it's mid october and the ramps are dormant...every year i have grown them (so far ) i have removed the native vegetation that takes over when the ramps die back...
i harvested what seed i could find...which was nothing like last year's bumper crop...which was the first clue to the coming disappointment...
after i cleared the surface i systematically dug the bed to find the ramps and remove a network of roots( what sort i do not know ) that invade the bed between the ramps and the soil surface all across the bed each year ( again, so far )...
i put a net around the ramp bed in april when i noticed the surface of the soil being dug...i had suspected predation ( animal or human is undecided ) and today's result would seem to validate that suspicion...i had counted a population of some seventy odd plants last spring but found only thirty-six ramps...these being the largest...could i have missed some? at this point i certainly hope so...
i replanted some of them in the cleared, hoed, and aerated bed in an undisclosed pattern and in undisclosed locations...we will see what spring brings...my hope is i missed any number during the dig...the bed had a surprising population of millipedes... which wasn't a real thrill...
difficult as it may be to clearly discern, the coiled object on my glove is one of the many earthworms i encountered as i searched the bed...always a pleasing sight for a gardener...once the leaves fall there will be a mulch and we will wait for march to see what transpires with this branch of the allium family.
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