Saturday, October 16, 2010

chinese yams




i went and dug the yams this morning...and as i was doing so i picked up another twenty-five yam bulbs that were hiding by the base of one of the plants...the reading i've been doing said that the yams could be as much as thirty-six inches deep...i am greatful they were not...one set was about a foot down, the other eighteen inches or so which was good because the sandy soil under the garden is packed and hard as a bloody rock...which may explain why the yams weren't that deep...i ran into the odd jerusalem artichoke as i harvested the yam on the north side...i can't help but think i will be running into the odd jerusalem artichoke in perpetuity no matter what i am doing in the garden...i saw a multiplicity of red wigglers as i was doing this which is heartening...i have been returning organic matter to the garden as i harvest ( today it was some cowpea plants i put back in after the harvest ) and part of the area i dug up was where i put the remains of the potato plants in july...they have been processed into worm castings and that pleases me no end...putting the cowpea plants back in a green condition will enhance their nitrogen setting by returning what is in the plant to the soil as well as the surplus that was created by thier sybiosis with thier bacterial pals...i have also harvested several hundered seeds from these cowpeas so the process will be self sustaining...the season is almost over...some sunchokes to harvest and garden to mulch for winter...next season beckons.

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