the mother of all corn flakes

the teosinte has grown a bit since i last threw myself in as a photographic scale thirty-two days ago...but i think its reach for increased verticality has come to an end as we swing into autumn and shorter days and cooler nights...more ears are appearing ( third photo ) ...i stopped counting when i got to thirty...and i found more seeds ( fourth photo ...as if you couldn't see ) and the silks in the rest of the photos speak of ears and seeds to come...i do believe the plants will be throwing their energy into a burst of reproductive activity as opposed to growth for the rest of the season and i am looking at what i surmise to be a bumper crop of ears...the "wild and weedy" ancestor to your bowl of corn flakes is bringing all its corniness to bear as time expires on its season...expect more photos of the plant, if not the gardener.

first day of autumn

the first day of autumn finds the garden a busy place...alfllfa sporting its first true leaves...winter rye, winter vetch, yellow peas all germinating as they begin the task of setting nitrogen and supplying organic matter for spring ...however this season isn't over yet by a ways and the first day of autumn finds the 2015 season still chugging along...there is new broccoli up...and the second year asparagus i still verdant...and peppers...there are still peppers to be found jalapenos, bell, and banana...top to bottom third fourth and fifth photos...and in the same bed as the banana peppers the inderteminate early blue potatoes are still blooming even if not as outspokenly as before...while a few beds over the cauliflower continues its race with frost and i believe i see the very first glimmerings of brussels sprouts...i do not hold out high hopes for harvesting many...the critters...especially rabbits..seem to find them as tasty as some humans do...not done yet...not finished producing...not even close to mulching garlic and asparagus...still green manures to plant...autumn is not a slow season.

no teosinte tonight

oh i have the photos alright...but there's other stuf going on out there that merits notice ( from, anyway ) the yacon in the top two photos ir robust and booming along in its 210 day season...it will be going inside soon enough to "finish'...the mashua is looking fine as well...it may be able to finish outside...looking forward to peppery tubers...there are some late pole beans going on...took their sweet time they did...there's life in the green manures i sowed saturday...this would be alfalfa i believe and i see at lest five yellow peas germinating...some of the peas floated to the surface ( peas are notorious floaters ) and have begun to germinate there...i pushed them back down so their roots get a better hold ( yes...i separated those four...didn't shove them down in a bunch )...if you miss the teosinte, no worries, there will be many more photos before autumn is over.

silks, ears, and seeds...green and darkening

geeked..i say geeked is what i am because the "wild and weedy" maize ancestor teosinte out in my back yard is showing increasing evidence of silks ( top four photos )...in and of itself this could be a geek trigger..but there is more...i have discovered eight ears erupting from stems...two of them are in the fifth photo...but the news does not stop there...i have also found the first official teoisnte seeds of the season...one ear's husk has partially peeled back revealing a few green seeds...where there are a few there will be more as the days shorten and autumn dials in...a bit further back in the jungle the solitary ramp that flowered has at least one mature seed ( they turn black when they are done ) i found it a few days ago and it seems the seed head isn't ready to let it go yet...ramp seeds need a cycle of heat and of cold to germinate so they may not produce plants until spring 2017...patience is a virtue in this business...if you tune in i don't see how you can aoid more photos of teosinte ears...forewarned is forearmed.

garlic

parker! and friend met me in the garden this morning to continue with fall planting...we turned some compost into a couple of beds and then planted some red inchelium garlic...we used compost because the garlic beds will have to be thoroughly mulched for winter which precludes using green manures in those beds...the garlic bulbs were fairly large and the cloves ( fifth photo ) ranged from "normal" to absolutely huge...in all we planted sixty cloves...last season we had about three quarters of what we planted produce so we are counting on at least forty-five producing plants next spring...and while we're talking production, the sixth photo is of a nascent cauliflower...one of three we found today and the seventh neatly captures some happy second season asparagus "ferning" and parker! in mid-stride...most of the alfalfa i planted over, i believe, labor day weekend has developed its first true leaf...well on the way to being winter hardy...so i added more alfalfa seed to bare areas of the beds and tossed in some winter rye to act as a soil binding agent and a reservoir for excess nitrogen...the season is definitely winding down along with september...the cauliflower and brussels sprouts are in a race with frost...the beans and cukes are done...there are a few spuds left chugging away and next month sees the jerusalem artichoke harvest...november will see the garlic and asparagus mulch and then the season move indoors for seed potato production...we slow down...we don't stop.

green manures and garlic

it's been a busy saturday morning here...there is around 180 square feet of ground on the south side of the house between th ejerusalem artichoke bed and the catalpa tree that gets a lot of sun...so today i double dug it...in about 140 square feet i planted fall green manures ( winter vetch, crimson clover with winter rye and yellow peas ) along with the ubiquitous alfalfa...that i will turn under in the spring and plant..oh..turnips, beets...who knows...maybe some brussels sprouts and peas...the remainder i double dug, turned in compost, and took a half pound of early italian seed garlic and planted seventy three cloves...they may not all survive...but i predict there will be no shortage of garlic in the kitchen early next summer...tomorrow Parker! and i will be planting garlic in the community garden...there will be plenty there as well.

huaycu

i planted these potatoes on the eighteenth of may...one hundred and twenty one days ago and i netted them as soon as i noticed the fruits because i wanted those for sure...they are finally done so it was time to harvest...there were two varieties in this container, both of which i received from the usda potato introduction station in sturgeon's bay wisconsin...one was called piccaso and it produced three tubers for the one i planted...container grown and small, the weighted in at just over five ounces...but it was the "primitive cultivar" huaycu that got my attention when it began to produce fruit after it had flowered...clearly determinate ( it only flowered once ) i was determined to harvest the tubers and the fruit...so the netting paid off and today i have 13 1/8 ounces of tubers ( half of which i am saving for seed ) and five fruits..which...oddly enough..are not ripe enough to process...so into a paper bag for a bit until the soften...i am assuming they are as genetically diverse as any other potato seed...but i will be growing vines form this seed next spring...or...perhaps...as a winter basement project.