I love asparagus... I miss the wild asparagus I used to collect every spring in Vermont... love your story and photos

You could leave her the remainders of the stalks and she'd chomp them right down, a whole pile of them too.

Missy the cat lived to be almost 17 years old. Gee, I wonder why?

We have two well loved Mousers that keep our garden and cabin free from small rodents.
I hope they don't find out about the Asparagus!

I love this post and the photos! Best of luck to you in the Ouachitas!

...pee pee, which has fascinated me for as long as I can remember, on my grandfather's farm- he was an asparagus grower waaaay back when.

I'm having some asparagus soup tonight that I made last Sunday.

YUM!!!

Was tonight's dinner. But grocery bought. However I suspect in two weeks here on Cape Cod, we will be overcome
With the tender juicing delicacy for eight heavenly weeks. What's your favorite asparagus recipe?

my uncle raised asparagus commercially. Workers went through the field cutting the asparagus and stacking it in piles about 5 or 10 feet apart. He had a horse that he used in the field who knew his job so well that he stopped in just the right spot so that the back of the wagon was in the right spot for someone to pick up each stack of "grass" (that's what my uncle called it - seriously) and put it in the wagon. He took the horse to the first row and the horse never needed another cue.

As a kid I would never touch asparagus. It wasn't until I learned to cook it myself that I liked it. Mother cooked it until it was mush so she could eat the stringy parts. Bleh! Disgusting. Sometimes I think she did that so as not to waste anything. She was a young woman during the depression and during WWII we had a large Victory Garden to supply us with fresh vegetables. She had learned not to waste and that did not bode well for the asparagus.

I need to get the book you recommended, Gardening by the Square Foot, IIRC. My garden is a logistical mess, but I'm trying to correct that this year.

Never knew how white asparagus is made. I used to have asparagus, until the chipmunks decided they liked it.

Blossom is so sweet. The Deer Momma photo thread on DU2 made me cry.

....but have opened things up a bit over the years.
We have the room to do so,
and wider spacing makes the plants easier to tend,
allows for more air circulation (we have some mold & fungal problems from high humidity),
and easier to spot small problem before they get big, like Squash Bugs.

We still use Companion Planting stressed in the Square Foot method,
and for limited space/maximum production (Variety & Quantity), SqFt is the only way to go.

Thanks for the kind words about Deer Momma.
My wife still enjoys a very special relationship with Blossom.
Sweetee LIKES me, but LOVES her Momma.
They are closely bonded.

Sweetee will sometimes join me if I'm working outside.
She just suddenly appears at my side.
If my wife Starkraven steps outside.
Sweetee will go bounding over to her with her tail up in a joyous greeting.

As part of her Deer Momma duties, when Sweetee was old enough, my wife started taking her on daily Walks in the Woods,
picking leaves and vines and offering them to her, essentially showing her how to forage for food.
The Evening Walk has become a daily ritual, and my wife & Sweetee are joined by our two mousers who also enjoy the daily Sunset Walk in the Woods. The critters will assemble in the yard and wait for us if we are late.



We expect that one day, she will choose to do something else besides spend her evenings with us,
and we will miss her, but as long as she continues to show up,
we are going to enjoy her as much as possible.



She LOVES to chew ice, and if we're not attentive,
she will steal the cubes out of your Tea or Ice Water.

[font size=3 color=firebrick]A Note of Caution for readers of this thread:[/font]
Blossom IS a wild animal, and there are good reasons WHY they haven't been domesticated.
As gentle as she appears, she is EXPLOSIVE, and even the slightest unexpected noise can trigger a full panic.
She is powerful and dangerous when this happens.
We are always very careful around her,
always let her approach us,
avoid being in confined areas with her,
and never get between her and the way out.

Deer also carry some diseases that can be transmitted (like Lyme Disease).
No vet will treat an injured wild animal,
and there are no medicines or vaccines for them either.

Male Deer (Bucks) are very unmanageable,
far less "social",
and some have attacked and killed their handlers during Rut.

How many plants do you need to have a good supply to eat? It looks like they need a lot of space, is that right? You place looks wonderful. Thanks for posting.

If planted from seed, the required "wait" before harvesting is 3 years.

However, it IS possible to buy "crowns" that are already 2 years old.
If you plant these crowns, you may take a few spears the following next year, but the suggestion is to wait 2 years.
After that, the harvesting is progressive, allowing for a longer harvesting season.
A good bed can produce for many, many years.

After harvesting is over, we just let it stand, water it occasionally,
cut it off at ground level in the Fall,
top dress with compost & mulch,
and wait for next year.
It had proved to be surprisingly easy with no pests, diseases, or special needs.

Our primary bed (shown in the photos) is 4 years old, and we started it with crowns that were two years old,
so we are at the maximum allowable harvest season of between 4 weeks - 6 weeks.
We are two weeks into that span, and are eating fresh cut Asparagus nightly.

We started with 10 crowns evenly spaced in a 10' X 4' raised bed, and that is now more than sufficient for 2 Asparagus Lovers who plan to eat it daily for a solid month.

Asparagus has proved to be very hardy, and self propagating through its own seeds.
We now have Asparagus seedlings popping up all over the garden.
Last year, we moved the seedlings to another dedicated bed that is doing well.
We also bought 15 more crowns (at WalMart!) of another variety (M. Washington) and started another bed along a fence line.

We are hoping to reach a point where we can look at each other and say, "Please, No more Asparagus tonight,"
but , so far, we haven't reached that point.

The only real problem we have with Asparagus is that we haven't found a really good way to preserve it for the rest of the year.

I wonder where I can get me some asparagus...

Since my return to the Ozarks, just north of you, I've seen:

Slate Juncoes

Meadowlarks

Zebra Swallowtails

Luna Moths

Robins

and, ALL the Spring foliage in bloom, providing sweet fragrance, and lovely colors.

The flags are up and opening, and the creamy dogwoods punctuate the limes and yellow greens of the new leaves peaking out on the awakening hardwoods.

I need only walk in the woods to reconnect to our amazing planet and let go the concerns of our dysfunctional species.

But Shhhhh!
We don't want the word to get out.
Most of the Ozarks & Ouachitas are still pristine with bountiful wild life.

All the varieties of Swallowtails are spectacular,
but seeing a Giant Luna Moth is a near Spiritual Experience,
and we love seeing the Lightening Bugs again.

it's a lot of work.

It has been a lot of work, but it has all been a Labor of Love.

We were facing hard times in Minneapolis in 2005.
Both of us were in our 50s, and reduced to working retail jobs with diminishing benefits.
We decided to sell everything,
buy a cheap place that needed a lot of work in an area with LOW property taxes and low cost of living,
and invest our time & talents in Sweat Equity.

So far, so good.

I'm in my 50's and managed to keep my job through the recession. I have no spouse, so anything that has to be done around the house, has to be done by me. After work, or not at all.

When I was young, I dreamed of living in the country, with a large garden, trees, pets, wildlife. I suppose I idealized it, but at the same time, I knew it would be constant work, except for the occasional fishing day. But life being what it is, I live in a big city, work in one fo those tall glass buildings, work outrageous hours, and live in the rat race I swore I never would.

I come from a small city, but originally from a tiny town, from a long line of farmers. I feel an affinity toward the land. Now, I live in a place with hard clay soil that doesn't seem like soil at all to me. Ironic.

But I am hoping to move closer to family, and live in an area with more rainfall, decent soil, and have some fig trees, a large garden, some other fruit trees, and as many pets as I can afford to rescue. Ahhhh. Maybe. If I'm close enough to my brother, who is moving to Arkansas, I'll also have fishing trips.

now I like the way it tops out, will hide the neighbors ugly fence. I've heard it must be contained or it will spread like wild onions.

I had never seen Asparagus grown,
and had imagined a small veggie that grew in short clumps.
I had no idea that it would be so bushy, and grow over 6' tall,
so 4 years ago, we put ours in the middle of the Garden where it is really in the way for most of the Summer.

It IS a perfect Fence crop,
and we located the new bed along the fence line.
Long, skinny beds seem the way to go here.

It does spread easily through its own seeds,
and we have Asparagus seedlings popping up all over.

The good news is that Asparagus plants are either Male or Female,
and it is possible (recommended) that female plants be culled after the bed is established.
The males supposedly are stronger and taste better,
and any unwanted propagation through seeds will be ended.

I imagine it can also spread through roots, and the original crown clusters have grown wider,
but nothing seems to have gone under the boards yet.

There are rumors of Asparagus Gone WILD on abandoned farms and homesteads in this area.
Now that we know what to look for, we are keeping our eyes open.

that I've never gotten enough of it to the kitchen to actually cook.

I usually ate it raw while I'm working on other stuff in the garden.

Of course, I've never had a large enough, old enough bed to do more than that. For a decade, I had a cycle that went like this:

I'd double-dig a new bed, put in new starts, nurture them through their first season, and get a little asparagus to eat the 2nd season...until, about half way through, rodents would show up and eat them from below. Gophers, mostly. So I'd start again the next spring.

Until, finally, in the last place I lived, I lined the bed with hardware cloth. That worked great; the asparagus actually made it into the 3rd season. At that point, the neighbor's bermuda grass crossed into the garden and started taking over everything. I was struggling to pull all the bermuda out and leave asparagus behind, until I moved to the far north, where I've never managed to handle all the weeds, let alone find time to actually plant things on purpose, lol.

Anyway, the pictures of your asparagus made me hungry. I'm going to find some dinner.

I think of her at times.