around the iuncg today II

there are potato blooms everywhere which speaks of healthy plants and good soil...the beets are coming in very well ( third photo...as if you didn't know what a beet looked like )...that green pepper has still escaped notice hiding under the leaves and my last mashua plant is still intact and looking more like a nasturtium every day.

a stroll down the beds I

the bed on the east end of the back row of the garden is booming along with spinach, beets, collards, and turnips...but there has been some turnip harvesting going on ( second and third photos ) that has left open space...since one of the philosophical thrusts of the garden is cyclical planting and as continuous a harvest as possible it was time to plug the hole...my friend fern sent us some egyptian walking onions which are pretty much anytime planters so in they went ( thanks fernita! ) (fourth and fifth photos )...there will be more space opening up and i am planning another bed in a week or two so there's that much more area to plant...there are still a couple of empty beds in the garden that were reserved...one supposes that if they are not planted soon their proprietors will be usurped...you know how gardeners feel about empty beds.

IUNCG news

took a trip out to the garden after work to turn the beds again and i found the season is coming along...the turnips are producing ( top photo ) and the beets in the second photo are working hard...there is some fine looking spinach in the third photo and the asparagus in the fourth is good to see ( found some growing in my truck bed today...more transplants? )...the garlic in the fifth photo are old timers...they've been up since march...a panorama of a young season is last...there will be much more..planting day is in eight days...the biology club is on board for another season...and there are some new beds in the works...stay tuned.

a bit of back yard progress...

it was in the 80s ( fahrenheit ) here today and some things are really starting to take hold...there is a cool down coming but i doubt it will be long in duration or impact...the plan for the ramps ( top photo ) is to just let them go and separate the bunches for fall planting into a second bed to provide ample wild onions for next season...there are spuds everywhere and more on the way...spud city and no mistake...the one in the second photo has added multiple leaves since the last post and will be producing by july...peas and beets ( third and fourth photos ) may not like the heat but they are still moving while the deep green of the winter vetch in the last photo speaks of lots of nitrogen fixation and symbiosis with rhizobia that will feed the winter rye and, if all goes well..produce seed for both to use as cover crops/green manures around the gardens this fall

openeing, closing, leafing

1.48" of rain ( 3.7592 cm )today has had some impact...that and warmer temperatures and lengthening days have added movement to the back yard...that grape bud from a few days ago is unfurling a bit quicker ( top photo )...but the blooms on the wild strawberries were all closed ( second photo )...no pollinators to attract perhaps ( no sign of mason bees yet either )...or just protecting the blooms...either way as furled as the grape leaves are unfurled...the "wild and weedy" corn ancestor ( third photo ) has developed a third leaf on several of the plants which is encouraging...the peas and beets ( fourth and fifth photos ) are looking more like peas and beets these days...and one of the extremely sprouted spuds i planted nine days ago has begun to leaf out as well...so far so good as they say...still want to see some bees...

other garden news

planting day preparations aside, there is already something of a season going on and where there's a season there's news...first up...culled thirty four more rouge jerusalem artichoke this morning ( top photo ) bring int total rouges from that bed to one hundred and forty three...we are not done yet....the turnips, spinach, and beets are doing well ( second photo ) although there is still no sign of parsnips or dill...no sure what happened there..the news of the day however is that the four asparagus plants that were transplanted from the bed of my truck last season have wintered over and have embarked on a second season ( bottom four photos )...perennials! i will be caging these four to insure that no one mistakes them for wees as the grow...it will be interesting to see how many spears develop this season...in four more years we can begin to harvest...cool beans!

other backyard news

the rest of the backyard season is coming along..the ramps ( top photo ) are doing well and the potato plants i potted from out of the basement ( second photo ) have adjusted to their new surroundings...the third and fourth photos tell me peas are up and running and the fifth speaks of beets...the bottom photo shows that i am in possession of a fair stand of winter vetch and winter rye which i will probably allow to go to seed for a batch of seeds for fall green manures/cover crops for other gardens...the season never stops.

seasonal overlap II

there's an outdoor season going on that overlaps the indoor with some similarities as well as significant differences...the garlic looks robust in its bed ( top photo ) as do the ramps ( second and third photos )...the strong resemblance is no illusion since they are from the same family...ramps are allium tricoccum and garlic are allium sativum...relatives that look strongly akin and have similar flavorful uses...like the basement, there are potatoes growing out back...one season ending...the other on the rise...the basement's season will soon find itself outside again as the harvest from the basement containers and the potted tubers on the deck find their way to various gardens around the area...finally there are beets up and running outside as well...still waiting for the peas.

thinning beets

parker! and i used pelletized beet seed when we planted so the beets are coming up in even denser clusters than usual ( top photo ) so i overcame my instincts and thinned them a bit ( second photo )...didn't like it though...the row of turnips is doing just fine ( third photo ) and today's visit finds spinach up ( fourth photo ) and in a row no less ( fifth photo )...so the first bed of the season is well under way with cool weather crops coming in...still no sign of parsnips or dill..patience people...give th e eeds time to do the job.

first planting of 2015

it's past the middle of march and time for cool weather crops to go in...so Parker! ( Cynthia ) and i went out to the garden this morning to do some work...the first thing to do was to turn the alfalfa and winter rye that was planted late last season ( top photo ) under to become more organic matter for the bed...they had done the job of setting and storing nitrogen as well as holding the soil together over the winter and now it was time to put their work to use...the second photo is the bed after it had been dug and worked with a hoe...we then added about ninety pounds of compost from cow manure ( third photo ), turned that in, worked the bed with the hoe again, and marked out some furrows ( fourth photo ) then Parker! ( fifth photo ) and i planted beets, dill, parsnips, turnips, and spinach and watered the bed ( bottom photo )...give them a week or two and the first spring plants will be up in the garden and ready to harvest by mid may...the season started with the garlic a few weeks ago...that is pretty low maintenance ( although while we were there we mulched the garlic a bit more heavily with straw and compost to keep the weeds down...even this early they are there )...germinating seeds take a bit more care...there will be regular reports here from now until autumn...stay tuned.