teosinte upstairs...

these are a couple of the five teosinte plants i potted three days ago and have left upstairs in natural light...no true leaves yet, but they are "greening" up and will be leafing soon...all but two of these have germinated form seed grown in my backyard or from the plants i finished in the basement...still geeked about that.

...downstairs

the plant from the outdoor seed i started last month is producing a fourth leaf and doing well under the lights...the only store bought seed to germinate is coming along too ( second photo )...the other two photos are of seedlings that have been potted for six days now and true leaves are beginning to develop...you can tell the plant in the third photo is teosinte by the telltale purplish color at the base of the stem and the shape of the first leaf...six plants downstairs...five upstairs...eleven starts for when the weather breaks.

another one of the last plantings of the winter

the root hairs on the teosinte seedlings in the top photo are pretty well developed so it's time to plant...i put some compost and potting soil in some peat pots, watered the mixture well, and put the seeds in...they have joined two more northern tepehuan teosinte plants i potted on sunday and are staying in the kitchen to grow in natural light...this makes nine plants germinated from seeds grown in my back yard and transferred into the basement to finish off their long season...nine second generation plants makes me happy, if no one else, and i will be putting these head start plants out in the wild as the weather moderates hoping to get them through a full season outdoors...all those seed ears that cane out last autumn have come to some fruition...i am curious to see if any seeds that i left out in the back yard or on campus germinate...whatever happens the campus gardens will be interesting places this coming season...there will be many posts.

solanum morphology I

the early blue domesticates in the top photo have upright stems that branch off into leaves...the wild potatoes in the second photo ( these plants were all grown from seeds from bolivia...there will be an effort with argentinian seeds later this spring...i give up on the seeds from russia ) have a much more vine-like appearance than their descendants...the resemblance in new growth at the tops of the stems is pretty minimal...the early blue leaves are clustered together much more densely than the two or three leaves the wild potatoes produce...i am hoping for tubers from the wild potatoes that would enable a comparison of those...that won't be for another few months at best...stay tuned.

solanum morphology II

the leaf in the top photo is on an early blue plant and the second photo is a wild potato...even though the leaves cluster differently on the stem it is easy to see a physical resemblance between the two...at least some heritable characteristics at work here...the third photo is of a yema de huevo leaf and comparing it to the fourth photo of a wild potato the difference is as plain as the previous likeness...until recently yema de huevos were classified as soalnum phureja rather than solanum tuberosum and that may exalain part of the pronounced morphological differences.

winter is transitory

yes there is a "snow event" going on outside my windows...and the community garden is prtetty much still in hibernation ( except the winter wheat )...but there's garlic out there and jerusalem artichokes...and rosin weed ( a sunflower relative and "plant ally" of the jerusalem artichokes...as if they needed help ) and doubtlessly some volunteers as well...this stuff cannot last for ever so as aharbinger of spring i made up a planting schedule for some of the beds: Community Garden 2014: Northern Tepehuan Teosinte- as soon as soil is workable before last frost, Potatoes- Early Blue, German Butterball, Red Nordland second week of April. Yukon Gold in May, Cucumbers- Mid-May, Pole Beans- Mid-May, Quinoa- Third week of May, Hopi Blue Maize- Memorial Day, Apache Red maize- Memorial day, Dakota Black Popcorn- Memorial Day, Sweet Corn- Memorial Day. there may be more...i have a surfeit of seeds and any number of plants already started...space will be the determinant...i am ready...eighteen days to spring...how long until spring weather?

one of the last plantings this winter

it has to be...i'm running out of room...four of the five seeds from the teosinte plants i brought in last autumn that have sprouted have gotten to the point of planting...so i made up four peat pots with the standard mix of potting soil and compost...gave them an ample watering...planted the sprouts...and took them downstairs under the lights...there may be one last planting but that's about it..the other indoor seeds and the store bought holdovers have failed to germinate and the outdoor seeds simply molded and rotted...a distressing failure...these things happen...still i am pleased to have been able to produce viable seed in indiana and i will be carefully nurturing these plants for outdoor planting...some in the ground...some in containers...in hopes of more seed next autumn...they will go outdorrs if and when spring shows up...i'm thinking may...perhaps.