Sunday, April 26, 2009

Asparagus

My first asparagus of the season!!  There are big bundles of it in the store, but this is part of my first harvest.  
I've been thinking that I should have a recipe box for all the good things I harvest.  I love asparagus just plain steamed, either in a pot or in the microwave.  It doesn't even need butter and salt.  Yum!! 

A word of warning:  if  you want to know how to grow asparagus, this is not the site to read. Please browse on.  There must be an asparagus.com or asparagus council or something online somewhere.

I will share a gardening story about asparagus.  I spent the first years of my life on a hillside farm that had a "potager" garden to die for.  There were big plots of asparagus and rhubarb, sour cherry trees, and all kinds of herb beds.  The garden even had a picket fence around it with a real garden gate.  How cool is that?  I know this, because my parents moved to a bigger farm, and kept the old farm.  We owned it for another 10-15 years, renting the house, and growing crops there.  We  visited the "other farm" often, but did not keep up the garden, and the renters didn't either.  Alas.

The garden at home, though productive, was not nearly as neat.  It was just a big dirt garden between a creek and spring run. Alas..no asparagus at the house, but it was growing wild along the roadside, and in one patch on an abandoned farmsite that was actually a part of our property. My mother would  "look" for asparagus in grass and weeds near the telltale stalks of the prior year.

When my husband and I settled on our little plot of land I bought rhubarb starts,  8   blueberry plants, a peach tree, a cherry tree, and two apple trees.  One of the blueberry plants died and the following year..in all my wisdom, I planted asparagus crowns in the space left by the dead blueberry plant.  My husband was busy with spring planting and didn't know until we saw the little feathery fronds.  Oh..my gosh.  

Blueberries and asparagus are about as different as you can get in the sprectrum of soil needs.
But they were forgiving and both blueberries and asparagus are still growing and producing well enough.  After getting another asparagus bed started, I thought this was the year...to move the existing asparagus.  If you've never tried to dig up asparagus... DON'T.   It has an unbelievable root system.  I couldn't find anything in ANY of my books about "dividing" asparagus.  Now I know why!!

6 comments:

  1. That is so cool! I planted asparagus from seed last year and it actually grew. I was so darn excited. I won't actually be able to harvest for another year or so but victory is still sweet. I hope you will show us your asparagus patch. Love to see it!

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  2. Very good. I read in one of my books that asparagus roots can reach out more than 6 feet. Also that asparagus is being produced in beds more than 100 years old. Also, the crowns that are sold are gotten by planting seeds in fields. Maybe you will have crowns to sell or share!! There are indeed many "official" asparagus sites. I should go read. I also think it is a noxious weed in some states. LOL

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  3. WOW! Congrats on the harvest! I think asparagus is yummy with a little roasted sesame oil. I've read they live for decades, so you should be harvesting for a long, long time.

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  4. I LOVE asparagus but haven't tried growing it yet, mostly because I haven't wanted to commit to a permanent spot! Thanks for telling us about the roots!

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  5. I understand the committing to a permanent spot. We do major tilling with big equipment, so the permanent stuff has to reside around the house. That's why my first attempt ended up in the blueberries to begin with!! I love the harvesting potential--one day there is a nub sticking out of the ground, and the next an 8 in spike. Fat ones too!! Very cool.

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  6. I'm growing asparagus right now. Planted my crowns this spring. 10 two year old crowns. I hope I get at least 1 stalk next year.

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