it's a jungle out there!

April always seems to be the month that we all squint at the ground and wonder if maybe, just maybe, the garden won't grow this year...  here's a reminder of what the garden looked like last April:  

 

and then, suddenly...  it's May.  After several days of heavy rains, the garden responds in earnest.  Except this year, it has responded doubly earnest!  

 I don't remember it being this lush and vibrant at this point in May.  Maybe it's all the mushroom manure we've added, or the garden is just happy and confidant this year- but here it is in full force.  You're a lucky duck if you're on our CSA list this year!

 

baby beets

 

bok choi in the Chinese Market Garden

 

self-seeded clover and calendula

 

chives in full bloom

 

gorgeous garlic!

 

Chinese snow & snap peas with leaves as big as my hand!

 

self-seeded phacelia climbing 1m up a rye stalk

 

potatoes

 

and more potatoes- blues & yukon golds & lots more...

 

volunteer kale overwhelming the bees (at least it's one of their favourite nectar sources!)

 

our wild garden full of clouds and cover crops

And to juxtapose all this sensual fecundity...  check out Julia's PhD research area on the west edge of the garden:

 

She has meticulously created a grid with 24 "desks" and one larger teachers "desk"- planted with blue flax as a play on indoor classrooms brought outside.  Through her performative installation, Julia will explore the history of school gardens and the ways that humans engage (or not) with the land.  I fear I can't articulate her project in all its nuance and elegance, so I hope she will do a post on her progress this summer.  Stay tuned!