quiet april, so far

i drove out to campus this morning to have a look around the garden and do some maintenance work...i found it pretty quiet...

all i found moving much were some opportunistic grasses...

and some lichens that had tagged along in the compost i used to mulch the asparagus last autumn...and it was mostly the asparagus that brought me there...

i hadn't expected any movement there ( we will get tot he reason why in a bit ) however it is time tho move the mulch back from the crowns...

which i did so that the spears have an easier time of it when they do decide to appear..asparagus isn't the strongest of plants...it needs some assistance...i intervened in the lives of the plants...my intentions were good...

i hadn't expected asparagus on campus because the asparagus in my back yard has not broken surface yet either and it has been uncovered for a week now...as i recall it made its appearance earlier last season than this...things seem different in 2019...

there are still only three ramps up and at this point i am reasonably confident they are there because of frost heave in the bed..all of them were so near the surface in terms of their roots i felt compelled to replant them...again, the ramps were earlier last season...they were popping up in the middle of march ( see 3-14-2018 post )...

and by april twelfth they were well into leaf...either a dealyed spring or something has been in my ramp bed...

beyond the winter cereals and the berries, the only things out there showing any real signs of life are the onions...

and the daffodils...i am waiting...i am trying to be patient...it is almost time to work on germinating the teocintli...and dig the beds they will be going in...it's slow...it will speed up soon enough..then we will be talking spuds and maize.

enough potatoes already II

the containerized winter wheat doesn't seem to be anywhere nearer to dormancy than it was a week ago...neither does the wheat in the ground...so far a dormancy dud...the yellow peas in the green manure mix have died back ( third photo ) but the winter rye in the next photo (and right behind those peas ) is as full of chlorophyll as could be...the terminal spears the held the seed heads on the intermediate wheat grass back there have died back but the plant itself seems to be at ease with the temperature...winter is definitely on the prowl in northwest indiana to day and i wouldn't expect it to back off this month...not if recent memory serves me in even a half-baked fashion...what happens in january is anyone's guess...i believe i was harvesting brussels sprouts at the beginning of 2013 ( there is a post about it somewhere in here )...last winter was reasonably mild with a cold spring...the year before was wacko in most respects...from eighty degree days in march to a drought...i refuse to prognosticate...i will be in the garden asap.

dormancy

it has snowed here enough to completely cover the winter wheat in the field by the supermarket...all that is visible is the stubble from the bean plants that populated the field last summer...i was disinclined to disturb the snow but my best guess is that the wheat still isn't dormant simply because it hasn't been that cold that long...there is a thaw forecast in the next few days so there will be an opportunity to verify my surmise soon...the wheat grass domesticates on campus haven't found dormancy yet ( the tracks in the snow tell me there have been critters in the garden...they were probably disappointed ) and if the cold moderates i am inclined to think they won't just based on last winter's wheat experience...still, the garden is a snowy place today and that is natural for the time of year even if plant behavior seems odd.

iwg at the pgp

after six days the intermediate wheat grass from the land institute is settling into the garden well...some better than others, but i don't see any reason to worry...the weather has turned cooler but nothing in the danger zone that dr. dehaan laid out...so far so good...the northern tepehuan teosinte is in full flower...but i fear the cooler weather will put an end to any hope of the development of seed ears this season...i was fortunate last year and since i ordered a quarter pound of seeds this fall i hope for more individuals next season and , possibly, mature seeds...the 155 day season for this plant presents a climatic problem but i can hope....the gamagrass continues its reproductive activity into autumn with more proaxes and seeds than i had imagined ...i will be working on establishing more individuals off campus with this year's seed just to see what happens....the pgp is beginning to wind down for the season...a month or so to go before mulching and then three months of further reading and a new season coming with domesticates, native food crops and the ginseng root project...not to mention folk taxonomies...more as it comes up.