Crocosmia

Do you know the flower crocosmia? It's a South African native, a corm in the Iris family, and spreads so rapidly that it can be a bit of a bully in the garden.

This is not a photograph I took, but here is how it looks when it blooms.

It's  a lovely plant and the hummingbirds do like it. 

About 12 years ago, a friend gave me some corms and I planted them (unknowingly) in the wrong spot. I think they've bloomed twice in those twelve years, though the greenery comes up every year like clockwork. I thought it was time to dig them up and see what they looked like, and replant them in various other places in the garden to see if they'll do better somewhere else.

Corms are interesting because the 'mother' corm is at the bottom and is the oldest in the 'chain.' The 'daughter' corms are above the mother and continue to form new daughters as the years go by. Several of the corms I dug up had over 10 daughter corms. As the chain grows, the mother corm actually pulls herself down deeper into the soil in order to make room for the daughters.

It was fun to dig down deep and discover the chains of corms. Some were shriveled and used up, some were papery, some were red. Some had already sprouted.

Being South African, you'd think these plants would want full sun and dry conditions. But that's where I've had them all these years, and they haven't flowered much. So I replanted them in shadier conditions near the drip line. They'd probably like some looser, richer soil, but I'll see how they do without any amendments first. 

Do you grow crocosmia?

Heading

Growing heirloom winter wheat has been such an interesting experiment. Grains are an excellent rotation for any cropping system, as they build soil and feed microorganisms with their extensive roots. They prevent erosion, cover the earth, and provide a great deal of biomass that can be used as mulch or compost material. There's very little pest pressure.  And, if you're lucky, you get a crop on top of all that.

Our wheat crop, which was 'lodging' (or falling over) has righted itself and is now 'heading.' The plants generally go through an aggressive growing process in early spring, then form a type of leaf called a 'flag,' which is easily seen in the above photo. The flag leaf produces a shaft wherein the grain begins reproduction. Those flowers you see are self-pollinating, and after the pollination process, seeds will form.

I grew up near farming communities on the east coast, but I don't ever remember seeing grain. I know very little about it. I imagine if you grow up in the mid-west, you're very used to seeing these crops. I have had a good time researching how wheat grows; I've needed to consult the experts at every stage. It's evident that my crop is heading quite a bit earlier than wheat usually does in our state, early April being the common time. We had very warm temperatures for about two weeks in early February, which I think triggered the plants to begin reproduction. February 15 is our last frost date, so I'm hoping that it won't get too cold now (temperatures have dropped!), and that the seeds can withstand that chill. If they do withstand it, this early heading is a great thing, because I might just get a small crop in before I plant out tomatoes in May. Normally wheat isn't ready to harvest until late May or early June here.

When the plant has set seed, it will start to brown and dry up. Then I will know it is time to harvest, sheave, and then thresh. Of course, the right amount of water is very important now, so I'm glad we have an irrigation system, as it hasn't rained here for the entire month of February, and actually I don't remember getting any significant moisture in January either. 

Meanwhile, I'm in the process of potting up over 200 sunflower seedlings. I may have overdid, just a little.

Peppers and Poop

Yesterday, I got all the peppers seeded, 50 in all! I want to make our own powdered paprika, so I planted three different kinds of Hungarian paprika peppers. We've got the usual other hot peppers, as they seem to be reliable for us, and a great mixture of both bell and horn-shaped  sweets for roasting and eating fresh.

Peppers take a little while to germinate, so I wanted to start them a couple weeks earlier than tomatoes. I'm glad to have them in a tray, on a heat mat, under lights. Our house was feeling curiously bare without any seed-starting activity. It feels weird to start everything so late, but I'm trying to time our big harvest for August rather than July.

I do believe I might plant all of the peppers in 10 gallon pots this year. Room in the beds is always at a premium, and peppers do well in containers, some say even better than in beds. This is because the roots stay very warm. 

In other news, we had a poop windfall. A friend of mine raises rabbits in a large coop-like structure outdoors. The floor of the coop is concrete so the rabbits don't dig out, and on top is a mixture of garden soil and hay. Over the last many months, the rabbits have added their feces and urine to this mixture, all while digging and aerating it. My friend wanted to remove it and replace it with fresh dirt and hay, and called me to see if I wanted to take the old mixture away. Oh yes, I giddily replied. Today Tom and I made two trips and ended up with a nice big pile of enriched soil, which will sit under the apple tree until I'm ready to plant tomatoes, and then we'll amend the beds with it.

Rabbit poop can be used right away around plants, as it's not as 'hot' as chicken manure, which needs to be composted first. However it will only improve with a little sitting. Here's a close up of the soil:

It's so good to have friends who think this way and call me when they have this sort of thing to give away! I'm not going to have to buy compost this year, or maybe an extremely reduced amount, which is stellar.

Today

"If ever there were a spring day so perfect, so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze ...

... that it made you want to throw open all the windows in the house...

... and unlatch the door to the canary's cage, indeed, rip the little door from its jamb, ...

... a day when the cool brick paths and the garden bursting with peonies ...

... seemed so etched in sunlight that you felt like taking ....

... a hammer to the glass paperweight on the living room end table, ...

... releasing the inhabitants from their snow-covered cottage ...

... so they could walk out, holding hands and squinting ...

... into this larger dome of blue and white, well, today is just that kind of day."

- Billy Collins, 'Today'

New Macro Lens

I'm taking a class this term called 'Insect Identification and Management' and we have to make an insect collection. Yes, that means what you think it does; we're supposed to kill and pin insects to keep as a scientific record. Several of us students are opposed to this practice and have convinced the professor (a reasonable man) to allow us to make photographic collections instead. Many of the students taking photographs have excellent cameras with huge intimidating lenses. I adore taking pictures but want something I can carry in my pocket, as I'm sort of an on-the-fly photographer. So my iPhone does the job well enough. However it has become clear that in order to get good pictures of tiny, flying, wriggling,  ALIVE insects, I needed to step it up. And so I went searching for something I could carry in my pocket that could attach easily to my phone. And I think I've found a serviceable item.

this millipede was super small - like the size of a grain of rice.

It's made by a company called Xenvo, and it's a lens attached to a clip. Actually there are two lenses; one for wide shots, and one for macro shots (the tiny stuff). The clip just attaches on to your phone, and the lens covers the lens on your phone. Easy.

This is just one of the lenses.

It was packaged very nicely, coming with a clip-on light, and a cord, and a special carrying case, and lens caps. It was all cushioned beautifully. And it only cost about $30.

I took it out in the yard today to play with it a bit and see what kinds of shots I could capture. One thing I noticed right away was the ability of the lens to focus on something small. So often, when I try to take pictures of a very tiny thing, the iPhone lens focuses on the background, and it takes a long time for it to focus on the item you're trying to take a picture of - and sometimes it never focuses at all. With this lens attachment, the focus is right there, no waiting.

a close-up of lichen 

I'm hoping this lens will help me take better pictures of insects and bugs. 

I'm also looking forward to trying out the wide lens when I'm hiking, and trying to take pictures of the views. These lenses are both small enough to keep in my pocket when I'm walking.

I love the idea of having a big fancy camera (there's also something attractive about the ability to hide behind it), but the logistics are just difficult for me. Am I going to take a heavy thing around my neck when I hike? Doubtful. And what if I'm gardening and I see something I really want to phtotograph (this happens ten times a day at least)? Am I going to want to run into the house to find my fancy camera? No! Whatever I wanted to take the picture of might not be there when I come back! So this is much easier. A little more power in my pocket.

What about you? Do you like to take nature photos? Do you have a big rig, or do you just use your phone?