what? again?

there are spuds that had sprouted and demanded to be planted coming along down under the lights...along with what can only be termed a potato shrub which will be a significant disappointment in tuber terms but has developed a very robust above-ground presence...the younger ones are marked out for transplanting outdoors...but not yet...

because winter at the south end of the inland sea seems reluctant to let go..snowing again...

a wet and heavy snow...

that has weighed down the critter net on the rye, wheat, and ramp beds...

the rye, wheat, and ramps will shrug off the snow...wet and heavy or not...

as will the egyptian walking onions and, no doubt, the asparagus...

i am concerned about the blooms on the russian olives though...they did not look overly happy yesterday and i am afraid this will do them no good...we'll see what it looks like when the snow melts...which it will soon...then, maybe, it will be spring again.

polar vortex? whatever you call i it is cold.

at least the snow in the rye bed...

and the wheat bed...

reached a sufficient depth before the cold arrived...we may be in fair shape this season if this holds...certainly the snow is not going anywhere today.

january twenty-seventh outside and in

stumpy, the ex-locust tree, tells me there has been more snow overnight..

and so do the fir trees which were snow-less yesterday...and i am in favor of snow even with the navigational impediments it delivers...

because cold has settled in for something of a stay ( more there in a bit )...

the good news is there is no more green showing in the winter rye bed and there is 5.125 inches of snow cover...

and there is minimal green in the wheat bed because of the 5.25 inches of cover there...so snow is good...the forecast says so...

it has its twists and turns...no doubt about that....i suppose there have been fifty-five degree ( fahrenheit ) temperature swings over five day periods before...still...unsettled seems a good term...

what happens outside is clearly our of my control...inside i have the ability ( and responsibility) to intervene in the lives of plants i am responsible for and this spud was ion the verge of outgrowing the peat pot i was in..it was time for a move...

so i drilled some drainage holes in an old five gallon bucket, being sure to knock down the burrs it left in side so the water would actually drain...

i did not knock the soil off the roots when i removed the plant but you can see the roots are a shade longer than the plant is tall..the had pretty much found the bottom of the peat pot...

i planted it about two thirds of the way down the bucket so i can back fill as the plant grows to stimulate tuber growth...experience tells me not to expect much in terms of size...probably just a few drops i can plant outside in spring...that will be good enough for an indoor winter season in completely unnatural conditions...i set the bucket on another upturned one under the lights by the mashua..which is doing well itself...

puddles' kids look a lot like mom did right about this time of the basement season...leggy and falling over...still..they and the onions are green and i do believe they will be around for the outdoor rejuvenation their mom saw come april...

and over in the opposite corner the cohabiting yacon and mashua are looking robust as well...the basement season has expanded a bit but is still under control...iot that far to spring even though a casual stroll outside might convince you otherwise.

snow day

the temperature readings at nine thirty this morning and at three this afternoon were fairly consistent...both nearly the same and well within the snow zone...there was some change in snow depth however...

despite the snow that was coming down this morning there was till significant green showing in the beds...

with what was in the bed before today that hadn't melted and the added accumulation the ry bed had 3.4375 inches of snow this morning...

and the wheat bead measured 3.625 inches...

by three this afternoon there was less green on display in either bed...

by that time the rye was under almost exactly 4 inches...

and the wheat was covered by 4.5 inches...that depth is doubtlessly not consistent across the bed...there is a 30 mph wind going on out there and there is snow everywhere even though it has stopped falling...there is a possibility of more snow this evening and tomorrow which may even out the cover...temperatures are set to yo-yo between thirty-nine and one ( fahrenheit )over the next week and the roots and crowns will need the cover if it actually gets that cold...

at this late date there are still some teocintli seeds hanging around the dead stalks and shattered ears...if this wind keeps up they may not be around too much longer.

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.