Goosed

Our greens have finally exploded after this week's rains.

Potted parsley, with a winter's worth of roots, never died for lack of  cold. I transplanted  the several plants into beach farm soil.

What's wrong with this picture? Remember the corn gluten meal I put down for early spring nitrogen and weed-suppressing action two weeks back? The brand I bought was pelletized, so little kibbles were spread all over the garlic beds. You are supposed to water it in, turning pellets into a dispersed corn mush, but our water hasn't been turned on and it didn't rain for at least a week. So, what happened?

Geese happened. They are all over the Rockaways. They swooped in, eyeing that bright yellow meal from above. They probably ate it all up not long after I placed it, so the corn gluten could not do its job. Meanwhile, the geese trampled some of the smaller garlic, ripping leaves, squashing new growth, pecking holes in the ground, and pooping green and white.

And the weeds? They sprouted and survived. In fact, on this last trip I was amazed at the number of warm-weather weed sprouts -particularly the smart weed, mallow, and lambs quarters. Corn fed goose. Sounds tasty.