green out of season

the teosinte seeds i planted in the basement a week ago have all developed into seedlings with two leaves absorbing all the light they can...

while the ones planted five days ago are exhibiting a single, green leaf...

the wheat that germinated in the water on the basement floor is doing well...the original sprouts are far too "leggy" to ever stand on their own...they will continue to lay there, however they will still be doing their part to feed the roots...the second leaves will be the erect ones and, doubtlessly, the ones that will bear the ears if i am fortunate enough to get them that far...none of these are what could be called house plants and watering plants over the winter in a cool and humid basement has always been a bit of a challenge...the tendency is to over-water ( i struggle with self control on this and if i give in i struggle with fungi ) and that is not helpful...still we are doing well so far and there is room and one more light fixture ( and no more outlets beyond that...this is an exercise in limits in more ways than one ) for any of the test seeds that come along far enough to be planted... with fourteen out of thirty test seeds planted i am thinking we are nearing the end of the seeds' viability...nearly half is not bad for seed that stretches back fourteen years in at least one instance ( and it is germinating at 40% )...one thing i am sure of is there will be teosinte in the yard and in the garden next spring.

weather report

temperatures remain above freezing...

the rains that began last month have continued into this ( there is water standing in my yard...given i live on a glacial moraine with exceptionally sandy subsoil this is saying something )...

the teosinte remains and continues

community garden today

there isn't a lot going in the garden these days...a few marigold...and a couple of green tomatoes...and those are there only because the frost is seemingly on vacation...

the asparagus is still green for the same reason...so, for nte nonce, there's no need to mulch it...

you can tell the season isn't over yet because the plants are producing ( if sparsely ) more berries...i harvested four of the ripe ones fro additional seed...

the potatoes in the asparagus bed were certainly done though...

the plants yielded sixty-four elmer's blue fingerling potatoes...which will be part of lunch...

for the rest of lunch i ambled over tot he jerusalem artichoke bed where a mionimal ( and i mean minimal ) amount of rooting around in the soil yielded more than enough tubers to go with the spuds...i am thinking fried.

new plantings

more of the zea mays mexicanan seed from both usda accessions were ready to plant this evening...

and a couple from the undated northern tepehaun teosinte seed from native seed search ( from 2015 at the very latest ) which is encouraging for next spring's prospects for both out in the garden and the yard...

equally encouraging is the progress of the seedlings i planted last month...three have developed a second leaf and another two are leafing out...there are now fourteen plants in various stages of development under the lights downstairs...i have a winter's project...if you hang around, so do you.

pardon me, your seeds are showing

the ear in the first photo has shattered ( i retrieved the three remaining seeds ) and there are many more husks splitting open...it may be time to monitor the situation more than once a day...i aim to collect as much of that seed as i can.

out and in

age must fool memory...these temperatures are clearly inside the "normal" range for the date even though it seems incredibly warm...what is fact is that we are a month past the average first frost date with no frost in sight...i am not imagining it all...

one advantage of the dearth of frost is that the northern tepehuan teosinte seeds "on the hoof" continue their season and may mature to the point of viability...something i will be pleased with if it comes to pass...

back in the basement, two of the zea mays mexicanan seedlings have developed a second leaf...good news for the basement season so far...

and the seeds from two days ago are greening up well...

i doubt the original leaves from the wheat i found germinating in the water on the basement floor will ever stand upright like wheat should...however the second leaves the plants are deploying look as though they will not be so "leggy" and behave like wheat in the field...this is uncharted territory for me...wheat has always been an outdoor crop..i am unsure of its adaptability to a basement and broad spectrum grow light..like the teosinte, an iffy business...stay tuned and we will find out what happens.