more zea

worked this morning, came home, went to the "other garden" and did some work on some beds for another family member and when i got home...

i thought it might be time to look in on the teosinte seed i soaked a while back... in the first baggie i found more than a few that were clearly saying it was time to plant...

the second batch had a number that were ready as well...

so i amended the soil in two beds...

planted eight in one...

and nine in the other...the rest went back to a dark place to cook a while longer...seventeen in and more to go...we will be keeping an eye on things..it is not exactly forecast to be overly warm the next few days...not ideal weather for teosinte...however the time had clearly come...no danger of frost...they may stall for a while...they will pick up when it warms...the hopi blue maize will go in at the end of the month and we will see how ( or if ) they interact

it's been a while

there's usually movement in the yard, however, of late, it has been remarkably slow...things may be picking up though...i was out harvesting teosinte seeds out back...

when i came across a seed in an ear with a green shoot...trying to germinate...

i have encountered this sort of behavior out in the fields of industial corn...this is the first experience with teosinte...

so i prepared a peat pot with compost and worm castings...

and planted him green side up under a grow light...we will keep him watered and lit up and see where we get to...it seems another indoor season may have begun...in the mean time out back...

i have a fair bed of winter wheat going...early days yet...i am less than convinced it will prosper...we are at the mercy of a changing climate here...a lot depends on the timing of snow...

a second generation of leaf cutters hatched out...and declined to re-use the bee house...one hopes the old nurse log a few feet away has some cocoons...

the jerusalem artichokes are done...

they produced some fair sized tubers ( and an earthworm came up with one of them...always pleased to see those )...lunch from the yard...tomorrow may have some interesting events and there will be community garden clean up and continued skewering of garden bureaucrats over the term "event time"...it cannot be helped.