asparagus

ASPARAGUS 
now i have eaten asparagus for years
from the grocery store
they tasted alright
but never did i feel real enthusiastic about eating
asparagus
sort of plain tasting
like bitter cardboard

so one day i was listening to the garden show on klbj590
on a weekend morning
when they talked about planting asparagus
they said its easy to do
the secret they said was good initial soil preparation
which here at the country n means
you better make your own soil or bring in some
good garden soil from a local nursery
get it planted
then you can have asparagus for 25 years
some even for 100 years
hum my legacy
a long 30 ft row of asparagus

since i have two sons
i would give the first 15 ft to my oldest son
and
the second 15 ft to my youngest son
so my will will so specify

so here is how i did it
first i looked for a spot that i didnt mind tying up
for 100 years
i found one along my garden chicken run chicken
coop area
it had a run of about 30+ feet
i like ive told you before
covered it with newspaper
went and got me some hill country garden soil from the
natural gardener
and
made me a raised bed
i initially planted some asparagus and oregano
and mexican oregano and leeks along that long
row
but when i was listening recently to the gardening
show again
i thought i just want a long row of homestead aspargus
so
i dug up the mexcian oregano and all those leeks

i went here to the natural gardener
and
skipped getting the green asparagus plants in the 4 in pots
since i tried those before and they didnt do so well

instead i got the bare root kind
a rubberband batch has 5 in each bundle
to me they look like an octopus

i then dug a 12 inch trench down the middle of the bed
after i had added 3 inches of my country chicken compost
organic fertilizer was added also
i used the ladybug 8-2-4

then i built some hills about 8 inches high down the middle
of the trench

i gently laid down those spidery octopus looking asparagus
dry root thingymajigs on top of the hills letting the tentacles
flow down the side of the hills
i also had added some earthworm castings over the hill before
laying the plants to rest

i covered the plants up to the top of the little bitty top tip
watered it in well with seaweed to stimulate the roots to
grow

as the plant grows higher i will cover it up with dirt
until it reaches the level of the bed

then i will cover it with a layer of mulch for the winter
probably leaves that many of you have given me

these asparagus will produce the second year ie 2016
we wont pick them though until 2017
but if we are lucky
or
i should say our ancestors are lucky they will be still picking
them in the year 2115

this is what a handful of these look like
just plucked from the garden

yes
i confess
i ate them all before they made it inside

like a lot of our tomatoes and strawberries they
never make it out of the garden

until you have picked a fresh organic asparagus
right from the garden
you really cant appreciate the full taste of this vegetable
it has a sweet delicious taste

i call it the heirloom or homestead asparagus
try it
the vegetable that keeps on giving and giving

the organicgreen doctor