Asparagus

Growing asparagus is definitely a long game kind of endeavor. I planted two different varieties of Asparagus our first planting season, purple and Colossal green. The later I grew from seeds and the purple I grew from roots I had purchased from Mount Garfield Nursery. Andy and I really had no clue what we were doing that first growing season. We planted to the edge of the weed barrier, mistake #1, planting too close to the edge made it next to impossible to mow a clean row without chopping into the young Asparagus fronds. Our second mistake was planting them in a hole burned into the weed barrier verses trenching them.

Despite these newbie misadventures, the Asparagus grew! We are now at year three and enjoying our first harvest. Surprisingly, the purple Asparagus is growing bigger and stronger than the green Colossal which was supposed to be a bigger beefier stalk! Both are proving incredibly tasty and its freshness and flavor is so much better than the Asparagus I buy in the grocery store, home grown is amazing!

Another interesting discovery I’ve made is that the purple Asparagus changes color when I’m cooking, it turns greens! The taste doesn’t change and it is so delicious! So far, I’ve just sautéed it up with unsalted Irish butter with a bit of sea salt and pepper. Soooo good!

As I harvest, I’ve been advised to add soil and create a mound of dirt around the clusters of Asparagus in the ground. So, after my second harvest I added more soil, I also trim the weed barrier around the clusters so that they have room to expand. Hopefully this last endeavor, will help counter our first-year mistake. Then as I plant out more Asparagus I am cutting and digging out a trench for the new Asparagus to grow. This should address our second mistake!

Now that harvesting the Asparagus is a reality, I’m also paying more attention to the weather and our fluctuating spring temperatures as Asparagus does not like frost. We’ve had an exceptionally warm winter and now spring, however this weekend the  temperature is supposed to dip into the 30’s so while the Valley’s orchard fans will be going full guns, I am going to cover the Asparagus with a frost blanket to see if I can protect them from the cold temperatures and extend our harvest season a wee bit longer!

So as I continue to expand the garden, I apply the things I’ve learned over the year, make new mistakes and apply what I learned from those the following year. I try and treat this farming adventure as one big gardening experiment. Some things work, while other things don’t, it is all part of the process and adventure.