Last fall, we spent several afternoons wandering the river valley. One of the things we noticed was an abundance of asparagus growing wild . I made a mental note of two spots to check out in the spring and, after blistering my hands in the yard this morning, Jess and I went back to see if, indeed, there was asparagus.
Turns out we were right when we identified the plant last year (based on the girth of the shoots, my guess is escaped garden plants, maybe with seeds dropped by birds). Getting at the young plants was a bit of a challenge, though. The recent rains turns several of the trails into clay-based luge runs.
That said, in one of the spots, there is enough asparagus there to warrant a small harvest next week. Needs a bit more time to grow and the slopes need to be a tad less slick.
The rest of the yard is coming back to life and I'm slowly getting an upper hand on the spring clean up. If we could have two nice days in a row, I might even be able to get some of the more onerous chores done. The tomatoes in the basement are about the size of the bedding plants we usually buy and, if the weather warms up a tad, I will start to harden them off next weekend.
This is fascinating. If it can grow wild, then surely it would grow in my garden. This will be my project this year. Should I start from seed?
ReplyDeleteThanks--I thought it was pretty cool. If you start from seed, it can take three years before you can harvest. By contrast, if you start from root stock (available at any garden store this time of year), you can harvest in two years. When it goes to seed, it makes a lovely wispy light-green frond with red berries.
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