Our Own Asaparagus: A Perennial Green Vegetable

I love perennials. I especially LUV perennials that provide food: fruit trees, pecan trees, berry canes, grape vines, hipping roses, herbs.... and now, at long last, asparagus.

We planted the "crowns" (or in layman's terms "roots") two years ago. I bought them at Womack Nursery in De Leon, Texas: a small nursery specializing in local varieties of nuts, fruits and a few other things. They made their name with pecan trees & grape vines, and have expanded somewhat in recent years. I understand that asparagus grows wild in some parts of the country, but not down here, so we have to plant our own. In Texas generally, and our area specifically, it's critical to buy as close to home as possible to be certain plants can adapt to our curious micro-climates and nuanced soils.

So, we planted these along the back fence in the alley, and "they say" to wait until the third year to begin harvesting. We put 70 crowns in the ground, hoping that half would survive, and about 40 did. Probably more would have established if we had looked after them more carefully. Due to a combination of factors, they went untended for long stretches, including being completely abandoned for months shortly after planting, and going unwatered most of last year. But they are little troopers, and kept on sending up shoots and making fronds.

The spears in the photo are the beginning of our second batch. Have to check for new shoots every day (or they turn into ferns like those in the previous post) and will add them to the green bag until the weekend. Then we will have grilled asparagus for dinner!

Asparagus From Our Own Patch

Woohoo! 3 years ago we planted 70 asparagus crowns along the back fence. This year it is finally well established enough to pick! This was our first small batch, check out the size of two of those spears!

I tossed them in a little olive oil, sprinkled with salt and roasted them. We had them the other night with calf liver and onions.

I had never picked my own before and Paul showed me how to make sure there's no woodiness in the end. Just hold one end gently in each hand and slowly bend the spear until it breaks naturally. It finds its own break point just above the woody end.

I nearly missed the first picking, since I was away, and the freeze this week snapped the new spears, but more are coming up. We should get to pick for a few more weeks before we need to let them alone to grow and store food for next year. In our climate, spears come up and the fronds stay green all through the summer until the first freeze, packing away nutrients into their root system for the coming year.

With hardly any care, and a little luck, and the Good Lord willing, this patch of perennial vegetables should provide food for our table for many years to come. How cool is that?

Seed Catalogs: Planning a Central Texas Garden

Oh my the seed catalogues have started to arrive. Just at the time when I am regretting that I didn't plant a fall garden. Just at the time when it is too cold to get out and finish picking up the pecans from the later-dropping trees that I saw all over yesterday when we were getting the Christmas decorations out of the garage. Just at the time when it finally froze hard and killed off every remaining green leaf.

Except for the Swiss Chard. Not only our New Favorite Greens but also a very pretty plant, especially in the Bright Lights form with neon colored stems. The ones in the back yard, hidden from the deer who took turns with us getting the front yard crop, are frozen at the moment but will thaw and survive, ready to be picked when we get hungry for some fresh food in the deep winter. Chard was a happy discovery this year, that will always be a part of my future gardens.

This year was my second year to have a garden. I've learned so much this past couple of years - I always loved reading about gardening and thought I knew a lot. But the most important discovery has been that gardening is something one must do to really learn. Actual experience makes all the difference.

One thing I did this year that proved a big eye opener for me (and really bolstered my confidence), is that I planted *two* gardens, miles away from each other, and got to see the differences and similarities between the two. One I planted at home, like I did last year, but the other I planted in a borrowed plot of a friend who is no longer able to garden. So I had her knowledge to draw on. The two areas have very different soil, micro climates and even water.

Of real significance in success was in which varieties of vegetables I planted. Some varieties did great (Emerald Giant peppers), while others languished (California Wonder peppers). Some types produced to beat the band (snow peas), while others made little more than some green manure (edible pod peas and english peas). I'll post more about the varieties I like over the next few weeks.

So as I look through the seed catalogues this year and begin planning next spring's garden, I'll be mindful of that. My "My Space" blog proved very useful as a gardening journal, and I was fairly responsible about posting planting dates and varieties (and locations because I tend to forget what I put where). I also kept the empty seed packets and labels, so now I can refer to those and MySpace to help me plan this year's purchases. I am learning that the key to being a good gardener is experimenting and learning from experience. Keep trying and each year there will be more successes to repeat from the year before, and more fun new successes to discover. It's always a "Victory Garden" in more ways than one!