Today there was finally a break in the weather, so while my trip to the garden was a dry one, it was also very cold. Instead of rain, fog rolled in the late afternoon and hung thick in the air. On a clear day, looking out from the SLUG Garden towards the Willamette River, you can see the trees of Forest Park across the river and the trucks driving across St. John’s Bridge. But today, I couldn’t even see down to River Campus where construction on UP’s new track field is happening, much less the river itself.
The other night I had been prepping potatoes for dinner and noticed how some of them were starting to sprout roots. The potatoes themselves were still fine, but I chopped off the roots and set them aside, about ten in total. I took them with me to the garden today and put them in part of one of the open beds. I don’t know if anything will happen, if they’ll be able to sprout despite the cold, or if they’ll just decompose, but with all the open space, it couldn’t hurt to try.
After the potatoes, I decided I would do a bit of light weeding in the beets, which have gone kind of neglected recently. Lots of small weeds have popped up there over the last few weeks. The plants themselves seem to be doing alright for the most part; some of the plants are much bigger and leafier than their neighbors. However, it’s hard to tell if they’re still growing or not. While most of the plants are standing more upright than before, it’s quite possible that the cold has also stopped or slowed down growth like it did with the tomatoes. Maybe next week I’ll pull one out of the ground and see how big it's gotten and if its edible.
While I was weeding, I also noticed that some of the plants have been attacked by leafminer larva which have left blotches of discolored tissue on the leaves, so I did my best to remove any infected leaves to hopefully prevent the pest from spreading more. I’ll try and look into natural remedies for those and see if there’s anything feasible we can do. When I was finished, the bed overall looked much better which was a satisfying feeling.
I walked home with frozen fingers and toes in a sea of dense fog. I’m glad I had my camera on me as I was able to take pictures of the silhouettes of the bare-branched trees and streets that disappeared nothing but mist. The heavy fog feels like an apt metaphor for the garden right now. There’s a path ahead that’ll lead us to spring, but currently, it’s hard to see it. There’s only so much we can do, so we just have to trust the road will get us there. Eventually the fog will lift and we can move forward with more confidence and purpose. But until then, we take it slow and do what we can.
