Open Thread

header: garden report . . .

I have just gotten back from a vacation. I set my garden up as best I could before I went. Upon return, I see the still-alive parts have survived and grown some.

I let a burdock keep growing instead of calling it a weed and killing it. It was already bigger than the average burdock and is now way bigger. Next year I expect its reproductive flower-seed stalk to also be way bigger than normal, and I will trim and groom it for ornamental gardenscape effect. That’s why I let it keep growing.

The hickory cane corn I finally got planted by late June after several chipmunk delays
has all long-since tasseled, most of it has silked, and most of the silkers have begun setting ears. A few of the ears have visibly grown since my departure. It is now a race between the corn maturing some ears before the first kill-freeze or the first kill-freeze killing every ear before maturity. If any ears reach total replantable seed-viability before kill-freeze, those plants’ seed will have been selected for surviving a much shorter than normal and proper growing season.

It would be nice to plant that corn on time some day to see what it can do with that kind of basic care and consideration.

I also had planted 8 smallish potatoes and got back 22 medium to medium-large potatoes. Not a professional yield, but seriously encouraging to a beginner.