bees in the trees II

the top photo is of a tube of alfalfa leaf cutter bee cocoons gathering condensation fresh out of the vegetable crisper...the cocoons in the second photo are rounded on one end ( a tough call on some ) which is the head end an d goes into the reed facing out (third photo )...i used the smallest diameter reed i could find to push the cocoons down and got all one hundred of them loaded into about thirty reeds...the vendor recommended putting chicken wire over the front of the bee house to keep squirrels out ( why they would bother leaf cutter bees but not mason bees[speaking of which, those critters have been out for twenty-two days now and no sign of life...if there isn't movement soon there will be a short, sharp email going out to "mason bees for sale"] is a mystery to me...but i followed their advice and now there are two bee houses in the locust trees and nary a bee around either...yet...more on this as it transpires.

more tubers

it's a long weekend and the trip to campus was just the first round of plant and garden adventures that will be going on...when i got home it was time to move on and the so i picked yacon as the next project...i've had these plants living in peat pots waiting for warmer weather since they are cold intolerant ( top two photos )...you can see ( if you look closely enough ) that they were pot bound in the third photo, so i freed them and planted them in some large planters to allow tuber growth...they are a distant relative of the jerusalem artichokes just across the way in the yard and will produce large, sweetish tubers that are composed of inulin just like the suinchokes but without the jerusalem artichoke's nutritional value...look at them as a lot like watermelon...and they don't propagate from the tubers...rather from cuttings form the base of the plant...that combined with the long ( six to seven month )season means they are prime basement candidates for both finishing and propagation...more lights and cutting everywhere...well..it keeps me off the streets, right? along with the mashua and at least five varieties of spuds ( who knows what is in some of those containers ? ) it will be tuber city here again this year...not complaining...experimenting...and there will be much more of that all over before the season is done...many more posts...new adventures...might even learn something along the way...who could complain about that?...oh yeah...i put cages around the tomatoes too.

2015-day 2

two days into the season and it's a sunny, clear day with temperatures forecast to be in the 80s ( fahrenheit ) and the last thing we need is shock...there isn't a hose in the garden yet but, fortunately, the water to he spigot outside the apartment building is on so when i had used the water i brought with me i could refill the jugs and at least spot water the plants thoroughly...not the soaking i would have liked to give the beds but watered well enough to provide for some transpiration and cooling...there is a chance of rain in the forecast for the next couple of days which would be good...but i am collecting more gallon jugs just in case...things are looking good this early on and there is some expansion in the works ( see the next post )...what to plant next?

lucky 13

triskaidekaphobia needn't bother showing up here...we have no use for it...the thirteenth bed in the community garden is in and we are up to 448 square feet of arable soil...the fourteenth will be going in sometime in the next few weeks to keep a sense of symmetry going...we can always put transplants or more spuds in there to use the space...june spuds, if they're planted early enough...should beat the first frost...or, perhaps, some eggplant...that is something we don't have yet

tubers and legumes

the winter vetch out back is beginning to bloom so it looks as if there will be seed for green manures in the gardens this coming autumn...and while we're on the subject of winter vetch, that wheat seed head that was snagged by some winter vetch tendrils two days ago ( second photo ) and distorted has been grabbed by yet another plant and is now in a horizontal position ( third photo ) who knows where it will end up before it ripens...the tuber part of this post is the spuds in the container in the fourth photo...and they are sharing the frame with the peas in the last...off to the community garden for some work and some maintenance in the morning...need to see if there's a need for some water...more on that later.

planting day 2015

the clouds and cool wind that accompanied bed building this morning left me less than sanguine about the afternoon's planting climate..but by afternoon the clouds departed, the skies blued, and the sun was shining as multitudes of peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, pole beans, cucumbers, and the odd mashua plant ere sent on their way to a new community garden season...talkative, industrious, jovial , and led by the smiling ellen the crew created the beginnings of an expanded green space on campus...don't you wish you'd been there? i'm glad i was..there will be more posts...more photos...more surprises...and there's always room in the community.

stranglehold

it's a jungle out there and i have the photos to prove it...the winter vetch tendrils in the top photo have that wheat seed head in a tight grip...actually distorting its growth...they are winding around the intermediate wheat grass in the second photo as well...the third photo is of new grape vines wending their way through the elm tree at the end of the patio...ancient greeks planted their vines by olive trees and let them vine through the branches in the days before formal vineyards...i am at home with this tradition...the spuds in the fourth photo are in the clear but there is a tangle of alfalfa and winter rye going on behind them ( along with some winter vetch and intermediate wheat grass )...and you can see by the fifth photo that the rye is producing seed heads..the seeds are much smaller than wheat seeds and so there is a comparative profusion of awns...i know it's early but i am inclined to let the asparagus spear in the last photo "fern" to feed the roots and to provide a source of home grown seed now that the pgp is defunct...the back yard is alive with the new season...tomorrow is planting day in the community garden so that season will be expanding as well...there will no doubt be multiple entries for that event...stay tuned.