an allium sort of day

last autumn i built a new bed and moved the ramps to the north side of the house to provide them with more shade than they were getting in the old bed...i also put down a thick mulch of fallen leaves since i am trying to fool the ramps into thinking they are in the woods somewhere...last year i already had ramps up around this time so i decided it was time to have more than a cursory look at the bed...when i began to pull the leaf mulch off the bed i discovered that the bottom layer of leaves were frozen together...and the soil in the interior part of the bed is still frozen a few inches down from the surface...the soil around the perimeter of the bed is thawed and it was there that i found the first ramp of the season poking through the soil surface ( third photo )...i returned a much thinner layer of leaves tot he bed so there will be more thawing and...hopefully...more ramps emerging...that finished i set off to look around the yard and, surprisingly, found one of the brussels sprouts i planted for a fall crop last year with still green leaves..i am thoroughly skeptical about its ability to produce anything and i have bought seed for a new attempt and will be starting that very soon.....the egyptian walking onions ( fifth and sixth photos ) overwintered very well and look robust in early march and...difficult as it may be to differentiate them...there are twenty garlic plants poking through the straw mulch in various places ( bottom photo )..so the late winter is replete with the allium family representatives...they are early starters and will be done by june or so...fresh organic garlic and onions...when the spuds come in there will be a fine lunch.