first ( almost ) autumn planting

it rained some overnight...

even if my gauges do not agree on how much...this may be more a matter of graduation than anything else...however when i had identical rain gauges scattered around the yard measuring micro climate a couple of years ago they never read the same either...maybe it rained more out east...

the rain was serendipitous in any event... i had determined a use for the swathe of ground i mowed through the intermediate wheat grass earlier this summer and this would make the preparation easier...

intermediate wheat grass is a perennial and so i was alert to the fact that there would be a tangle of roots under there so i got out the pick axe to start things off...

after i loosened the roots i turned everything under...

worked it thoroughly with a hoe...

raked it reasonably level...

turned in some compost...

broke open those bulbs of organic seed garlic i received the other day...

and planted the cloves about three inches deep, pointy side up...i got twenty-four into the bed i dug and spread the remaining sixteen in beds and half barrels ( we'll see if that works out...i am unconvinced...i am also tight on room ) around the back yard...next up, onions, wheat, and rye...maybe some tomorrow...there's more...tesointe seed continues to come in, i have been threshing and winnowing wheat, and there is a wealth of ripening going on...as the days become shorter the ripening will accelerate...the temperatures have dropped into the sixties ( fahrenheit )...conducive to harvests.

corn down ( sort of )

a rather violent thunderstorm with wind and copious lightening blew through here last night dumping almost an inch of rain in less than an hour and roiling the end of independence day fireworks displays ( although some intrepid souls here defied the rain in search of the ultimate explosive noise )...and having some ( albeit minor ) impact on the yard...

the intermediate wheat grass took a drubbing...

and while most of the maize came through without an issue...

a couple of plants took what can only be described as a mild hit...this is no issue really...they could have been flattened and i could have put them back upright with no impact...their ancestor teosinte insists on falling over if you don't support it to spread its seed as far from the parent plant as possible...maize has inherited the ability to fall over with no real damage...

so i stood the plants back upright and hilled some soil around their bases and they are doing just fine...

incidentally, the teosinte all came through upright...

before we leave the zea family behind there are a couple of items left...paralleling the community garden, this bean plant is vining up a maize plant...it has entrapped a leaf from a neighboring plant which i will probably free so its sharp ( check out one in the field sometime )edge does not damage the vine...

and this one has found a teosinte panat...the beans are not picky about choosing sisters...

beyond the above minor glitches things seem to be moving along...the zucchini continue to bloom...which is a change from the past few season when production has been somewhat lacking...a change of location may have changed the outcome..

the potato blossoms came through as well...there are a number of plants blooming or preparing to..i am hopeful of fruits...

the grapes in the catalpa tree, the hot banana peppers, as well as the kohlrabi were unscathed...and the jerusalem artichokes just shrugged the whole thing off...

and finally (!) a bit of allium morphology...the ramp flower has opened and begun to bloom and its flowers, while far fewer in number, bear a family resemblance to the fully opened onion flowers...one result in the fewer number of blooms is the ramps seeds are gigantic compared with those of the onion...same family...different strategies.

summer evening

it's a warm summer evening out back...a bit cooler than the summer afternoon that preceded it...so i went for a stroll to see what was what...

happily the ramps have begun to bloom...

the onions are ahead in that respect...

and i noticed the intermediate wheat grass has joined in...

the winter rye is moving along towards ripe...

all those purple winter vetch blooms the bees were all over have begun to transform into seed pods...

the asparagus i transplanted is still doing just fine..in a couple of years this whispy guy will look more like...

will look more like this sturdy plant...

with structures like this which will produce the "ferns" the seedlings resemble so closely...

and, if all goes well. in 2023 they seedlings will be putting up edible spears like these in the community garden ( which is where the seed for these came from )...

i found bees hard at work today...

when i strolled over to the chinese yam vine i found some less welcome insects busily working as well...obviously dousing the grape leaves in neem oil a couple of times had driven them so seek sustenance elsewhere and the yam leaves were supper...

so i got out the garden sprayer and soaked the yam leaves as well hoping to keep them from being skeletalized...i will have to be vigilant here...look into the strawberries and keep an eye on the grapes...see where they land next...the jerusalem artichokes are probably safe...the potatoes and tomatoes are nightshades..i imagine they are safe through toxicity...i an thinking the beans will need to be sprayed...never have found one on the maize or teosinte...there's a first time for most things though...depends, i suppose, on how many beetles and how voracious they are.

seeds, grasses, and a couple of firs

teosinte...

some intermediate wheat grass and friends...

a gnarled russian olive and some zea mays parvaglumis...

and the titular firs.