The asparagus is coming in like gangbusters. It's by far our first veggie to be harvested from the garden, if you don't consider rhubarb a vegetable. Some folks do, you know, but it will always be a fruit in my book.
(Oops, correction on the asparagus being the first vegetable harvest. I already have half my supply of frozen chives put by.)
I harvested this bunch of lovely asparagus spears yesterday which was almost too much to stuff into a gallon bag for transport to a friend. Apparently, asparagus likes to grow in cool, wet weather about as much as grass and weeds do.
I'm still working on getting the garden in. Our frequent rains this year are making it difficult. A couple of days ago I had a window where the soil in my raised beds was dry enough that I planted beets, lettuce, radishes, spinach and Swiss chard. Shortly thereafter, the skies opened up and it rained again. Hard. The just-planted beds looked like miniature swimming pools. Did all those little seeds survive? Time will tell.
Yesterday we had no rain but high winds. I was in the kitchen when I heard a loud crash out on the deck. Our all-wood, heavy, old clunker of a glider blew over. Couldn't believe it. But the amazing thing was that I had twelve pots of veggies and flowers on the deck table that didn't get blown into the next county. Needless to say, I didn't waste time retrieving them and have let them stay the night here in the kitchen. Our temp this morning is only in the high 40s so they've yet to go out into the calmer weather today.
Last year my daughter surprised me by planting these two clumps of daffodils by the well pump. They haven't bloomed yet this year. Maybe I should put a little heater out by them? Might be worth a try. ;o)
9 comments:
Beautiful harvest! Good to see sunshine glinting over your gardens in the background, after so much rain. Hoping for more of it for you!
I love fresh Aspargus & yours looks delicious. I haven't found a way that I like to preserve the spears. Don't like the texture freezing or canning. I do make asparagus soup & freeze a couple of quarts. But, it doesn't 'hold' for longer than 3 or 4 months. One year, I had a quart that got lost in the freezer. It was in there about 6 months & when tried to eat it, it had a very bitter taste. Maybe I should trying canning the soup or freezing the spears to make soup later?
Rosalea - Wouldn't ya know, we have a bee-yew-tiful day with lots of sunshine here today and I'm committed to something other than being able to be out in the garden. Oh well, it's early in the season, right?
DFW - During asparagus growing season, we eat it every day because although I do freeze it for winter consumption, the frozen just doesn't compare to the fresh stuff. This past winter (because we seemed to have an over-abundance of frozen asparagus) I did for the first time make Cream of Asparagus soup using the frozen servings. It was very good and we both liked it but there wasn't ever enough from the batch left to freeze. (The soup, I mean.) So I don't know how it would have tasted over what period in the freezer. But it definitely did make good soup so freezing the spears might be a satisfactory way for you to go for the soup. Give it a try!
That's a gorgeous looking asparagus!
Nancy - I had just as much to harvest today. Boy, when it starts producing, it produces A LOT! How fortunate we are.
Our soil has such a high clay content (even the soil I've worked hard on) that if we get a rain after seeding it forms a hard crust over them. Even beans can't seem to get through. Thus I am reseeding and coaxing beans this week. We had a nasty wind come through here yesterday afternoon before a light rain front. I had to run out and batten the hatches, looking for things that would get airborne. It was intense.
SmartAlex - The start of this gardening season for so many seems to bring on either tears or laughter. Don't know which is the best one. :o\ I woke this morning thinking about all those seeds I put in just before that last deluge and don't know whether to be patient and see what might germinate or if I should work up the soil and start over. Darn. Sometimes I wonder if a lot of hard work is folly. (This funk will pass and all will be well. Right?)
I'm in a funk on gardening (food and ornamental) again this year - everything about it seems to either tick me off or depress me. The weather, the weeds, the garden location, a serious want of raised beds and grass proof edgings, the pathetic garden output, the sunburn & bugs, etc. I keep wondering if it's really worth the pain. Sorry - that's my crabby way of saying thanks for letting me know I'm not alone in my doubts. And not alone when I keep forging ahead with it.
Gorgeous asparagus! I've stopped picking mine as of a few days ago. I'd rather err on the side of not picking as much as I could over picking too late and weakening the plants for next year.
JustGail - Oh, I know exactly what you mean and how you feel about gardening. At least, at times I do. I had to give myself a good talking to while working out there today. There is so very much to do, all of it time-sensitive, and I'm the work crew of one. I feel overwhelmed and it's only the start of the season. Finally, I put most all of it out of my mind and concentrated on doing just one task at a time. But by the time I hauled my bent frame in after dinner, I could hardly stand up. So let's keep forging ahead together 'cause it will get better!
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