i did not expect to see garlic...

...and i did not...at the campus garden today..and, i suspect, at the "other garden" when i visit ...probably tomorrow...

i did find happy alflafa...

and, since the garden hose has been brought out...i gave the bed a thorough watering in an effort to produce happy garlic as well...

the "unseasonably warm" weather is due to take a trun for the spring-like...however never trust the weather...it may rain...it may not...either way the garlic is watered...

over in the asparagus bed there were thirty-three spears up all told...

including a few that had grown so quickly they have begun to "fern"...

to forestall further ferning" i made a small harvest...then headed home where things to a somewhat more interesting turn ( in my estimation anyway )...

there is happy alfalfa in the back yard as well...

there are now eight rows of einkorn wheat...although some of last year's seed has misfired...

the ramp poulation is expanding...and then i stumbled on ( actually i didn't stumble, i am consistent in taking a tramp around the back yard to see what is what on a daily basis...i like to keep track of what's going on... ) some surprises in terms of timing of appearance...as i mentioned the weather has been remakably warm for mid-april around here...still i was surprised to find...

not one but actually two chinese yam vines up and running...may is the usual time for them to pop up...

the new york import strawberries are blooming fully nine days earlier than last year...

and that is a jerusalem artichoke...in the thirteen years i have been growing these they have not once appeared before the tail end of the first week of may...so we are three weeks ahead of schedule here...these are native plants, not imports...they evolved here and are a fair index of the fact that the climate around here is changing...a few years ago the usda quietly modified their "hardiness zone" for this area and the sunchokes seem to be seconding the change...certainly this is the earliest i have ever seen them...if there's an el nino summer we'll see how they all do...could be a tough season.

mistimed?

october 2021 here has seen tempreatures in the eighties ( fahrenheit ) which, while not unheard of, is still unusual for so many days in a row...today's tempreatures are passing for what is probably "seasonable" these days...still mild when you consider in my younger days it had already seen the first snow by this time...and i am not really complaining...

portions of the winter wheat bed were looking a bit sparse wheat-wise so a bit ago i brodcast more seed into the bed and virtually all the newer wheat now has a second leaf which means we are good for winter...if the snow cooperates and arrives before serious cold sets in...

and a sizable proportion of the garlic i planted is up and running...again, should be good for winter...still, the mild and springl( if not summer ) like weather is having a different set of impacts...

anyone who knows me, or any regular reader of these screeds, knows that the bed of my truck is home to a thriving colony of new york strawberries...

and any annual that finds its way there ( one imagines by bird...only the strawberries were deliberately planted )...this year it has been black nightshade which, since it is autumn, is in the process of dying back...all good so far, however...

finding newly sprouted legumes of some description on the twelfth of october is not...the timing is unnatural...odd...not that i haven't seen soybeans and volunteer corn in harvested fields doing this...this still strikes me as odd...

no doubt these are legumes...there was a bush bean back there last year, however i am thinking these are cow peas sprouted from seed spilled last spring...the mystery is why they took so long to germinate if that is the case and, if not, where did they come from?

they ( there are three ) all had well developed root systems that were running laterally ( there is not a lot of depth to the growth medium in the truck bed )...however well developed roots were not going to help these plants when the real cold hits...so...

it was down to the plant room where i prepared a container...scooped out three holes...augmented them with worm castings...

planted the newcomers and lowered the growlight to the lowest possible position, starting the 2021-2022 indoor season...there wil doubtlessly be spuds later...there are always spuds

a start

we rented three beds in the portage community garden this year and, since a couple of family members are ready to plant, i went out there to prepare two of them ( i am not remotely ready to plant yet and will be germinating seed in the next week and waiting for the soil to warm a bit more )...

i turned both beds ( however will not burden you with photos from both )...

each of which had a lively population of earthworms...always a fine sight on a garden morning...

i worked the beds with a hoe to break up roots...

spread about 120 pounds of bagged compost in each bed...

raked it level as possible, turnes it in, and raked the beds again...

this compost is not sterile in terms of imported plants ( then again, the composting i do in bins in my yard isn't sterile of plant growth either...always something growing in the compost ) so i suspect there will be visitors...hopefully not invasive ones...there will be a need for vigilance...that done the beds are ready...don't ask me when planting day is...

back at home at least one of the plants growing in the cracks in the patio...

is, as i had thought, winter rye that has grown from seed spilled during last summer's harvest...that ear coudn't be clearer evidence of harvest loss...

the rye out in the east beds is coming out in ears as well...what wheat that survivred the winter is going to be a negligible harvest, if any...the wheat has failed two of the past three years which i am attributing to a lack of insulating snow...yes it snowed rather heavily here in february...unfortunately that was after the cold in january...so if i am milling flour for bread this year it will be from purchased wheat...a dent in the "grow your own" bread flour project...these things happen...

the garlic is looking robust...

and the walking onions around the yard have begun work on blooms and aerial bulbs...time to pinch them off, leaving some for bulbs to plant in autummn and letting others produce some potent onions...

the ramps are not quite the disappointment the wheat is, however thay are not having a grand season either...they are there but none seem eager to flower...so...no seed this year..these things happen as well...

the new york imports are still blooming and there are berries on the way...unfortunately the mooseberry bush, while not dead dry and breaking apart, still looks like a dead stick stuck in the ground.