Garlic Weeding

We have read that it is impossible to grow garlic in New York State because of the June and July Alabama slammers that bring us torrents of rain when the plants are trying to dry down.  Some of this excess moisture finds its way into the bulbs thereby inviting disease and rot.  Slow to learn, we persist trying to grow our own.  This garden near the back woods was initially opened to provide disease free soil for garlic growing.  Of the 220 carefully prepared cloves planted here, all are growing.  Only one is struggling and it will be removed and placed in the garbage.  The weeding is only almost done with 60 plants still growing alongside of weeds.  Today was bright and clear but the wind was bitter cold forcing an early retreat to the warmth of our home.

The bed in the foreground was clear weeded last fall and covered with ground fallen tree leaves. Occasional weeds were pulled today during our brief time spent outside.  A decision needs to be made as to what will be planted here.  Voles have viciously fed on our Siberian Iris planted down by the road for the second consecutive year.  We may move some of the remaining bits and pieces here providing them with a chance to regrow.

Yesterday we were working here to the sound of the drilling of a Pileated Woodpecker.  The narrow valley between our meadow and the bedrock ridge traps this sound sending it back and forth.  With no other sound here, this repeated tapping is quite the experience.  To my limited hearing the sound seemed to me to have a metallic component.  Becky's response to this observation was to remind me that Iron Wood trees grow here.

 

 A pair of much smaller woodpeckers are raising young in the holes in the tree trunk.  I could see them fliting about gathering food while Becky could hear the sounds made by the babies. From the garden the nesting holes are hard to see.  When the Red Maple leafs out they will be invisible!

Back To Irma's Woods

The need to explore these woods is made obvious by this photo.  A tree trunk, wild leeks, hepaticas in bloom and unfurling trillium leaves in the foreground and the promise of more in the background creates a strong desire to explore this land.  We can only imagine the promise of beauty likely to be found further up the hill.  Passersby have yet to be seen while walking on this dirt road but still that is where we stay.

This brown growth is something that we have never seen before either in person or in a book.  If we hit a day with little to do, a search might be made to try and identify this splat.  We find this on each visit here but have yet to notice any change at this busy for plants time of year.  It is growing on a moss covered rock rather than a piece of a long ago fallen tree.

Hepatica have been the star of the early show.  This cluster of many white flowers is unusual because of their closeness to each other while spread along a line.  Two of the blossoms have dropped their colored petals revealing their three green backings.  Seeds may be forming in the dangling white dots in the center.  What really caught our eye is the cluster of three connected larger leaves marking an early appearance of a Trillium.  A second plant is seen under the upper one.  A third is at the right edge of the picture.  A massive past display of white Trillium flowers is what first caught our eyes here.   It is somewhat impressive that we have finally noticed just how many more plants are also growing here.

Spring Beauties are a personal favorite because they connect me to my maternal grandmother. She may have used that name when showing off her violets but seeing this wild flower always brings back pleasant memories of her.  In many ways she introduced me to the wonder of plants.  Most of my past attempts to get a decent photo of these beautiful blossoms have been disappointing with the lines of color largely invisible.  Somehow today was the day to capture a complete and accurate picture of these tremendous flowers.

 This is just a small corner of a huge collection of Spring Beauties growing on the top of a large flat detached chunk of the bedrock ridge. Spring Beauty leaves, pointy and narrow, are easily seen in this photo.  This surface is above the soil level of the forest floor.  Here a thin layer of rotted vegetation enriched with the minerals dissolved from the rock supply nutrients to these plants.  Yesterday, carefully working among our garden plants reopened a leg scrape resulting in wisdom demanding that a light day would move it toward healing.  Part of this down time was spent next to plants that require no human intervention.  It was a day well spent.