a dearth of yellow

the pgp doesn't seem to be having quite the excess water difficulties that the community garden is and i wonder why...my first thought is better drainage...even though i have unearthed construction ( or destruction ) debris every season the pgp sits over what us basically an underlayer of sand ( much like my yard ) and the drainage is good...even on the low end of the garden where the water tolerant gamagrass is...and my second thought is that the plants are mostly perennials...that brown in the long shot on top is ripe winter rye...the early blue potato that's blooming in the second photo is as green as could be...and it's a perennial even if it's a plant/replant one...the lamb's quarter in the third photo is an annual and it is ( so far ) the only plant i've found with any yellowing...the teosinte in the bottom photo isn't looking unhappy at all either...and it's a perennial strain...drainage? perennials? a combination? neither? don't know for sure but i will be keeping an eye on things over there and will certainly post if the perennials start to go south.

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.

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.

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.

blooms

memorial day weekend finds both annual and perennial plants blooming in the pgp...more hairy vetch has bloomed, joining the dixie clover that has been in flower for better than a week...the winter rye in the third photo is flowering as well so we will have seed for green manures and cover crops this coming autumn from a local source..which is at least part of what being sustainable is about...even the asparagus is flowering which means more "berries" in a few months to collect and naturalize wherever it seems there is a likely spot...things are moving along and it is only the end of may....next month will have its share of growth ans surprises too.

greeen manure on a bed of rye

the green manure seed bed in the pgp is doing fine...like the stand in my yard, both the dixie clover and the hairy vetch are in bloom which speaks of seed to come...and the hairy vetch is hitching a ride on the rye here as well..tendrils everywhere...one wonders if they will get to the chinese yams...so far so good this season and i will be collecting all the seed and moving all the plants possible over the next six months...it started out as a year for physically moving gardens and it will finish that way as well...resilience is something we're trying to learn here...my thoughts are that we will need all we can muster soon enough.

grasses in the pgp

both the annual ( top photo ) and perennial ( second photo ) strains of the maize ancestor teosinte have reached a couple of inches in height and now that the weather is warming they should start to grow like...well...corn...should be able to visibly see it grow if you have the right kind of eyes...the eastern gamagrass in the third photo is a hardy native grass that serve as a forage plant...mostly for deer around here...they seem to love the seeds which is ood since they resemble nothing so much as little chunks of wood when they mature...no accounting for taste i suppose...the winter rye that i panted as a cover crop with the fall green manures ( hairy vetch, dixie clover , and yellow peas ) has seed heads developing...i believe i will let them mature and save more seed...thee will be bits and pieces of this garden spread around after the autumn shutdown...it will remain in spirit and in fact.

surprise appendix

along the perimeter of the surprises more is going on...the dixie clover is in full bloom...seed saving for other gardens is next...it will be going in along with new zealand white clover wherever there's a need for green manure...the winter rye ( second photo ) intercropped with the clover is erupting in seed heads ( just like the ones in my back yard ) and that will provide seed for cover crops in beds as they winter over and hold nitrogen for plant sin the spring...there is perennial teosinte popping up in the four year old stand and this gardener is pleased by that even if the university isn't ( third photo )...bottom photo is th epgp about 7:30 this morning...coming along.