harvest with a purpose

it's october and the jerusalem artichokes...

have pretty much died back...

so i cut them down to neaten things up a bit ( and found anothe gourd on the vine while i was at it )...

i dug a shallow trench down the center of the bed...

and retrieved eighty odd tubers ( doubtlessly there are many i missed )...

of various shapes and sizes...

which i put in a bucket and covered with compost to preserve them for another attempt at rewilding the plants in any suitable location i can find...

the disjected aerial bulbs from the egyptian walking onions i found...

i moved to a new bed along with the ones that had already rooted in the path of the trench i was digging in the sunchoke bed...i have an abundance of onions...very strong onions...both in growth tenacity and flavor...

the onions and the sweet clover were not intimidated by the jerusalem artichokes shading behaviors...they are still abundant in the bed...

as are the new york import strawberries...relentless in their own right...

the chinese yam that cropped up after a dormant year had a fair season, vining and producine its own areial bulbs...some have found the soil...we will see what comes up ( if anything...they seem picky about conditions ) in the spring...next up, cleaning the ramp bed.

mid october out back

the bed of winter wheat i planted last month is filling in well...

in the bed i planted nine days ago, the rye...

looks to be doing fine...while the wheat side of the bed...

is looking a bit thin...hopefully this will improve if the weather holds...

back in the first bed the sweet clover is coming up as well...wouldn't expect a lot of activity from this until next spring...a slow starter, it produces small yellow blooms that some find "sweet"...

in the zea world the zea mexicana is still pursuing its autumn droop...

the plants have a multitude of green ears and seeds...

although more of the ears are turning a tan color and shattering...which is only natural...

so far i have harvested three hundred and thirty seeds with an unknown quantity on the ground around the plants...i have been dividing the seeds into lots to use for next season's crop and to freeze for the future..just in case there is a catastophic failure one year...we will have back up seed...

all the ears and seeds on the northern tepehuan plants are green...and seen to be in no hurry to mature...we will see if they do before a frost terminates the race...

hardy souls that they are the native berries out there continue to bloom and produce fruit this far into autumn...they will stop that with the frost however they will remain green under the snow...we will look in february or so just to see...

this may look like just the stubble it is...

underneath there is a multitude of robust tubers however...these and a few more along with a frying pan and some canola oil and there will be lunch...

we are moving around front ( where all the showy flowers are ) to have a look at some exemplary workers...hard at it this deep into fall.

last day of summer

there was three tenths of an inch of rain overnight and there is more forecast for tonight so, once again, i was spared watering in the garden...

my bed was a study in mixed signals today as regards the seasons...

after a shaky transplanted start the alfalfa is robust and, even this late in summer, still blooming for the bees...

one tiller on the zea mays mexicana is still green and full of ripening ears...

while the other side has clearly called it quits...

the husks are beginning to peel back and the ears are preparing to shatter...

i collected some...

and left some lay where it fell just to see what might happen...

the tomato is still green...

and, blurry as the main subject is ( yet the leaves around it are crisply focused..no real explanation why ) this photo proves i was mistaken about the pepper being done for the season...a new one is popping out...

the two maize plants on the west end of the row have been picked clean and something has been at the third one along...

so i pulled the two stunted, ravaged plants out in preparation fro some over winter bed maintenance...i was moved out of the bed i had occupied for a number of years this season and, frankly, one of the reasons i have had such a mixed season is soil quality...i maintained my old bed with additions of compost and by growing green manures as cover crops in fall and turning them under in spring...so after i pulled the maize and hoed the soil...

i spread a mixture of winter rye, yellow peas, hairy vetch, and crimson clover...

along with some sweet clover...

and winter wheat to hold the soil and set nitrogen until i turn it under in spring to feed the worms as the bacteria breaks it down...that and a few bags of compost should help the soil quality improve ( note to me...almost time to plant winter wheat and rye out back )...

finally the guest from the southeastern united states has reproduction as a priority...the spuds failed to fruit...their "wild and weedy" cousin had no such compunctions...it seems to be settling in for a lengthy stay...