Monday, April 20, 2020

First Day in the Garden

Our asparagus bed was crying for some attention, and I definitely needed to get it ready for the season before the first green shoots became visible.


Gak, what a mess.  All the dead ferns from last fall had to be removed and then some hand weeding done.  (Why is it that weeds can look so green and vigorous before anything else in the garden even thinks about starting to grow?)


I always try to look my best
when gardening.  (Ugh.)
It was COLD out there today.

All the old debris is gone now, and when I quit tonight to come in to make dinner, I had only one row left to weed.

Next comes spreading compost on top of each row, tilling between the rows and raking more soil up onto the rows.  Then let the asparagus begin!

21 comments:

wisps of words said...

And..... It begins.... Again....

And isn't that nice!?!

Nature goes on, no matter what else is happening, on the planet.

Nature is a good place, to keep our eyes on...

Especially at such a time as this.

Gentle hugs
πŸŒΈπŸŒ±πŸ’›πŸŒ±πŸŒΈ

Mama Pea said...

wisps of words - We've always been conscientious about growing as much of our own food as we can and feel, this year, it may be more important than ever. I just hope we have a good weather gardening season. Right now our area is quite dry and needs a good soaking because of all the dead, standing brush and weeds in the woods and along roadsides. The moisture will help the new green shoots grow, too. When working outside today, I couldn't help but stop more than once to watch our ducks swimming and splashing in our pond. It must feel so good to them to "take a bath" after the long winter of having no water to play in.

Michelle said...

Some friends shared some of their fresh garden asparagus with us yesterday; yum!

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

Fresh asparagus! It seems worlds away, as I look out at a light covering of snow this morning. But good for you, getting the energy to go out there and make it all nice and comfy for that asparagus when it does come! -Jenn

Mama Pea said...

Michelle - Yes, I've been seeing pictures on other blogs of asparagus already growing and on the table. We had a low of 22° over night so it may be a little while yet before ours feels like making an appearance!

Jenn - We had a light snow covering one morning a couple of days ago, too. Not what any of us want to see this time of year. Although my muscles complained a little bit last night, it did feel good to start working in the garden yesterday. Looking at that asparagus patch told me I HAD to do it . . . like soon!

tpals said...

So fun to see you out and doing. :)

Mama Pea said...

tpals - Yep, I do believe the season has begun! Now if those darn temperatures would stop going down so low at night, I could really make some progress in actual planting!

Nancy In Boise said...

Hope you get some rain soon and sounds like you'll have a good crop! is it 69 here yesterday and is finally warming up a little bit at night. I took the old heavy comforter off and put the light blanket and quilt on and sleep fine. We cleaned out our beds to have a few to still plant since it's too early for summer veggies. Let the gardening begin!

linnellnickerson@gmail.com said...

Your garden looks so clean and ready for the season. Great job!! Can't believe it's time for garden preparation. We had a lovely day today, in the high fifties, but tonite it's suppose to come in cold again with high winds. ugh! I bet it felt good to get outside and to be in the garden! Hope you 're all well and safe !!

Mama Pea said...

Nancy - Even though it's still too cold (brrr!) around here (we only hit a high of 36° today (ugh), our poultry is out in their pasture and very happy about it. Tough birds. I'm going to put a couple of cold frames over two of the raised beds tomorrow to warm up the soil and then in a week or so I'll use them for some salad greens I've started inside.

linnellnickerson - Papa Pea spread compost on everything last fall and I tilled it in so although there are a couple of raised beds I still have to till, we're in pretty good shape. We're looking at possible snow flurries tomorrow (again) but it did feel good to be in the garden the past couple of days. We're staying healthy and being safe, hope you are, too!

The Happy Whisk said...

I love that you grow your own asparagus. The raised beds are neat. Working on some here this year. How long have you had yours?

Goatldi said...

MP you are an inspiration to all!

I would like to put asparagus in at my new place. Any tips?

Cockeyed Jo said...

Our asparagus still has one more year to go til before start cutting spears. They are up 4" now. Darn I knew I forgot something. I didn't hill them up. I already planted my peas and parsley in my patch so there's no going back to do it now either.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Our asparagus is already coming up, but it's cold here too. Too cold for April weather.

Mama Pea said...

The Happy Whisk - When we first bought this property nearly 25 years ago, the perfect gardening spot was completely graveled over. (Previous renter of what was this terribly neglected piece of property had decided he was going to start a trucking business; hence, the gravel.) We had the gravel scraped up but knew the soil would be very poor for years to come so started with the building of the raised beds and brought in dirt to fill them. As soon as we could grow some of our food in the raised beds, we started cultivating other areas for the field garden, berry patches, etc.

Goatldi - We got our asparagus roots from Nourse (norsefarms.com) and I recommend them highly. Just follow the instructions that come with the roots, be patient for a couple of years and voila! You'll have as much asparagus as you want.

Cockeyed Jo - You can hill them next year. Isn't it hard to wait for the roots to mature enough so you can start harvesting? Oh, yes! Good luck with yours.

Susan said...

My weeds are vigorous, too! Once the snow stops and the temperature is above 40 without the high winds (sounds like a wonderful spring, doesn't it?) I'll be out there with you. Virtually. Instead, I'm inside, starting seeds.

Mama Pea said...

Susan - Your spring weather sounds a lot like ours! We haven't gotten out of the 30s temp-wise all this week. Even my inside seeds seem slow. They must know it's looking like it's gonna be a long time before they have the benefit of being planted out in the sunshine!

Leigh said...

You seem so brave for gardening in the cold! I missed our asparagus. I supposedly gave up on it several years ago, so I don't think to check on it now. A couple weeks ago found one early stalk and the next time I went to check my remaining half-dozen plants are all grown up and going to flower already! I'm clearly not a very good asparagus gardener. :)

Mama Pea said...

Leigh - I wonder if your climate is too warm for asparagus? That would be my guess. And I do know how hard it seems to be to keep asparagus weed-free so the patch isn't easily overtaken. But then again, we used to harvest asparagus that had gone "wild" along the railroad tracks back in Illinois and no one kept it weeded there! We really have to pick and choose which crops are worth our effort in our individual gardens, don't we?

The Happy Whisk said...

Impressive work you did to go from gravel to goodness. 🌱

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