iuncg 6-25-2020

i want to make it clear that i stood in public spaces and used the "zoom" features on my cameras to take these photos...i did not wander onto university property ( unless, of course, they lay claim to the alley and the sidewalks...not beyond them i imagine...and we could launch into a discussion of the increasingly corporate structures of universities here...however this is a gardening blog so i will refrain...or save it for another venue )...i wouldn't want there to be any misunderstanding...i also wanted to have a look...

someone did have the foresight to cover the beds with landscaping fabric to reduce the number of native plants that found their way into the fallow beds...a logical and well thought idea...

and it proved mostly effective across most of the beds...except...

maintenance doesn't seem to have been part of the thinking...late spring and early summer storms have brought wind as well as substantial rain and some of the fabric has come unmoored...exposing the beds to colonization...

and among the natives i found a thriving population of the non-native carolina horse nettle...

some of which are happily blooming which signals that they have been up and running for weeks, not days...the fabric's unmooring is not a recent development...

and even around the edges of the covered beds the opportunistic natives are moving in...

over in what was/is my bed i was pleased to see they left the alfalfa uncovered...it is blooming if unruly and in need of some containment...if the garden should reopen that will be one chore to see too...and there has been an irruption of volunteer spuds there...i never seem able to retrieve all the tubers they set the previous season...there are volunteers in the wheat and rye beds in my back yard as well...for the second year running...

finally, the asparagus is mostly green and fully "ferned" as it should be...however it really needed to be staked upright...unfortunately it is probably too late now...the stems have surely become woody in the heat and attempting to straighten them would likely snap many off...so...bent it will be...there is talk of "reopening" with masks, gloves, social distancing, consent forms, and waivers of responsibility as the university, like any good corporation, covers its legal ass...the "other" community garden is practicing social distancing as well...on the honor system...no paperwork...we are getting along fine.