Asparagus

We had the first asparagus of the year from our garden last night for dinner, along with a shrimp and ham pie. Very tasty.
Jenise - Did you ever get your asparagus patch started? Any results yet?

[Jenise]

Alan, you're so far ahead of us over there, I'm envious. But yes, my little patch is doing okay. Only three spears have so far emerged, and just barely so. The picking time won't be until about June, but this year I'll get to pick the green ones for a month. This will be the first year for the purple guys, so all I'll get from them is a few pencil-thin-at-best spears. This is from 20 crowns planted in a raised box that's only 5' x 2'. Very crowded, but better than waiting for nature to do it for me.

Had our first of the season on Sunday. There is an undescribable taste to these just picked spears that just can't be had under any other circumstances.
Husband wants home made fettuccine tonight with asparagus. I want them solo, unadorned. When there are more than we can use, then I'll cook with them.

DSCF1436.JPG

The photo shows my asparagus bed at 10% - 15% production and we're getting enough now to serve as a side dish once every 3-4 days. In another month there will be more, much more, than we can eat by ourselves. The bed is 4 X 8 feet. I top dress yearly with one pound of salt and 50+ pounds of compost. The salt is to suppress weed growth. We have a pet horse which is the source of the compost, and because we use sawdust for bedding the compost is a bit acidic. I add lime to raise the pH to a level that the asparagus is more happy with. The compost seems to provide more of the big, fat spears that I like most.

Nice photo!

I'm still getting my asparagus from the supermarket, none in the local farmer's market just yet.

Nice photo!

I'm still getting my asparagus from the supermarket, none in the local farmer's market just yet.

I'm waiting anxiously.
Here's a very good asparagus recipe btw (scroll down a bit):
http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-review- ... roa-119034