shang ( maybe )

out back rummaging around the yard for dry stuff to put in the new batch of compost i'm starting i happened to wander back into the trees in the corner where i spent some time last autumn scattering ginseng seeds around ( the attempt to grow the plant form roots was a miserable failure...i think...i have read the ginseng is a fickle plant that can skip some years if conditions are not favorable...check out "ginseng, the divine root: the curious history of the plant that captivated the world" by david a. tylor [thanks coach!] for the book that got me to try translating reading into action...again ) and i found these seedlings in the leaf litter ( ginseng country )...they resemble, but are not dead ringers, for images of ginseng i pulled in off the web...so is it or isn't it? i am no ginseng expert so we will have to wait and see...these may be some noxious weed ( although my definition of weed is in serious flux ) or they may be shang...it is nice to think they might be...this could just be wishful thinking...but ginseng is native to indiana so the habitat is available and i have placed it in the location out back that best resembles its preferred natural ecology...all this conjecture remains to be verified or proven false...we'll see what the next few weeks bring.

soalanum tuberosum in the pgp

ther hasn't been a spud in the pgp since 2011 and there's a reason for that...there is limited space there and you need a three year rotation to avoid pest and virus build ups in potato beds...well it's been three years and i took out the intermediate wheat grass that had overgrown its bed on the west side a couple of weeks ago and today i went out to plant...first thing i did was turn another eighty pounds of compost into the bed ( i quit keeping track after i had reached a ton of compost in this one hundred and twenty square foot garden...it still isn't level...it sinks towards the east ) then i planted seventeen tubers...six german butterball, five red pontiac, one each of juice valley, craigs snowwhite, leona, pungo, and purple valley...plus one mashua tuber...there is still room for a few all reds or yukon golds later next month...so spuds return...they did well three years ago...hoping for a repeat...it occurs to me, a day after i posted this, that i negelected to mention i planted a mashua tuber in the pgp yesterday as well...there are two in a be din the community garden and i put the third in this one...sub-tropical tubers i wonder how they will take to the long summer photo period...they are cold hardy and have along season so perhaps they will begin to set tubers towards autumn when the days shorten...their natural habitat is at high elevations where it is too cold to grow potatoes ( they are another andean plant...relative of the garden nasturtium...another andean plant the incas used to grow for the edible flowers ) and i wonder about how the will take the heat of a northwest indiana summer...we will find out together.

asparagus boundaries

the asparagus is coming along well...four spears have emerged so far...usually the plants produce twenty-five altogether, albeit at different times, until the season is over and i let the plants grow to feed the roots...then all twenty-five are in attendance...not during the season though...they arrive in their own sweet time...while i was working in the garden i cut a new border in the sod ( the university lawn loves the organic nature of the garden and constantly tries to take it over...a running battle ) and i pounded in some grade stakes and ran a piece of jute twine between them as a further demarcation...every year , so far, someone has managed to mow the big purple grass at the edge of the garden...not the end of the world when you are dealing with asparagus...it just grows back...but it disrupts the harvest and that is spotty enough already...the garden is coming to life...you can see green along with brown now...more green coming up.

zea diploperennis

this stand of perennial teosinte sprang to life in 2011 and has wintered over the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 winters...but they were reasonably mild compared to this past winter...i mulched them heavily with the usual compost and straw...but they are a sub-tropical grass and i am unsure of their tolerance...i left the compost pretty much in place and i left the newer stand covered...if and when this stand comes to life the other will be opened...if this one doesn't i will be waiting until after tha last average frost date...we'll see soon enough.

another bed all made up

there is a new bed on the new site and it has been partially planted to boot...the population of the garden has grown a bit today as the first bed constructed along the back is now fully planted and the census breaks down something like this: bed 1. 5 russet potatoes. 4 ollala potatoes 9 german butterball potatoes ( second photo ) 2 mashua (fourth photo ) 6 garlic plants bed 2. 7 jerusalem artichokes (third photo ) 12 black tip wheat ( mostly ornamental ) a scattering of turnips forty-five known plants...who knows how many turnips...the seeds are so small it is difficult to keep track...we will know when they germinate..there will be more building...there are still all red potatoes to go in and the three sisters' guild...and i picked up yukon gold and red pontiac seed potatoes form a local supplier on my way home form campus...i can see th e back border of the garden nearly filled by the end of next month...movement after a long winter is good.

strawberries

the white cover fabric we used to hold down the mulch on the strawberry bed in the old community garden held up well...and so did the strawberries...when i got the bed open i found new growth on all the plants...plenty of green and the bed was opened at pretty much the right time...now the plants face something of a problem...having successfully navigated the past, reasonably harsh, winter they have to weather a move to the new garden site...encouraged, if not emboldened, by the garlic's robust adaptation to its new environment we are holding out some hope of another successful migration...first we have to move or construct a bed...then we will try to move the last remaining plants form the old site...it will have to be soon...more as it comes up.

cut and callus german butterball potatoes

the german butterball potatoes are well sprouted and ready to cut and callus...i took a sharp paring knife and cut the spuds into pieces of around an ounce in weight ( usually a bit more ) with a couple of "eyes" on each piece...then i put hem in an open box to expose them to the air to callus the cuts...this provides the cut pieces with some protection against viruses and pests when they are planted...there hasn't been any precipitation for a few days and the soil should be dry enough that fungus shouldn't be an issue ( the potatoes ellen and i planted in the garden last saturday were "drops"...potatoes under two ounces that are planted whole...no callusing needed )these, along with a couple of mashua tubers, will complete the planting in this particular bed until we intercrop new zealand white clover as a green manure after the tubers are well established...five potatoes will yield ( if everything goes well ) fifteen plants...nine in the iuncg and six in the pgp and we will induce those plants to produce as many tubers as possible by "hilling" them relentlessly as they grow..mor eon this and the equally relentless jerusalem artichokes in a post tomorrow.