Thom Bri

More flowers. Some kind of cone flower. Seeds were saved last fall and scattered widely around the garden. Hopefully won't compete with the corn too much.

May Lotito wrote:...All right of my Montana morado corns are silking. I guess since the variety was bred for fast maturing in a shorter season, they respond too well to heat and humidity.

So far the Inca giant corns are looking similar to bloody butchers. I am wondering how tall they will end up being...

Wow! It's early. So I was out on the garden yesterday and fortunately had my camera handy. See what my Mountain Morado is doing. It's barely a foot tall and ALREADY TASSELING! The whole row. Clearly not latitude adapted to my zone. I wonder if it will produce anything at all. Unless it really comes along I doubt it will be worth adding into my other crop since that would require staggered planting times.

The Maize Morado on the other hand is the same height but not tasseling at all yet. The two varieties are supposed to be descended from the same source so I wonder what the difference is.

Corn was grown in the colonial era, far colder then current temps, up into Canada. So the possibility exists.
They used a ridge-and-furrow system that caused frost to form in the lower areas. Cold air sinks. The tops of the mounds stayed frost-free. Hope this link works:


Anatomy of a Ridged Garden-Bed Complex:
Applying Soil Phytolith and Humic Acid Analysis and
Experimental Archaeology to Understanding Garden
Construction at Menominee River Garden Beds
Wendy Munson-Scullin and Michael Scullin

https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/109325301/Munson_Scullin_and_Scullin_2022_Menominee_River_Garden_Beds-libre.pdf?1703104523=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DAnatomy_of_a_Ridged_Garden_Bed_Complex_A.pdf&Expires=1781711311&Signature=OpMxHkqfB2SMhZ2eFWD~6rVz1l3AZra27tLhRw7joHWXbmUH4nLnFioW09ja5s4Fjci9gt4sgVtTHPX4Vv-iXaXsciVifS4JRhoUXRScRtZ~YN3NzFsaksCZFIqL1Ehakj9W4vnx0fxzUqNqf58HfTU6ubqu-yQA8Zj~NX-PkJBrFOQzWUCKrh8PECqbdUzSBMBGv5DWluKmOr5lmDzMTxTjfSvfC5q-yJDreXHXhy6PzQMs1ESlJM~kq5IEUw6uTnZU30Bm9vEi35AvNlkLGSH8hGXAtvRSsN3pvbEcbwM8Trea3AG4RIDAAsPVdT4kjbDoNFdeRKp5ADSaGAUFFA__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA

Near the garden I found this amazing mulberry tree. I have never seen a mulberry this loaded. Sadly, they were bland.
A whole large tree covered like this.

Sunflower volunteer

Scattered lots and lots of flower seeds around the garden as well. Mostly marigolds but also some cone flowers. Seeing a fair number of sprouts.

Spread radish and turnip seeds around near the squash plants. In theory they will confuse the squash bugs and protect the plants. Some are growing but I'd like a lot more.

In my home garden there are lots of semi-wild brassicas, descendants of all the various things I have planted in past years, arugula, broccoli and I honestly don't know what all the others are. We eat the leaves. Some are very strong and mustardy tasting. Anyway they are all flowering and setting seeds now. My plan is to collect lots of seeds and just scatter them around all the squash plants, hoping they will help protect them.
Killed the first squash bug of the season today, and a few egg clusters.

Tallest corn is about knee-high. Looking pretty good. 2 inches and 3/10 a few days ago so we are doing well.
I found a group of tomato volunteers today and spread them out around the garden. Took several pics of various plants growing.

I have thinned the hills down to 3 or 4 plants per hill. I have found that more plants than that and I end up with lots of barren stalks or stalks that grow poorly.

The conventional field-no till, with herbicides etc., contrasted with my corn in hills. Both actually look good right now. I had to replant a bunch of hills but most of them have good sprouts growing now.