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.

a stroll down the beds I

the bed on the east end of the back row of the garden is booming along with spinach, beets, collards, and turnips...but there has been some turnip harvesting going on ( second and third photos ) that has left open space...since one of the philosophical thrusts of the garden is cyclical planting and as continuous a harvest as possible it was time to plug the hole...my friend fern sent us some egyptian walking onions which are pretty much anytime planters so in they went ( thanks fernita! ) (fourth and fifth photos )...there will be more space opening up and i am planning another bed in a week or two so there's that much more area to plant...there are still a couple of empty beds in the garden that were reserved...one supposes that if they are not planted soon their proprietors will be usurped...you know how gardeners feel about empty beds.

the bed on the east end...

out to the garden after work to do a bit of watering and to have a look around at the beds...the bed on the east end of the garden's back row was the first one planted back on the second day of spring ( thanks for all the help parker! hope you're feeling better soon )...the spinach that was planted that day is fast approaching the end of its season( second photo ) it has begun to flower and will soon go to seed ( third photo ) which is fine with me because it means seed saving and truly local organic spinach next season...or later this autumn for that matter ( more on cyclical planting in a minute here )..the row of turnips ( fourth photo )is doing a fair job of producing as well with some jumbo roots ( fifth photo )...but just because these two rows are reaching terminal maturity doesn't mean the bed is idle...the beets on the north end are still chugging away and the collards in the bottom photo are just getting started...the idea is to have no bed completely idle at any time all season...but rather rotate both produce and green manures through them until the first hard frost does all but the hardiest in...there are seeds coming for fall planting and there are still spuds to plant and some egyptian walking onions that my friend fern has sent along and which will find a presence in the garden...we're at the beginning really...still lots of time to join in.

other garden news

wandering the garden after th ebed was in i find a fair sized jerusalem artichoke ( top photo ) that will surely reach a foot in height by june...the stand of clover ( second photo ) in that bed looks robust...but there is a rouge there that needs culling..the spuds there are looking fine as well...but there are rouges in the background that have to go...the collards in the fourth photo have grown a bit but still not quite big enough to begin thinning...the spinach in the fifth photo is almost ready to start harvesting and the turnips in the last photo could add to a salad as well...there will be more...planting day is next thursday...stay tuned.

IUNCG news

took a trip out to the garden after work to turn the beds again and i found the season is coming along...the turnips are producing ( top photo ) and the beets in the second photo are working hard...there is some fine looking spinach in the third photo and the asparagus in the fourth is good to see ( found some growing in my truck bed today...more transplants? )...the garlic in the fifth photo are old timers...they've been up since march...a panorama of a young season is last...there will be much more..planting day is in eight days...the biology club is on board for another season...and there are some new beds in the works...stay tuned.

other garden news

planting day preparations aside, there is already something of a season going on and where there's a season there's news...first up...culled thirty four more rouge jerusalem artichoke this morning ( top photo ) bring int total rouges from that bed to one hundred and forty three...we are not done yet....the turnips, spinach, and beets are doing well ( second photo ) although there is still no sign of parsnips or dill...no sure what happened there..the news of the day however is that the four asparagus plants that were transplanted from the bed of my truck last season have wintered over and have embarked on a second season ( bottom four photos )...perennials! i will be caging these four to insure that no one mistakes them for wees as the grow...it will be interesting to see how many spears develop this season...in four more years we can begin to harvest...cool beans!

thinning beets

parker! and i used pelletized beet seed when we planted so the beets are coming up in even denser clusters than usual ( top photo ) so i overcame my instincts and thinned them a bit ( second photo )...didn't like it though...the row of turnips is doing just fine ( third photo ) and today's visit finds spinach up ( fourth photo ) and in a row no less ( fifth photo )...so the first bed of the season is well under way with cool weather crops coming in...still no sign of parsnips or dill..patience people...give th e eeds time to do the job.

first planting of 2015

it's past the middle of march and time for cool weather crops to go in...so Parker! ( Cynthia ) and i went out to the garden this morning to do some work...the first thing to do was to turn the alfalfa and winter rye that was planted late last season ( top photo ) under to become more organic matter for the bed...they had done the job of setting and storing nitrogen as well as holding the soil together over the winter and now it was time to put their work to use...the second photo is the bed after it had been dug and worked with a hoe...we then added about ninety pounds of compost from cow manure ( third photo ), turned that in, worked the bed with the hoe again, and marked out some furrows ( fourth photo ) then Parker! ( fifth photo ) and i planted beets, dill, parsnips, turnips, and spinach and watered the bed ( bottom photo )...give them a week or two and the first spring plants will be up in the garden and ready to harvest by mid may...the season started with the garlic a few weeks ago...that is pretty low maintenance ( although while we were there we mulched the garlic a bit more heavily with straw and compost to keep the weeds down...even this early they are there )...germinating seeds take a bit more care...there will be regular reports here from now until autumn...stay tuned.

outback

i planted spinach ( top photo ) and sugar snap peas ( third photo ) out back last weekend right after i got home form planting them on campus and ...they're up here too...so there's another comparison of crop development to go along with jerusalem artichokes ( the ones in my yard are in full flower now so we wait for harvest to tell us a story about micro-climate...or...maybe not )...i had a bit more room out in the yard so there are more seeds planted out there than in the community garden...i imagine the comparison should be between similar sized stands or an equal number of plants...whichever...the bunch of grape sin the middle photo is showing the entire gamut of grape production...green, purple, and raisin...it is the bunch geographically farthest from the root and i suppose i will be researching whether that has any impact on maturation...i need another project.