite being in the same sun is not looking perspired...its leaves are uncurled ( eighth )...the last photo is of one of the teosinte stands ( there are two and a single plant in a back bed )with the northern tepehuan on the right and the zea mays parvaglumis on the left all between five and six feet in height.

bees, flowers, fruits, and seeds

ran into another honeybee ( first photo )out back in the jerusalem artichoke blooms this evening and that led me around the catalpa tree tot he bee house where the bees have filled five tubes in the nesting block ( second )...so there are more pollinators than honeybees at work out there which is pleasing to the gardener...bees need flowers, however the teosinte flowers are not what they are after...the flowers on the main stems are fully deployed ( third and fourth ) and there is one developing on a tiller...still no silks...see that small serration on the center leaf in the fifth photo? a sure zea index of a flower forming and the central spike is just visible in the sixth...full blown blooms in a few days...bigger news yet...there are potato fruits ( seventh )in the back...there is a long journey ahead of them so we will not get our hopes ahead of reality but there may be solanum morphology in seed bearing for the spuds and the horse nettle if all goes well...finally the last photo shows the ramp seeds are darkening...the green will become increasingly dark until the seeds are black and mature...a ways to go on that as well..we will be patient...we will expect some losses.

out back on the last day of july

a short tramp around the yard on the last day of the month includes jerusalem artichokes blooming away ( first photo ) along with some spuds that are just as showy in a smaller fashion ( second )...the corn in a bucket is sweating away ( third through fifth ) while the "wild and weedy" ( and also blooming ) ancestor is not ( sixth through eighth )...probably because the teosinte is in ground and the corn is in buckets...more access to water...no worries...i doused the corn...the brussels sprouts ( ninth ) are coming along in the heat and the ramp seeds ( tenth ) are darkening as they mature...the grapes in the catalpa tree ( eleventh ) are doing only so-so...the mulberries ( twelfth ) are continuing their season too...how long...we'll see...there's more going on...perhaps we will stroll again on mid summer's day...coning up next weekend.