first corn

first corn
Originally uploaded by inverted reptile

This is the tiny baby corn from the precocious but ultimately stunted red corn plant which is now about a tenth the size of the others (which are probably 9 fee tall!). I probably picked it too soon (I'd meant to let them all dry on the stalk) so we'll see how well it dries. I tried a kernel. It tastes like, well, cornmeal, since it isn't sweet corn. I was expecting this to be more red, since the leafy parts of the plant have a lot of red pigment in them. There were red kernels in the mix i planted. I'll have to do more research to see if I can find anything on heirloom corn genetics.

It looks like I'm only going to get one cob per plant. I may experiment with clipping the tassel off the top of some of the plants to see if they'll put out more fruit. There is a complicated hormone related reason why that may work which I am too heat-addled to dredge up at the moment.

This is kind of a weird time in the garden. Summer squash is at eat-one-a-day levels, the basil is growing like mad, and I am kind of terrified of all the tomatoes that will be ripe soon. The spring greens are all pretty much toast, (aside from chard and kale, which are pretty much always in season). I would like to plant some more greens, maybe have another go with the cumin, and I have onion starts to plant, but I'm not sure I could keep any young plants alive right now. All I can really do is water.

Chickpeas

chickpea detail
Originally uploaded by inverted reptile

This is my most successful food plant experiment. The sprouting chickpeas I got at the co-op sprouted nicely. They took a while to get going once I transplanted them, but took off. Now they are two feet tall, with a pod every couple of inches. I think they are just about done for the year. I'm going to let them die and plant another batch, since it only took half a season for them to get this far. The fresh pods are very sweet, like very sweet peas (which, technically, chickpeas are). They only have one or two peas to a pod. The most interesting thing about the plant is a sticky substance extruded from the trichomes. I haven't yet figured out what it is for. Bug protection? Heat dissipation? They don't seem to particularly require a lot of water, which the second theory would suppose.
I'm excited to see how much my five or six plants yield.

ginger

ginger
Originally uploaded by inverted reptile

Tiny ginger sprouts! It doesn't look like much, but its grown hugely in the last couple of days. I got directions for growing ginger here. This batch of my Exotic Herbs Experiment is proceeding. I lost all my tiny cumin starts to water-neglect and cats crapping in the bed. Better babysitting next time. The sesame is alive but not doing too much.

riot

riot
Originally uploaded by inverted reptile

I haven't really been paying adequate attention to the garden, and really haven't since the end of June or so. Its at the phase where I can mostly leave it alone and let it grow. I've been watering the stuff that is least well-grown, mostly my peppers and the watermelon. It's been raining enough that I can mostly get away with it. Here's my corn patch. You can see the bean climbing in the foreground, and the squash blossom deep in the middle. The red corn in the foreground is the same early maturer I've posted pics of before. Now the squashes are as tall as it, and the tallest corn are a good seven or eight feet--higher than I can reach at the tip of the tassel.

Now, I have been told that you shouldn't start corn indoors, because it doesn't like being transplanted. Or maybe it's just traditional to plant them out because it's less labor. Anyway, it is epically bigger and more mature than any other corn in the neighborhood, which is mostly knee high right now. Either my yard is somehow magically condusive to corn like it seems to be to tomato volunteers, or starting it on April 1 indoors is truly the way to go. Makes me wish I had more of it.

cucumber

cucumber
Originally uploaded by inverted reptile

The summer crops are really starting to get going! Since I don't have a lot of time at the moment, go look at my flickr account to see a few more pictures of my 3 sisters plantings. The corn is totally huge and gorgeous! I can't wait for the squash to get going, either.