changes

when i left for work this morning my thermometer read 16 degrees ( fahrenheit ) and it's all of nineteen degrees warmer as i write...the new zealand white clover in the beds (top photo )is cold hardy but it isn't cold stupid...it has all lain over in a effort to protect more sensitive parts and so looks beaten down...well...the cold will weaken it but that is what is going to give the early spring root crops we plan to intercrop there in the spring an opportunity to germinate...asparagus is cold hardy as well and the first year plants out there are still green ( second and third photos )...we are not going to mulch the asparagus since the clover cover is so dense ( and i don't want to kill the clover )...we'll see if that is enough to preserve the asparagus...there is some winter vetch out there ( fourth photo ) but not nearly as much as i would like...that particular mix of green manures was one we planted rather late and so it hasn't had time to germinate fully and establish itself...next autumn perhaps we will do better..the fifth photo is of the iuncg late this morning and the six is what it was doing on the tenth of last july...things change...things stay the same...look for another set of photos next july tenth.