Apr. 14th, 2022

ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Folks have mentioned an interest in questions and conversations that make them think. So I've decided to offer more of those. The current batch features landrace gardening.


Adaptivar Landraces

Definition
Landrace growing is an intimate relationship between a location, a farmer, and a population of genetically-diverse seed. An adaptivar landrace is a foodcrop containing lots of genetic diversity which tends to produce stable yields under marginal growing conditions. Landrace crops are adaptively selected via farmer choice and survival-of-the-fittest for reliability in tough conditions. The arrival of new pests, new diseases, or changes in cultural practices or in the environment may harm some plants in a landrace population, but with so much diversity many plants are likely to do well under the changing conditions.
In the case of mostly self-pollinating plants like peppers, tomatoes, beans, wheat, and peas a landrace may be thought of as many distinct varieties growing side by side.
In the case of out-crossing plants like cantaloupe, squash, or corn, a landrace can be thought of as an open pollinated population with tremendous genetic diversity. Most of the seeds in an out-crossing landrace end up being unique F1 hybrids
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ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Today is sunny, cool, and quite windy.  Yesterday it rained off and on all day.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a pair of house finches, a mourning dove, and a fox squirrel.  I can't blame them for wanting to stay out of the wind today. 

EDIT 4/14/22 -- I finished raking dry grass stems off the big bluestem patch.  I hauled 2 trolleys full to the firepit.  \o/

EDIT 4/14/22 -- I did some weeding in the septic garden.

EDIT 4/14/22 -- I pulled more weeds from the septic garden.

EDIT 4/14/22 -- I pulled more weeds from the septic garden.

EDIT 4/14/22 -- I pulled more weeds, and moved some wild onions from the middle of the septic garden to the edge.

EDIT 4/14/22 -- I pulled more weeds and transplanted more wild onions.  Some of them have bulbs the size of a shooting marble.  :D
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Yesterday, Dad asked me to pick out daffodil bulbs for us to split this fall. Today, my partner Doug placed the order with Breck's. (They have a huge sale running through May 6.) Here's what we ordered:

Giant Daffodils for Naturalizing -- 70 bulbs
Spectrum Sweet Aroma Daffodil Mixture -- 70
Sinopel (green cup) -- 5
Jonquilla Daffodil Mixture (fragrant, multi-flowered) -- 15
Hybridizer's Daffodil Mixture -- 15
Late Spring Flowering Daffodil Mixture -- 15
Hybridizer's Pink Daffodil Mixture -- 12
White Daffodil Mixture -- 15
Weatherproof Daffodil Mixture -- 15
Riot (red cup) -- 5 bulbs

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