Asparagus

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Asparagus
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Ginkotree

Joined: 26 Jun 2008
Posts: 2956
Location: south west wales

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 10 4:35 pm Post subject:
Been having a spear every morning fresh and raw for about a week,have not got enough to make a meal, steamed and covered with butter, from garden to pan and on the plate in less than ten minutes with the water smirring on the stove as I collect it..yum yum.x

Blue Sky

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 7658
Location: France

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 10 5:43 pm Post subject:

Ginkotree wrote:

Been having a spear every morning fresh and raw for about a week,have not got enough to make a meal, steamed and covered with butter, from garden to pan and on the plate in less than ten minutes with the water smirring on the stove as I collect it..yum yum.x

Sounds good. Been out 'snapping' again so none for tonight ....

I must resist, I must resist

Dekk

Joined: 21 Feb 2009
Posts: 48
Location: somewhere between raising hell and amazing grace

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 10 6:24 pm Post subject:
planted mine last year so it's my first crop. well, i say crop, what tends to happen is I see a couple pick them and eat them fresh and raw YUMMY come neat year I may get a meal. then again I did plant 20 of them it might just be I eat to many

Blue Sky

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 7658
Location: France

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 10 6:32 pm Post subject:

Dekk wrote:

planted mine last year so it's my first crop. well, i say crop, what tends to happen is I see a couple pick them and eat them fresh and raw YUMMY

come neat year I may get a meal. then again I did plant 20 of them it might just be I eat to many

Yur supposed to wait three years before you pick ANY lol

hairyhippy

Joined: 15 May 2006
Posts: 21

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 10 9:16 pm Post subject:
Mine have been in two years. I have a few spears but no foliage yet. Can I pick this year or should I wait until next year?

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42207
Location: North Devon

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 10 10:12 pm Post subject:
Did you plant crowns or seeds? The plants are supposed to be three years old before you start harvesting, so if you planted crowns you can start picking this year. (Impatient rich people can buy two year old crowns to plant.)

Ginkotree

Joined: 26 Jun 2008
Posts: 2956
Location: south west wales

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 10 8:18 pm Post subject:
Im so pleased with myself, resisted temptation of eating fresh from the garden and saved enough spears to cook and share this evening with our meal... I have self seeded fern growing as well as mature plants..I bought crowns years so I did not have to wait three years but am happy to wait for the seeds to mature..but only if the big crowns keep going..

mochasidamo

Joined: 22 Sep 2005
Posts: 615
Location: Montgomery

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 10 8:27 pm Post subject:

Bulgarianlily wrote:

I started seeds off earlier in the year, now have the most delicate little fern shoots in pots. Should I keep them in pots for the first year? If so how big?

We did...4" I think.

Hard frosts are a problem...none here yet, but did remember to fleece the bed this year (unlike last when we lost around four plants). Can never grow enough

Vanessa

Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 8324

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 10 8:35 pm Post subject:
Oh how odd; I always assumed it was no picking for 2 years to allow the crowns time to settle and establish a good strong root-system in situ, and nothing to do with the actual age of the crowns.

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42207
Location: North Devon

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 10 8:53 pm Post subject:
I could be completely wrong. It has happened.

mark

Joined: 14 Jul 2005
Posts: 2191
Location: Leeds

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 10 11:47 pm Post subject:

Cutting in the early years is a balance. Cut a little and you strenghten the future crop - or cut more and enjoy now. It's your choice!

I'm in my third year of cutting now and the crop is strong and slighly more than i can use.

Yesterday I cooked roast asparagus in serano ham served over garlic bread.

I lightly fried some garlic and onions in olive oil. Added some red wine vinegar and a dash o woucester sauce and reduced.

I wroped the asparagus stems in serranno ham placed on a backing tray and spooned the garlicy oil over them. I roasted in the oven til it looked good (about 20 min or so) made garlic bread at same time.

I cut more asparagus than i needed for a meal for two - so i made soup with the rest. Boiled the woody stems in water to make nice green stock. Fried some onion then added stock - chucked in some rice to thicken it without disguising asparagus flavour, reserved tips and chopped stems and added to stock Added some crushed coriander and cumin seeds and pepper and a bit of salt.

When rice and asparagus cooked - blitzed it all with a whizzer stick till smooth green soup .

added a bit of water to asp tips in a bowl and covered and steamed for a couple of mins in microwave. Chucked cooked tips into soup whole.

Chilled whole lot in fridge overnight and had for delicious lunch today with bread.

Mark

Bulgarianlily

Joined: 01 Jun 2008
Posts: 1667
Location: South West Mountains of Bulgaria

Posted: Fri Apr 30, 10 4:13 am Post subject:
I thought I would keep them in pots until next spring, and build the raised bed for them now, using it for several quick crops to get the soil really clean, is this a good way to go?

ksia

Joined: 17 May 2006
Posts: 2320
Location: Mayenne, France

Posted: Fri Apr 30, 10 4:54 pm Post subject:

Mark - that sounds yummy (well, apart from the ham)!

We've guests Sunday so I'm resisting picking any till then!
I'm going to do a quiche - do I cook them a little before do you think or just throw it all in together?

This is our 2nd year of full picking and I really should get more beds going. I did 1 last year but it's a bit weedy.
Do you all really manage to keep the beds weed free??

BL - I'm not sure about it in pots - I don't think it likes having its roots disturbed.

Bulgarianlily

Joined: 01 Jun 2008
Posts: 1667
Location: South West Mountains of Bulgaria

Posted: Fri Apr 30, 10 7:26 pm Post subject:
hmm, but I thought you bought them as crowns which must be a big root disturbance? Do you mean disturbed when repotting them?

Vanessa

Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 8324

Posted: Fri Apr 30, 10 9:05 pm Post subject:
Yes, BL ... at least, that's how I understand it. I'd have thought that you'd be better waiting to order the crowns until your soil is "clean" of weeds. if you've already ordered them, then they'll be better in pots than in weedy earth ... but you'll have to wait that extra year before cropping begins because moving them to the earth from the pots will disturb the roots again.

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