clean up!

today was clean up day at the iuncg in preparation for, what i am told, several "planting days"...i took photos of the beds when i was there last saturday and you can see by the "after" photos that progress was made...the beds are ready 9 although they will be turned at least one more time before planting...two if it can be squeaked in )..the soil seems to be in good shape...some of the beds were fallow last season and we found many worms as we turned the bed...always a good sign of healthy soil...there were multiple volunteers at the garden, some of whom i did not get photos of ( sorry...i was focused on the beds mostly )...that is Dawn weeding a garlic bed, the friendly representative of the department of communications who came to take some "official" photos...and Ellen who is responsible for the garden's existence...we did well...the beds are ready...the season is up nest...stop by...join in...stay tuned.

timing

there was a frost advisory here last night and into this morning...the temperature didn't dip low enough though and there was no frost...the last average frost date for this area is still eight days away...the unnaturally warm weather in march and april had lulled me into something of a complacent view...the cold weather crops like the allium, Ramps ( second photo ) and egyptian walking onions ( third ) as well as the jerusalem artichokes ( fourth) would be unphased by a frost..it is true that i planted some insistent spuds last month ( fifth ) that might need to be covered if a real possibility of frost occurs ...with the renewed threat of frost impinged on consciousness by the cool early may i have been more cautious...the government spuds in a box in my room are beginning to chit...but not to the extent that an immediate planting is necessary ( sixth through ninth )...they should be good until past the frost date...and the teosinte seeds i started last sunday are coming along...the zea mays parvaglumis ( tenth and eleventh ) as well as the notrthern tephuan ( twelfth and thirteenth ) are developing roots and shoots and should not be insisting on being planted for another week or so...just about timed correctly even though i hadn't been concerned about it when i started...sometimes serendipity is involved...right Jean?

garden satus quo

there's always movement in the garden...just sometimes it's slow...and the cold, breezy weather we have enjoyed lately seems to have stalled things a bit...another asparagus plant toppled over...so i staked another asparagus plant up ( first and second photos )...there is new growth in the bed ( third and fourth ) however there is nothing of a size that warrants harvesting..so i dressed the bed in compost ( fifth ) to feed the hungry roots....down the row the colony of jerusalem artichokes is still a bit short ( sixth )...they should be a foot tall by month's end...they are not quiet however...they keep expanding pout of their half of the bed to the extent that , once again, i took a shovel to them as a control measure...there are still only the three red potatoes up on the other side ( eighth through eleventh )...still waiting on the slow yukon golds and the solo all blue...one bed along there is some very robust garlic going on ( last photo )...a clean-up event is scheduled for monday afternoon...see you there.

seeds and germination

four days after a bath in hydrogen peroxide ( and an escape from the freezer for the northern tepehuan teosinte ) there is significant movement in the brown paper towels...that white protrusion from the seed in the top photo is a northern tepehuan teosinte root..the second seed from the right in the second photo is another of the same variety and it is just beginning to sprout...five year old teosinte seeds spring to life...still waiting to see exactly how much viability there is there..the bottom photo is of much fresher zea mays parvaglumis seed i purchased last autumn...clearly it is on the move as well...another week or so and plants will be going into the ground...can hardly wait for the ears.

cool it!

may is starting off much cooler than say march or april...however the allium don't seem to mind it..the ramps are doing very well in the new bed on the north side while on the south the egyptian walking onions are beginning to develop the aerial bulbs that will make them "walk" ( third through fifth photos ) as the grow and weigh down the ends of the leaves...the jerusalem artichokes are doing just fine ( sixth )..there were potatoes cohabiting with the sunchokes last year and when i harvested them i must have missed a few tubers ( well one, at least, anyway) because this evening i found a volunteer spud...there is supposed to be a three year rotation on potato beds to lessen the build up of pests and diseases...i am, however, inclined to let the spud run free since, among other things, it serves as an index of the perennial nature of the potato..and, while i do like to grow grasses ( some of which are perennials like intermediate wheat grass and eastern gamagrass ), perennials always hold my interest.

new blog

i started a new blog on the morphology of duchesnea indica out in my back yard called "from bloom to berry" at the suggestion of a close friend...if the idea interests you, check it out http://everbearing.blogspot.com/ at this address.