the eastern gamagrass is greening up and will be full soon enough...a hardy native grass it is slow to germinate and difficult to eradicate once established...if the past two seasons are anything to judge by there will be a multiplicity of flowers and seed heads to collect seed for another stand at a different location...the dixie clover from the green manures wintered over unprotected and, in addition to fixing nitrogen in the soil, they are blooming which means they too will go to seed...which i will save as a source of green manures for the community garden across campus when the beds there begin to be harvested...the chinese yams are up and the vines have already formed a rope around the trellis post...yet another perennial ( it is the perennial garden project )they ar non-native but have done well, overwintering when mulched and producing aerial bulbs by the hundreds...they also highlighted the difference in plant production...when the reproductive system is the food...like the tubers from potatoes or jerusalem artichokes, the harvest for human use is comparatively large...when it is simply stored starch in the root system like the chines yams the usable portion per plant is small making them inappropriate food sources...or ones that require large areas and much labor...the garden is an exploration of economic botany in microcosm..one that will carry one beyond this season.
No comments:
Post a Comment