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Monday, June 5, 2017
Spring Crops
There's a quick transformation in the seasons going on right now, as all those seeded farm crops suddenly emerge and show bright green lines across the fields. I can tell what crops these are in August or September, when they're ready to be harvested, but it's a different story at this stage! So I'm going to follow several fields and try to describe how these crops change over the season. Follow me along as I try to learn what I'm seeing in those fields.
The winter wheat has been growing well since it was planted last fall. A cold northern crop, it survives the snow and cold just fine, and is well underway immediately in the spring, making it also the first grain crop to mature and be harvested. It's two feet tall in some fields.
Corn on the other hand, is just starting to emerge. It can be damaged by heavy frost if it's very far out of the ground, but these plants are safe now. It's easy to recognize by the wider rows of emerging plants, and there seems to be quite a lot of it around here this year.
I can also recognize this one, soybeans, though you have to look closely to see it. Not looking like grass at all, these are tiny bean plants, and they're quite frost sensitive, so another crop not planted until later in May.
On the other hand, I have to admit I don't know this crop. Most of the other common crops here, spring wheat, oats, and mixed grain (with either barley or rye) are all members of the grass family, and at this stage as far as I know, they all look the same. I'm going to follow several fields like this and report on them once I have it figured out.
This one is a complete puzzle to me, a combination of a grass and clover. I have no idea how this will turn out, but I'll let you know. I also have to find a canola field, and if I'm lucky I might find a field of flax.
And there are still lots of brown fields like this, with only the slightest green showing or none at all. I'm going to have to wait to see what grows here. Hope you'll follow along with me and learn about these crops with me.
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Like yourself I Have learned more in the last few years about crops then anytime before and both my grandfathers were farmers. They must be ashamed.
ReplyDeleteBe Safe and Enjoy!
It's about time.
Some of the planting here was going on last weekend. You are weeks ahead of us.
ReplyDeleteInteresting to see all the different crops . The clover and grass one I remember from my farming days is that some farmers plant clover as it serves as green manure that amends soil by fixing nitrogen. A clover’s three (or occasionally four) leaves pull nitrogen from the atmosphere and channel it down to a vast root system, where its nodes turn it into a stable form of decaying plant tissue that nourishes its neighbors. Could be why there is a crop with clover in it I am guessing . Lovely photos I will be keeping my eye out on your findings as to what is what in those fields . Thanks for sharing , Have a good day !
ReplyDeleteI love watching things grow and seeing the fields and hills come to life in spring. Hope it will be a fruitful summer!
ReplyDeleteWhen we lived on the VA eastern shore, we would see fields of winter wheat and corn plants, soybeans and tomatoes. I enjoyed this post because it reminded me of those sights.
ReplyDeleteAlways so pretty this time of year watching those brown manicured fields coming alive with an abundance of young green shoots.
ReplyDeleteI too like to watch the crops start sprouting up at the farms. It is amazing how fast they grow too.
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures.
I so like the way the rows turn round at the paddock corners, and those lines, really a skill from the tractor driver. Wait and see, this will be exciting as we find the crops yet un-named.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun to see the fields change with the seasons.
ReplyDeleteyes we see alot of mostly corn or maize growing in fields, the latter is usually for the livestock.
ReplyDeleteA nice series, Stew. Most of us take our pre-packaged, sanitised, food for granted, without thinking where it comes from!
ReplyDeleteTo follow a field through the seasons - what an interesting idea!
ReplyDeleteThere is a tremendous amount of soybeans grown here, along with cotton, corn, and winter wheat.
When I worked in farming about a quarter of a century ago I thought I knew all the crops grown hereabouts. However now I find that new varieties and, indeed, whole new crops, leave me baffled and bewildered. One farmer near here, for example, grows a lot of crops for wild bird seed for people to put in their feeders - what hope have I got!
ReplyDeleteHello, great series. I am sure it will all grow very fast. Happy Tuesday, enjoy your day!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing what emerges from those fields. What a good idea to share these early crops as they mature and show their nature. Lovely! Your posts always teach me something. :-)
ReplyDeleteI was also watching the fields on our last trip to London. I'm ashamed that I don't know what they all are, being a once upon a time farm girl. My excuse is that I was very young. I recognize the winter wheat, corn and usually beans but they have to be inches above the earth first!
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed you know some of the crops. I've never taken the time to figure that out - I just drive by fields, see a vast sea of green and think "oh, something's growing over there."
ReplyDeleteWe shall see what becomes of them!
ReplyDeleteIt's a lovely world. Everything is so green.
ReplyDeleteI will find this very interesting. I need to go take a photo of the winter wheat around here...and soon or it will be harvested.
ReplyDeletebeautiful green crops - the benefits of rain!!!
ReplyDelete