spuds, garlic, alfalfa on campus

a pointlessly short shift at work left me out around mid-morning and the campus garden is not much of a detour on the way home so i stopped by and it was just as well i did for reasons we will be getting to in a bit...

my favorite correspondent will be pleased to note the alfalfa is booming along...

and still expressing marked disdain for limits...

the volunteer spuds in my "official" bed are fine...

and there is garlic among them...

the rest of the garlic seems to be working on rooting...this one looks like it broke surface and was broken/bitten off...it will try again...

sixteen of the spuds planted behind the asparagus are up...not quite all...the ones that are up also seem to be doing well..

recent rains have been spotty in coverage and both beds were exceptionally dry so everyone got some water...

the soil was so powdery that my "official" bed was developing erosive sink holes...the alfalfa and asparagus are perennials and so are deeply rooted and not in any specific danger form drying out...however the spuds and garlic are not so this is a cue to make more frequent visits simply to keep an eye on things...the post-work environment will be the garden it seems...

at home, the second of the basement teosinte plants has deployed silks...forlorn attempt i fear...i do not see even an attempt at a flower...still...dna will keep trying...

there is a tinge of color in the tesointe seedlings i planted yesterday...thinking more seedlings will go in tomorrow...

the wheat on the compost pile is looking very green...

and the volunteer rye by the locust tree is giving the wheat green competition...always good to have some grain around...more as it comes up.

more zea

worked this morning, came home, went to the "other garden" and did some work on some beds for another family member and when i got home...

i thought it might be time to look in on the teosinte seed i soaked a while back... in the first baggie i found more than a few that were clearly saying it was time to plant...

the second batch had a number that were ready as well...

so i amended the soil in two beds...

planted eight in one...

and nine in the other...the rest went back to a dark place to cook a while longer...seventeen in and more to go...we will be keeping an eye on things..it is not exactly forecast to be overly warm the next few days...not ideal weather for teosinte...however the time had clearly come...no danger of frost...they may stall for a while...they will pick up when it warms...the hopi blue maize will go in at the end of the month and we will see how ( or if ) they interact

solanum and zea

errands after work had me in the vicinity of the "other garden" so i stopped in to see how my bed there was faring...

the spuds i transplanted last visit are doing well which is good...

and a few of those garlic cloves that were rooting have broken surface expanding the population above ground to half a dozen.....

back at home i had some tubers demanding to be planted...

and some four corners potatoes that seem to just want to be left alone...

so i dug a few trenches out in the dismal wheat bed...

laid in the tubers...

and just covered them with compost...

the four corners i put in a container and covered them with compost as well...if they should decide to overcome their inertia we will back fill and see what develops...

the basment teosinte has finally found the light of day since there is little danger of frost from here until autumn...

and i am wondering if that is an ear i am seeing.

the "other" garden

after an early morning eye exam i wandered over to the portage garden to have a look and found four garlic plants up and running, equalling the campus garden total...

unlike the campus garden, when i popped a couple of cloves up there were definite signs of life...

like the campus garden there was also a sign of a very vigorous volunteer spud that i obviously missed at last season's harvest...easy enough to do...

there were more in another bed from last year...so i ended up transplanting them all to the garlic bed...so...garlic and spuds...as a special correspondent to this blog has said "sounds like lunch!"...we will see how well they cohabit the bed.