shattered

some winter rye has shattered ( top photo ) so i began to harvest the ripe seed heads before the seed does what comes natural and i don't have any for cover crops this autumn...the hairy vetch had some ripe pods also so i grabbed them as well ( and found one that had already opened, third photo ) more dixie clover was ready to harvest as well..the eastern gamagrass has gone reproductively br=erserk and should provide multitudes of seed that looks like nothing so much as little chunks of wood...and as a side note the perennial garden project has produced its first tomatoes since 2010.

asparagus among the grasses

there is a superabundance of asparagus "berries" developing in the pgp this season and there will certainly be more than i can utilize...anyone with a well drained plot of soil to plant them in is welcome to a share...let me know this autumn...not to be left behind the intermediate wheat grass in the second photo is flowering...while the eastern gamagrass in the third photo is not only flowering it is undergoing an irruption of seed heads...sixty-two this morning..there will surely be more by my next visit..and what would a pgp post be without teosinte? the lone stalk of zea diploperennis continues to grow..it will outstrip the gamagrass in height soon enough.

eastern gamagrass

the eastern gamagrass has begun its usual reproductive frenzy..last week i saw ( i believe ) four discernible terminal spears and emerging seed heads...this week there are thirty-two and quite a few of them are flowering so we should have a good harvest of seeds...the terminal spears are still upright and will be so until the seeds mature and the seed heads are ready to shatter...the plants will tell us when the seed is ripe by leaning over and positioning the seed head as far away from the parent plant as possible to insure adequate space for a new generation to germinate...i will be ready to harvest.

grasses and clover

the lone stalk of perennial teosinte is still the lone stalk this morning...i have requested more seed from the usda to establish a new stand somewhere else on campus and will probably overseed to insure some germination next spring...th eintermediate wheat grass from kansas has begun to flower, joining in with the gamagrass...starlings thoroughly mauled the wheat grass last season so a way to bag the seed heads will be on a short list of things to do...the dixie clover in the pgp bloomed far earlier than the clover i have at home so i wanted to check the seed heads for maturity...sure enough some are ready to shatter so i harvested half a dozen that were ripe and will let the seeds dry and then store them for use later this summer as green manure in other gardens...the process of salvaging what i can from the garden has begun.

father's day jaunt

yet another seed head has emerged from the eastern gamagrass...five right now....hundreds before the last season is through...the lone perennial teosinte plant to survive the winter continues to grow, tiller, and show you where maize came from ( at least in part )...the chinese yams continue to vine robustly...and from a distance the pgp has a season well under way.

seeds

it's mid june and already seeds are emerging in the pgp...the asparagus has flowered and now "berries" are forming which each have two or three seeds...should be an ample supply this autumn to naturalize in an effort to carry on part of the garden else where...the seed head on the eastern gamagrass has been joined by a second..and this should be only the beginning of an irruption of seed heads on the east side of the garden...out on the south side the dixie clover bloom has died back and become an immature seed head and , in the bottom photo, so have some of the earliest blooms on the hairy vetch...these will be important sources of seed for green manures for other gardens...once again, this coming late summer and autumn...the garden is winding its life down but it hasn't stopped producing...i will be utilizing the resource.

seed heads

it's june, and while the winter rye has( top photo )been out in seed heads since last month it had a head start...others are catching up...the intermediate wheat grass right next door for example...the plants from kansas are irrupting in seeds and will produce minscule flowers soon and then ripening seeds ( which were ravaged by starlings last year...there will be an attempt at bagging them this year if i can find suitable supplies )...the bright red blooms of the dixie clover have died back ( third photo ) and will be producing what i hope is viable seed soon...i have good use to put that to...finally in the last photo the eastern gamagrass has come out in its first terminal spear and seed head in what i hope is another extravagant display of reproductive frenzy...i have some use for that seed as well and i will need quite a bit since it is so stubborn about germinating...the reproductive theme of the garden continues...there will be more posts to come.

production variables

there seems to be something of a production variable at work in the pgp...not to be outdone by the spuds in the community garden the red pontiacs in the pgp are blooming...as sure sign that they will be setting tubers soon...the chinese yams are producing robust vines and plenty of leaves...which is an indication of many aerial bulbs to come...no surprise since they were unharvested last season and have abundant stored energy to draw on...the perennial teosinte is another matter...in its fourth season the older stand has produced one lonely sprout ( which looks very corny, even small )...the stand i planted last year that tried to flower in october seems to have expended its energy in flowering rather than root construction which left it it with too shallow a system to withstand last winter..it appears to be lifeless and is being overgrown by intermediate wheat grass...the last photo is of doomed asparagus seedlings...nice to look at... no future.

...two thousand and fourteen

the red pontiacs in the potato patch are thriving ( top photo ) and the mashua seems at home in their shade ( second photo )...it is sub-tropical but grows at altitude in the andes, so it likes it a bit cooler...the shade may be the ticket here...the asparagus seedlings ( third photo ) are doing fine and are doomed to be extincted in a few months...i may try to move the crowns but i am not holding a lot of hope...the zea diploperennis in the last photo is even more doomed because i am certain it will not move...i have more seed to naturalize next spring but i am looking for a permanent site for that...probably my back yard...i am work at not disparaging university administrators here...i also don't trust them not to be forgetful ( if not fickle ) about commitments.

june first...

the winter rye and the asparagus continue to flower at the pgp ( top photo ) as does the hairy vetch and the dixie clover ( second photo )...seeds are what i am after and i will be harvesting them later in the season from every plant here that produces the..except the intermediate wheat grass from kansas which i will remove wholesale...the chinese yams are vining robustly and promise a bumper crop of aerial bulbs...although i am somewhat lathe to introduce these invasive critter to the community garden there will be some out and about somewhere...the bottom photo is an example of what a mature asparagus plant looks like when it has fully "ferned" and has spread itself out to collect all the solar energy it can to feed the roots...there is some in the community garden and if it takes there will be more displays of asparagus ferns on campus...it's up to the drainage now.