So this weekend I had the time to get out in my garden and start cleaning up and getting ready for spring and planting. I had so many Woo Hoo! moments. First was the fact that I had already cleaned up the upper patch of my vegie garden, meaning I only had to focus on the bottom section. I still had beets to harvest and discovered the carrot seeds I accidentally spilled took and I now have several carrots to harvest soon. That is, if I can beat the nasty little gophers to them. I gathered seeds from my collards and broccoli to replant this spring and was surprised to find one of the broccoli plants growing a new head. They're becoming perennial on me. The coolest Woo Hoo garden moment was when I was cleaning out around my artichokes and asparagus. The asparagus that I thought was a failure that I told my husband to plow over with the rototiller because it obviously isn't going to grow in our soil, and then there it is popping up randomly throughout the garden asparagus. The asparagus that I learned later needs three years before it produces anything of significance, but will provide you with a spring crop for the next 20 to 30 years.
Since I first planted those asparagus plants I have since learned from one of the farmers at our local farmers market that where I live is ideal for asparagus. And considering how hard we tried to kill those plants, thinking they were already dead, and there they are putting out spears not just in Spring but in Fall as well, and then yesterday I discover this:
So apparently Spring has arrived in mid January! I real spear of asparagus. It's the only one, but I'm so excited, and I will be planting more now that I know the time line. I think I'll go buy some prosciutto to wrap around that one little spear. All I know is, it may be one spear, but I'm not wasting my precious bounty.
Happy garending!
