some february green

the teosinte i test fired and planted downstairs on the tenth of december has outgrown what passes for a nursery down there...

so i mixed some peat moss and compost and perlite in some larger pots and began the transplant...

it was obviously time since they were becoming pot-bound...

i loosened the soil around their roots, dug out a space, and planted them...giving each a shot of water to settle them in and let them know they could spread out thier roots...we'll see how this goes..if they do well it will outside in a few months for the rest of the summer...

and while outside is the topic, the temperature has moderated and, unlike the past two februarys there has been no sign of snow...it is almost a quarter of the way through the month and the snow drought continues...

this is what my back yard looked like one year ago to the day...

this was a few minutes ago...

the temperature here has been below zero ( fahrenheit ) more than once...the wheat is not looking especially robust...we will see how that goes...conversely...

the berries have remained vibrantly green all though the weather...and there are obviously cohabiting onions with some of them...there are onions everywhere out there...they are not called walking onions for no reason...

clusters of daffodils are rumbling to life...

and the mooseberry bush is evincing buds...spring is forty-two days away...time to get cracking on a few projects like spring garlic and einkorn wheat...forty-two days is not a lot of time.

early december

it is fairly quiet out back...which is no real surprise given the time of year...still, things have not come to a complete halt...

it has been cold ( even though it is very mild today ) however no lower than the mid 20s ( fahrenheit ) so the winter rye is looking robust...

the winter wheat strikes me as not being nearly as happy...and since there seems to be a lack of snow, not just here but nationally, there may be another dismal yield unless things change...

on the allium side of things the garlic is up and running...actually has been since september...

and the walking onions seem unpreturbed by almost anything...

the mooseberry ( frostbite falls! ) is gradually giving in to the seasonal change...

the native berries are stubbornly hanging on as well...although more berries this year are very unlikely...

the hawthorn tree, conversely, is right on time with its berries...the birds will be having christmas dinner out front...

and while we're talking berries, there is still one last one on the asparagus...

which, incidentally, has just recently begun to die back at the top...still lots of green out there and i am not nearly ready to cut it back just yet...no bureaucrats in the back yard...just event time

like it or not the weather is still involved...

...and so are the rabbits but we will get to that in a bit...the alfalfa is coming into fuller bloom...

however the bee cocoons are still inert...

because the temperature is not nearly warm enough to trigger hatching..it usually is by this time but we are living in interesting and changing times...they may never fly...

yesterday my chewed but recovering maize looked like this...

today there appears to have been a relapse...i could rant...it would change nothing...clearly a change in tactics is called for...there is repellent on the way...and there may be chicken wire sooner than that...rabbits loathe chicken wire...

there is still maize and teocintli on the mend...we will see how long that lasts...we will be wiring the teocintli first by the by...

in a more positive vein, there are many drupes on the mulberry tree...

the local berries continue to bloom and fruit which pleases the birds...the new york imports are done and the berries long gone...eaten by humans and others...they are busy growing their colonies...more blooms and berries there next spring...

and the concord grapes in the catalpa tree ( not to mention the fir tree ) seem to be preparing to produce a bumper crop...

this particular vine has almost touched ground and it begins its descent about fifteen feet up in the tree...lots of grapes possible...especially since i have seen two more vines...somewhat shorter...in the same tree...

the seedless grapes continue to fill the trellis with no sign of fruit...disappointing...

spud row seems fine and another basement bison seems about to finish..

while the ones i planted a few days ago are coming into fuller leaf and will be done in september...

the winter rye commenced ripening early this month...

the winter wheat has begun to try to catch up...harvest next month i believe...then threshing and winnowing...any volunteers?

lastly ( almost ) the relentless jerusalem artichokes have passed the yard high mark...a few more weeks and buds will begin to appear...

while the oversized egyptian walking onion in front of them has begun to produce both large number so aerial bulbs and is blooming in pursuit of seed...dna replication...the source of all relentless behaviors

cold hardy

we are, i believe, in the usda's hardiness zone 5b if i am not mistaken...which is a change from what it was a few years ago..the "b" designation means it's warmer here than it used to be...a tacit admission of climate change...still and all you couldn't prove it by what's going on outside in mid april...not that snow is all that unusual in april..it happened last year as well...

and that april recurrence...

of vestigial winter...

explains why...

the plants that pop up here in early spring...

are all cold hardy.