spring moves along

errands took me out today so i used the opportunity to look around a bit...there are still fields with considerable water standing...

while the drainage in others has begun to dry them...

leaving clear signs of erosion behind...

i stopped by the community garden on the way home where the spuds are up and running...the blues are just breaking ground...poking along as usual...it will be time to plant maize soon and beans after that...what else is still undecided...

out back the winter rye is approaching my height...and the ears are proliferating...

the new york imports are blooming away while calyces are closing as berries cook...

the egyptian walking onions are budding and preparing to flower and produce aerial bulbs...

and the relentless jerusalem artichokes are gaining verticality...

as far as the teosinte seed i started germinating four day s ago goes...i am getting the results i expected from the northern tepehuan seeds..which is pretty much inert behavior...

these zea mexicana seeds came from a plant that produced seeds with no husks...i was curious to see if 1.) they would germinate and, 2.) if the plants ( if they thrived ) would produce more huskless seed...so far the first part seems successful...they second will have to wait until august/september...

the dark zea mexicana seed has not been wasting time either and sometime next week it will be time for these to go outside into the real world to create another generation...i'm geeked...

finally, the youthful black capped chickadee that was having a look out of the nesting box yesterday has fledged today...a natural enough thing for a young bird to do...so why am i concerned?

new "normal"?

the farm machinery is parked...

and there are still a lot of unworked fields that were fallowed last year laying around...

and this is why...1.6" of rain overnight in my back yard brings may's total to 5.6" back there...i am uncertain of the rainfall amounts out in the fields ( they vary from place to place in my yard...i have measured micro-climate in my yard..the results are somewhere around this blog )...however in looking around out there...

whatever the totals, there is quite a bit of standing water impeding what should be the onset of dense yellow #2 planting...it was delayed last year which is why there are fallow fields and why there were a lot of beans locally...we seem on our way there again...

the drainage systems are trying to do the job, however they seem overburdened in places...and with at least the possibility of rain forecast in six of the next ten days they may not get much of a break...this could be anomalous...that happens in weather...could be the "new normal" around here too...we'll see what the rest of the month is like ( and we are on schedule to replicate last may's ten inches of rainfall ) and what may 2021 brings...jury's still out.

been raining

three inches of rain in my back yard in four days and it is still raining...another sogy may...we will be loking at the industrial fields a bit later...

it's halfway through may and time to start thinking about zea...i collected teosinte seed from the yard last season...froze some..nd kept some out to germinate...

i do not have profound expectations of the northern tepehuan seed...the plants were runts and the seeds are small and light colored which indicates a lack of endosperm...the darker zea mexicana seed will, hopefully, do better...

i did the standard twenty minute soak in a 3% solution of hydrogen peroxide and then into brown paper towels soaked in distilled water and into a dark place to germinate...a week or so...

i went out and turned the traditional teosinte bed for the fifth time and put in some compost...i received an early father's day gift from my daughter, anon-in-law, and granddaughter ( thanks! ) which is going to host the sprouts for a time after they are planted...just in case...

in other yard news the winter rye is producing more ears...the wheat still lags...it will catch up...

the egyptian walking onions are taking preliminary steps towards a stroll...i will be pinching some of these off to produce actual onions...and i will leave some to produce more aerial bulbs for propagation...at last count there were forty four clusters of theses out there ( they walk a lot )...i can afford to take some out of reproductive production...

the south bed is cooking away with berries...and escape plans...

there are still wilted, brown leaves on the grape vines in the catalpa tree...

however they are also evincing good new growth...there is hope yet...

and, in another good sign ( for this gardener anyway ) there is another generation of black capped chickadees coming along in one of the locust trees just outside the kitchen window...a bird's eye view from the sink.