bed 6 today

i went by the community garden after work today to have a look around and see if it was time to plant pole beans...

don't let the wind-driven look of the photo fool you, the spud corner is booming along...and the pepper plant that is cohbiting with them is doing okay as well...

the celery, kohlrabi, and turnips are coming along...

and the peas are beginning to send out tendrils...a trellis will be needed directly...

the row of maize is looking well...

while none of the plants has reached the height needed to start the pole beans...

they are a group of sturdy, robust looking plants...

and as i was leaving i found a bee in the clover.

busy morning

the weather is warming and it is time to do some planting so early this morning i headed over to the portage community garden, where the spuds are doing well...the blues are even just coming into leaf...but they aren't in the photo because the leaves are so dark they are difficult to tell from the soil...they are there all the same...

i put heirloom maize seeds in to soak yesterday and today i took them out to the garden...

and planted them a foot apart in a low hill of compost along the north side of the bed...once they are a few inches tall i will plant pole beans to use the corn stalks as trellises and have two thirds of the three sisters...

i planted fifteen pea seeds in a fairly dense patch...they seem to like togetherness...by the spuds...

i also planted celery ( not a favorite but there was external pressure ) and some kohlrabi...the bed is filling...there will be a few more additions as the season moves along...perhaps some tomatoes and peppers...finished there i headed home...

where i dug these beds for the fifth time and added more compost...

and worm castings in specific areas even though i found a multitude of worms while i was turning the soil...

then i planted more peas, bush beans, borage ( to attract bees to the squash ), and zucchini...then i turned to more important matters...

many ( though not all ) of the tesointe seeds i soaked six days ago are more than ready to go in...

and this is where that "specific" comes in...i took a handful of worm castings,and a teosinte seedling and carefully planted them shoot side up...altogether today upwards of a hundred transplants, seedlings, and seeds went in for the season's start...there is more maize, teosinte, and transplants lurking in the near future...not to mention the cyclic spud planting...there are still seed potatoes to cut and callous...we have plans.

back yard thaw

a week ago it was almost -9F in my back yard...this morning it is about 60 degrees warmer and the snow and ice are melting ( it was raining at 4 a.m. )...there is quite a bit of brown foliage out there yet...it is warm but it is not spring...still...the kohlrabi in the third photo is more green than brown...so are the brussels sprouts in the next photo...and the egyptian walking onions poking up through the straw mulch...it seems a layer of insulating snow has protected more than the winter wheat that's planted ( and still snow covered ) out there...there will be more snow..i am skeptical about these plants ( except the onions ) overwintering...but stranger things have happened...stay tuned.

contrasts

it has dropped well below freezing the past few nights ( 27 degrees fahrenheit last night in my back yard ) and some of the plants out back are the worse for it....the yacon in the top photo is done as are the peppers in the second...the teosinte today ( third photo ) is looking a little more ragged than it did just ten days ago...it had produced numerous ears..some of which i have been exploring..and i will be bringing more in this coming weekend...not everyone is under the weather just yet however...the wild berry leaves are still verdant and i found a berry sheltering under the canopy...the brussels sprouts are going strong...i have harvested them in december before...we will be seeing...there's kohlrabi still looking peppy as well while the winter wheat is a mixed bag..the cham 2 dwarf wheat is still upright as the emmer wheat begins to go dormant and lay down...over in the bed the hard red winter wheat is already done until spring and is waiting for a snow pack to insulate it from the cold...the folks at purdue are forecasting a mild winter for the area..it might not get that snow...it might not need it...there may be many sprouts.

beyond the bugs

there is quite a bit of activity out back beyond the beetle issue...the bear paw maize for instance...one of the plants has begun to flower which means it will be attracting the interest of squirrels soon enough...its :"wild and weedy" ancestor the teosinte has not...even though it is quite a bit older than the maize in terms of the seaon in my back yard...the teosinte went in in early april and the maize in late may...the maize will be squirrel food by august but the teosinte will not bloom and from ears until ate least september...a much longer season for the ancestor..something that was obviously selected for in maize through artificial selection...the brussels sprouts ( fourth photo ) and the kohlrabi ( fifth) are still looking quite similar...and will for a time...however changes will be setting in soon enough and they will become quite different adult plants...the older asparagus plant died back but a new spear hjas apreaed and the transplant from the bed of my truck seems well adapted to its new home ( seventh )...the wheat is ripening and will be in soon to be threshed and winnowed ( yippie! ) for the bread Jean and i are working on...and finally the ramp buds are beginning to open in earnest...this makes me happy, if no one else.