warm one today

it is getting warm out there...today is forecast to be near ninety degrees ( fahrenheit ) and most things are moving along with the season...peas, zucchini, and bush beans are up...

as are, at last count, twenty-two maize plants and a dozen of their teosinte ancestors...

across the beds the new york strawberries are moving towards fruition...

in two days the jerusalem artichokes have made a statement about their intentions and the onions brazening it out in the face of the sunchokes' assertiveness are holding their own...

the chinese yam vine had topped out on the pole i provided it so i gave it a temporary support while i gather materials for a more elaborate trellis...past experience tells me there will be a need for more horizontal space for the vine...it will begin to branch soon enough...

the winter rye is now officially taller than i am...and it has been in full bloom for better than a week...

while the winter wheat is playing bloom catch-up...

the ramps did not have a stellar season above ground...we will have to wait until september or so to see if the energy was put into bunching below ground..this one plant however is making noises about flowering so there may be some small amount of seed yet..

and while we are discussing blooming, one of the spuds i started in the basement and moved outdoors is beginning to bloom and two others have developed buds...a clear sign that it is time to move on with the cyclical spud planting...

so i cut a couple of red pontiacs i had procured last month and will plant them tomorrow after they callous a bit...along with some elmer's blues i have that are chitting away and ready to go...

one thing that has not budged is the seven tubes of leaf cutter bees in this bee house...it does need to be in the 70s consistently before they will make a break...hopefully soon...i have two hundred cocoons due to arrive next week and i would like to see these boys and girls in motion before then...we'll see what happens in the next sennight or so.

the twenty-seventh day of summer

the ramps continue to bloom...

some have already been fertilized and the seeds are cooking...

the spuds continue to bloom and are being visited by pollinators...the weather this summer has been entirely too warm for the formation of potato fruits however and the blooms have been simply falling off the plants...i do have a rotation of plantings to have later harvests...perhaps as the weather cools some may appear...

pollinators are all around the yard...pursuing their own agendas in terms of where to collect...they seem to have a strong preference for native plants...

the asparagus i transplanted a few weeks ago is doing well in its first year as are the other seedlings that came up...al very pleasing to the gardener...

the zucchini are doing well..blooming and producing squash...a change from the disappointing harvests of the past two seasons...

there are beans vining on poles and by the bee house...they are all over the maize as well but the green on green photos make it difficult to discern the difference...no blooms yet and so no beans...we will see what pollinators they attract when the time comes...

the mulberry tree ( not a bush ) is unsurprisingly full of ripening mulberries....and birds as well...

and the catalpa tree is home to any number of concord grapes...couple of months to harvest there...

there are hot banana peppers ready to pick and more on the way...

while the kohlrabi will be ready soon...

veering away from things to eat to "wild and weedy ancestors" that were selectively turned into things you can eat, the potted teosinte ears are beginning to mature...hoping for as good a viability as last season's...

and this teosinte plant has begun to flower...seems a little early to me...however, it the plant wants to get seed production going early i will not argue...

this heirloom maize has tillered, flowered on the main stalk, and is now producing flowers on the tillers...

this one isn't even considering it just yet...varietal behaviors are not consistent...it's alright...there's still time.