GRAINS UPDATE

A little late, but here’s the sad story best told in pictures. One of the summer storms a few weeks ago hit us just right.

    The amaranth is gone. I should have known better than to grow it in a straight row. Even with the support of the other plants our wheat ‘lodged’ in this area. Corn will tend to blow over as well, which is why you want to plant ‘blocks’ or fairly tightly spaced rows. Another issue with this area is that it creates something of a wind tunnel effect between the houses.

       My only excuse is that I envisioned it as a more bushy plant having never seen it growing. Lesson learned  Next year there will be a block in front and I’ll grow a melon of some kind in the middle of it to take advantage of the light shade. I haven’t seen them listed as companion plants, so we’ll just have to see if they each grow well.

       The sorghum is doing well, even in it’s single row.  The stalks are much tougher and they are somewhat shielded from a west wind (the way the afternoon howlers tend to come) by the house. They do look a bit more like corn than I had thought they would, as I had only seen them growing from a distance in a field/commercial agriculture environment.

Our neighbor consultant on all things “old timey farm” says we are to wait til the tops turn dark red before we cut. They are still pretty yellow.