cinco de mayo

i went out to campus this morning because i hadn't been out there since wednesday and i need to see what was up...and, among other things, there are an even dozen potato plants out there now ( top photo )...there's even a government potato up ( another nordland ) they're spread out, inter-cropped with the asparagus and wheat which will be done well before the potatoes so i am hoping there won't be that much nutrient competition...but then i have lots of compost...the second photo is of what i still consider to be a doomed yam...already overshadowed by the jerusalem artichoke behind it...soon enough there won't be much sunlight there at all......the third photo is of a vine from one of the three year old yams that has moved a foot-and-a-half down the jute twine on the trellis...the sunchokes pose absolutely no threat to this plant...they're both invasive perennials...uncontrolled it would be a riotous competition...that's what human intervention is for...i wonder if i'm smarter than the plants...a toss-up there i think...the third photo is the other established yam whose vines have topped the trellis support and are finding their way to horizontal expansion ( they aren't happy about that by the way...they have to be forced..they want to go up...human intervention again...eventually they go along with it..but not with out the plant equivalent of a howl )...finally there's a photo of an asparagus spear that i let go too long ( three days is an eternity in asparagus time )and it has started to fern..so instead of harvesting it i just left it to feed the roots...that plant will put out more spears soon...so much for the day's maintenance trip...we are doing alright despite the odd weather so far this season..at least the dry spell let up...more later...maybe something form the backyard.