o ye of little faith I

whatever the outcome to day marks the officially observed opening of the i u northwest community garden's 2014 season...there is garlic up and running in one of the beds there...curiously not in one of the main beds that were planted last autumn...these two plants are in an outlying bed and were planted there because we flat ran out of room in the designated beds because someone over ordered garlic ( who, i wonder, did that? even gave a bunch away...still had too much )...they seem to have survived the winter well and aren't waiting around for someone to say the weather is "spring-like"...they are moving to their own clock...the main garlic beds are suffering from an interesting handicap...the ground there is still frozen...which explains the dearth of sprouts there...when fabric was purchased for the mulch cover white was chosen because we did not want to send the strawberries the wrong signal that darker fabric may have...we wanted to reflect heat, not absorb it so the berries would revive in warmer temperatures...there was an ample supply of white fabric so it was used for all the mulch covers and has so successfully reflected sunlight that even fifty degree ( fahrenheit ) days failed to thaw the ground and stimulate sprouts...so...some evening this coming week we will be removing the covers and straw from the beds to facilitate the onset of more garlic...the season is on...don't forget to get a program...the changes could be bewildering if you don't.