done

the garden looks like the scenery for a beckett play this morning and the barrenness isn't going to diminish...

i did find one intransigent sunflower out there...and its days are growing shorter...

and at the moment the sunflower has the garden to itself since my purpose in going was to put he asparagus to bed for the winter...there is a bit of green left in it...

however even that is wilting...

so i cut it all back with the lops...snipping the stems off close to the soil surface...not beneath it as i would if harvesting spears...

because i covered the stems with a layer of compost to give the crowns some insulation for winter...like last season i have dispensed with the layer of straw held in place with fabric...the root systems are old and deep enough that they simple plants...they are productive and eat a lot...

i closed my bed down two weeks ago...

the clover, winter wheat, and winter rye i planted in, i believe, late september, as a cover crop/ green manure have taken hold and should be fine...

unfortunately ( but not unexpectedly ) the ones i planted later have failed to prosper...so we will be adding a good deal of compost come spring...having been evicted from the most fertile bed in the garden ( which i had labored on for a number of seasons ) i will need to begin the process all over...which may find a bed of cow peas and vetch there next season to simply rejuvenate the soil...seems warranted...this will probably be my last trip out until next year...no good reason to go until march when the asparagus needs uncovering and the vetch can go in.