Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Garden cowpeas, zinnias and an Esme in a hat


big smile with hat



This is my nose
future blackmail photo!



Zinnias blooming


The one 'flat' looking purple zinnia on the right and the red one on the left are from an heirloom package of Kirk Estate zinnias bought from The Little Ragamuffin shop on Etsy. They really stand out as different among the store bought package, which called itself 'lollipop.' I think I should start collecting them into two different piles as all the zinnia seed was going together before I realized what the difference was from.


tithonia, mexican sunflower
has incredibly soft leaves



Purple hyacinth bean
pretty, but poisonous
and only in the garden because it was given to me by a friend



Wasps on the cowpeas


I swear they are pollinating - they crawl all over the little 'buds' in the crooks of the stems and then visit the flowers. I do not know exactly how cowpeas pollinate, but it does seem the little 'buds' are producing nectar and that they specifically attract the insects using this nectar. There are no bees on the cowpeas when they are around - they are chasing them away, perhaps? They are also doing the same activities to the green snap beans nearby. The articles say that cowpeas are self-pollinaters, with the male parts producing pollen that then bursts itself onto the female flowers as they open. However, it also says that cowpeas can cross-pollinate, with the male pollen being transferred by insects and other methods. One study showed that the amount of fruit production was ten times as much in the presence of insects than it was in the isolation from insects. That is very cool!

I don't mind too terribly about cross-pollination in the garden as long as all of the results are edible. It is getting something inedible I worry about. Other than that - it would be interesting to see what shows up!


Black eyed peas cowpeas
growth habit pole type and green pods with purple tips


There are some black eyed peas in the back of the garden that have no support whatsoever.. they don't seem to care. They are crawling along the ground and sticking their pods up here and there. The ones that did have poles went RIGHT up them.


Shackamaxon bean
pole type, purple flower


This has been slow to grow and quite a few plants were lost to too wet conditions earlier in the season. The few plants that have grown up to find support are starting to thrive now and I hope to get a few beans to multiply seed from. It is nice they are a purple flower because all of the others near them (kentucky wonder, white half-runner) are white flower plants and telling them apart otherwise would have been difficult.


Purple Hulled peas
growth habit bush type and purple pods



bug enemies
on the purple hulled peas *growl!*


We have done very little to discourage the insect population, besides pulling and killing some by hand and slashing the zucchini when it was too bugged to try to keep it up. Considering the 'life' out there in the garden we are getting a very decent harvest. I do fear what will happen next year, with all these critters doing their best to populate their own species. We might not get any harvest if the bugs outpace the produce next year.


fresh and dried purple hull peas in pods
about 9 seeds to a pod



Mississippi Silver crowder pea
growth habit, pole type and pods


The ones that did not find the fence seemed content to put on their pods close to the ground and wait to be found. It is also possible that those pods were just 'firsts' before the plant had runners long enough to get to the fence. I would think that a few plants would survive without support just fine but for more than a few it would take something for them to train on to keep them out of the moisture and provide more protection against the insects.


Mississippi silver crowder cowpea
purple flower



14 seeds to a pod : mississippi silver crowder



This year's dry mississippi silver crowder peas against the original seed



Whippoorwill cowpeas
growth habit semi pole type and green pods with purple tip


The ones that are unsupported seem to be twining among themselves and the others near the cornstalks are reaching out and grabbing them.

Articles:
Hand crossing cowpeas
Outcrossing in cowpeas
pollination in pea flowers
Floral morphology in cowpeas
Darwin's study on scarlet runner bean pollination

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