odds and ends

the field next to the supermarket is not planted yet...all that is there is some rows of native plants and detritus from last season's corn crop....it is due to be beans in the two tiered industrial monoculture practiced around here ( and in almost all industrial agriculture...a lot of processed food and other products rely on two types of plant )...whatever goes in here there will be plowing i'm thinking...the field is a bit too overgrown for a no til field i think...we'll see...the fourth photo is yesterday's industrial corn and the fifth is bear paw maize in the back yard...it will be interesting to see if the heirloom maize tillers or not...it it does the morphology will have far more in common with the teosinte growing out there than with the industrial product...the bottom photo is of some early blue potato blooms out in the back...do i see potato fruits? perhaps...if we can keep the critters off them.

a bit more natural

the hawthorn tree in the front yard ( okay the"tags" are not quite right ) is coming into full bloom..you can tell by the scent which is strong to the point of cloying...the birds will be happy over the winter...and the bees are all over it right now...honey bees...nothing related to mason bees ( although i bet they are around )...but pollinators none the less and so they are welcome...they are busy...barely stopping...moving along...napoleon had a bee on his family crest...he was busy too..like a lot fo things busy is a pharmakon...it can be a remedy or a poison...in the bees' case it is benign...there are five bear paw maize plants up...about half the number of teosinte plants out there...we'll see if the ancestor's presence makes the maize "stronger"..before the squirrels eat it anyway...in the meantime i have a morphological comparison to post about...the corn is up in the industrial fields and there's maize out back...we'll get to see if they look related...all three of them.

industry at work

out and about running errands took my by the field behind the big box sores...it was fallow last season...however this morning finds that it has come out in a case of dense yellow #2 field corn...it seems to have been tilled but judging by the number of "weeds" that are up in the rows it has not been sprayed with herbicide..and probably won't..like the field next to the supermarket last year it will be thoroughly colonized by season's end...i know field corn is constantly being engineered to allow the plants to be planted closer and closer together while still producing but the mechanical planter seems to be malfunctioning here because there is some very peculiar plant spacing...the plants in the second photo are a bit close to one another..the ones in the third are closer still...the fourth photo shows a traditional spacing of one foot ( and with the other spacing i am thinking the planter skipped here )...the fifth has a spacing of about four inches between plants which is what i was seeing last season..and the sixth shows to very close together again...the seventh is a graphic example of the "fence row to fence row" philosophy of industrial agriculture...the field is planted right up to the berm maximizing planted area...waste no space, no matter how marginal...lastly the vandalized realtor sign has reappeared in a truncated form...less to rebuild seemingly...it will be instructional to watch the growth and production of this field..if the maize in my yard takes we should have some morphology comparisons ( we have teosinte to work with already )...there will be more on this as the season progresses.

just grapes

at the community garden

took a trip out to campus after work to turn some beds and water some plants and found a few things along the way...the lettuce is looking better than it did last trip out which is encouraging and there are six cucumber plants up and running...four in one hill, two in the other...both varieties are represented...i may not know much but i know zea when i see ti and the third photo is definitely bear paw maize popping up..i an defying the squirrels..i imagine they will not care about human defiance and will eat the maize anyway...the orange lunchbox pepper is looking robust and preparing to bloom...and so are any number of beds in the garden...we are started..there is much more to do and soon if there is to be a season...let's go.

blooms, sprouts, and ancestors

the teosinte out back is humming along...waiting for maize out there...there are both varieties of cucumbers up though which is pleasing..the third photo is an amalgam of yacon, black eagle wheat, sweet potatoes, teosinte, jerusalem artichokes and a solitary spud...all economically ( space wise ) planted...the fourth photo is pacific blue stem wheat sprouts and the fifth is bart wheat up and running...the grape vine i planted sunday continues to do just that..vine ( trellis is in the works ) and the grapes in the fir tree at the end of the patio continue to bloom...and the hawthorn tree in the front yard is on the verge of blooming...production and reproduction going on all over.

viticulture

got home from work to find another grape vine had arrived from the local garden center..so..i soaked the roots in water while i dug a hole ( using the displaced soil to hill some spuds nearby ) and back filled the hole with compost, a grape vine, and a geranium to fend off unwelcome beetles...the vine i planted on monday obviously likes the environment it has found itself in..it has deployed more leaves and, more importantly to me, there are tendrils emerging that speak eloquently of vines and fruit to come...and speaking of fruit to come, the grapes in the fir tree on the ancient and grandfatherly vine are flowering in anticipation of the fruit...these will have seeds...i will be saving them...more as the vines develop.