I didn't maintain a garden last year. I was doing a great deal of traveling for work, and so the crown vetch had its way with it. I could claim to be practicing the age old practice of leaving one's plot go fallow. The vetch, being a legume, is a nitrogen fixer and could be considered a good green manure and cover crop - and even a living mulch for those plants that grow up past it (like my asparagus and sun chokes). In any case, I'll have to coexist with it somewhat in that it is thoroughly invasive, and basically impossible to eradicate at this point without resorting to herbicides.
Last year's growth covered the entire garden in a deep dry thatch, and since yesterday was a warm February afternoon Monica and I raked it up as best we could and burned most of it little by little on the main garden bed. We kept an eye on the little flames as they crept around in the rest of the garden turning last year's weeds to this year's fertilizer.
The rhubarb is already peeking out, and since the ground isn't frozen I should harvest a bucket of sunchokes for pickling before they start to sprout as well.
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| Nothing but potential |
