aspargus, mri, hog heaven

ASPARAGUS
how to plant asparagus

as always you have to have good soil
here the soil is so rocky and poor that most of us
use raised beds
i simply bring in a good organic soil that is from
a local organic nursery and do a 3-4 ft wide bed that
is 18-24 in deep
if you have good soil be sure to add compost freely to the
soil     i usually add an organic fertilizer and mix all this
stuff together

the soil has to be loose and well drained
there needs to be at least 6 hours sun on the beds but
more would be better
there needs to be good air circulation

the best asparagus variety for this area is uc72
they are sold in crowns which are one year old asparagus
plants that look like an octopus or squid

dig a trench 6-8 in deep and 3-4 in wide and build up
a crown-a hill of dirt that is large enough to spread the roots
(the tentacles of the octopus) over the crown
then cover with the soil

as the crown grows add more compost and soil until
the trench is level with the rest of the bed

space the plants 12-18 inches apart
i water them in with liquid seaweed
then cover the soil with mulch-i use pine straw or leaves

keep the plants watered regularly the first year
if you over water they may die so be careful

i add compost and organic fertilizer every year
in the fall after the first big freeze i cut down the stems and
then cover with 2-3 inches of compost and mulch
in the spring add compost again and the fertilizer

dont harvest any of the asparagus until the third year
this allows a good root system to grow and improve
production
you cut the spears off under ground about 6-12 in long
when all you are getting is 1/2 in stalks and no more spears
are coming up the harvest is over
be sure and dont harvest all of the shoots as some shoots are
needed to produce the stems ferniness that produces nutrition
to the roots
the harvest usually last 4-6 weeks

we did cheat and cut a few the second year
my wife she just couldnt keep her hands off them
sure were good
the third year was fairly productive but
many of them did not make it to the kitchen
yum yum

the asparagus plants grow 5-8 ft tall and have a ferny
appearance to them

asparagus beds usually last 15-20 years
and good organic maintained beds have been
reported to last 100 years

well worth the effort
enjoy

MRI 
had an an mri of the brain that was normal
thats good news and bad news
good news is that there were not any changes of alzheimers
seen on the mri-did not expect any
when changes are noted usually there are more cognitive
problems than what i have
the bad news is that there is not another
treatable cause found for my problem

am trying to find out what other patients that i know with
alzhiemers had on their mris when they were first diagnosed
know my mom had cerebral atrophy and increased ventricle
size on her ct scan early on in her diagnosis
(means the brain shrinks)

will have a pet scan later on they may tell me more

HOG HEAVEN
if you are a razorback fan then you are in hog heaven today
sugar bowl against the pin striped buckeyes
(my apologies to my ohio state patients and friends)
pocket passer vs an athletic qb
north against south
prediction arkansas wins

hogs also play longhorns tonight in austin
may have to split tv dvr or just flip back and forth
prediction texas wins as they have a good team this year
have added some monster freshman (pre pros)

the organicgreen doctor