Saturday, November 4, 2017

green out of season

the teosinte seeds i planted in the basement a week ago have all developed into seedlings with two leaves absorbing all the light they can...
while the ones planted five days ago are exhibiting a single, green leaf...
the wheat that germinated in the water on the basement floor is doing well...the original sprouts are far too "leggy" to ever stand on their own...they will continue to lay there, however they will still be doing their part to feed the roots...the second leaves will be the erect ones and, doubtlessly, the ones that will bear the ears if i am fortunate enough to get them that far...none of these are what could be called house plants and watering plants over the winter in a cool and humid basement has always been a bit of a challenge...the tendency is to over-water ( i struggle with self control on this and if i give in i struggle with fungi ) and that is not helpful...still we are doing well so far and there is room and one more light fixture ( and no more outlets beyond that...this is an exercise in limits in more ways than one ) for any of the test seeds that come along far enough to be planted... with fourteen out of thirty test seeds planted i am thinking we are nearing the end of the seeds' viability...nearly half is not bad for seed that stretches back fourteen years in at least one instance ( and it is germinating at 40% )...one thing i am sure of is there will be teosinte in the yard and in the garden next spring.

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