uncertain january

yesterday the winter rye looked like this...

today it looks like this because...

the temperature today ( and an even warmer day yesterday ) have turned the four or so inches of snow that were on the ground last week into standing water in my yard...

the new york import strawberries are all uncovered again and in various stages of green...

and the locally grown wild ones are green as they emerge from the snow...

some of the stalks on the brussels sprouts look uniformly dead even if a closer inspection reveals some residual sprouts...

while others seem to be indicating a willingness to overwinter...we'll see what happens...

and, finally, the garlic in the bed of my truck is uncovered again as well and looking fairly robust...we will see about that as well...january has been unsure if it wants to be winter or not...schizo weather ( even though a january thaw is not uncommon..alternating weeks of winter and early spring are not ) has marked out the beginning of the year...which has had any number of issues...but that is another blog.

january thaw

the eleventh of january finds temperatures somewhat elevated...this will be ending this evening they say as winter makes a return for the weekend...

a quick look out back shows me that the four or so inches of snow we had on the ground until recently did the job of insulating the winter rye from the cold...hoping fro more coverage before the next sub=zero cold...

the same snow did the same insulating job for the garlic in the bed of my truck...the asparagus i cut down from the community garden did its part as well...the overwintering is going okay...so far...

early december out back

the interweb says it's fifty-five degrees ( fahrenheit ) out there but my thermometer says it's almost sixty-two in my micro-climate..and that's what i will run with...this is still within the range of temperatures for this date ( right at the top end actually and i have to wonder just when the top end of that range was set...recently? odds are ) and twenty-six degrees above the average temperature for this date...so what's up in all this warmth?

well the egyptian walking onions have traveled, rooted, and sprouted very green..allium on the move fro 2018...

the imported wild strawberries from new york have taken a hit or two from the few nights of of frost so far this autumn...however they should winter over with no problem...

i may have buttoned up the asparagus in the community garden last weekend but it was still green...and so is the asparagus in the east bed out back...it will stay until it dies back...and i will be germinating and planting more come spring...

teosinte ears continue to open and shatter...

the brussels sprouts that overwintered last year have continued to produce...not enough for a side dish but certainly eiough to dress up a salad...

and finally the garlic in the bed of my truck seems to be enjoying the mild weather as well...no need for a mulch just yet.

weary of teosinte?

if so you might want to bail after the preliminaries...

temperature today was seasonably warm...and there is no frost forecast through the twenty-sixth of the month...which is twenty-four days past the average frost date...averages lie, that's true...however it does seem to be rather a long season...

warm or not the tomato in the east bed is still confused...these things happen...even in the best of gardens...

the leaves on the teosinte that was blown over last saturday night have begun to look like they are dying back...

which might disturb me if it weren't october and if the upright teosinte didn't have its leaves dying back as well ( if you live near a field of dense yellow #2 field corn have a look at it...it is dying back as well )...it season is ending and the seed production is getting all the energy...

the ears on the horizontal stalks are still as green and as functional as...

as the ones on the upright stalks...so..with some fortunate weather they may actually mature...still hopeful...

and meanwhile the sunshine and warm temperatures are helping the garlic in the bed of my truck establish itself before winter...new shoot coming up mean more food for the roots...a bit more compost and, perhaps, some straw as the weather inevitably cools, and we may just have organic garlic in the truck garden...

out back close to the middle of the month

it is unseasonably warm here on the south end of the inland sea today so, after planting onions indoors this morning i decided to have a look at the beds outside and see what, if anything, was going on since it is still very early in the season...too early for ramp activity...the bed, besides some thriving lichen, is inert...however...the egyptian walking oni9ons ( fourth photo ) have successfully overwintered, to this point anyway, and their cousins the early italian red garlic are poking through the mulch ( fifth through seventh ) i did not repeat my murderous over-mulching of last year so i am hopeful of full beds of garlic ( there are two with onions along the border )...even the garlic in the bed of my truck is greening up...so..a small but encouraging ( for me at least ) tour of the yard...there is more on the way i am sure...we are just starting 2017.