A lesson in asparagus and patience…
February 14, 2010
One of the newest rows in the farm gardens doesn’t look like much now, but good things are to come. Last February Bob planted a row of green and purple asparagus. Planting asparagus is a little like investing in the future. It is all about patience before payout.
The asparagus grows from dried roots and watered until the ferns comes up. Last September Bob stopped watering the plants and allowed for them to dry up once the weather started to cool off. Then he mowed them down and spread mulch over the stubble and began to water them again.
After the past few rain storms, the asparagus began to sprout and shoot up. In the first year of growing asparagus you can’t really cut any to eat. Now that we are going into the second year, Bob is only able to pick about 40-50% of the crop. He will go through the watering, mowing and mulching cycle again. And again, we will wait.
But next year – watch out! Once the asparagus has had time to properly grow and root in the soil, it will provide a healthy crop not only in 2011, but for the next 25-30 years to come.
Good things are worth the time.
Thankfully asparagus doesn’t require much patience in the kitchen, only the field. Boil a little water and Queen Creek Lime Olive Oil in a pan. Put the asparagus in for only a minute or two and season with sea salt. So good!
No comments yet
McClendon's Select 