Asparagus

[sawguy21]

Had my first feed of locally grown asparagus today, so good. I simmered it in water in the frying pan (Dang grill won't light) till tender but not overcooked. Butter and pepper and I was golden. 8) They will be picking for another 3 to 4 weeks.

[DennisK]

We are early this year by about 3 weeks, already pickled 2 batches. Been eating since mid April, crops are in a few weeks early also.

[thecfarm]

My Father loved that stuff!!!
I helped him plant 3 rows of it about 20 feet long each more than 40 years ago. I can still hear him say, I want enough to eat.

[BradMarks]

Been harvesting our little patch for about a month.  In raised bed, watering regularly to keep producing as we are in a DROUGHT.  Could be a bad fire season again.  And peas are ready to pick. CFARM:  Did you have a produce stand growing up?  That's a lot of Asparagus.

[sawguy21]

We pick from the first week of May depending on the weather to mid June. I hate paying 5 bucks a pound for something that grows with little maintenance but it is what it is. This area grows particularly good asparagus, people come from the coast where it doesn't do well.

[stavebuyer]

One of my favorites. We are nearing the end of our run and as much as I love it I am about ready for the green beans to start coming in but that is still a few weeks off.

[barbender]

The kids and I picked some wild stuff yesterday on the way home from fishing. Only about a third of the plants we checked had sprouted yet. We've had a very dry spring and that has them a week or 2 behind schedule.

[woodroe]

We are having a big hand full of them for suppah tonight.
Some are 3/4" where they break off and that doesn't mean they are tough, just well fed. 
Not like those spindly things at the market.
I think the right amount of row is 15' per person.
salt, pepper n butter w/splash of vinegar , gourmet like, especially this time of year.

[thecfarm]

  CFARM:  Did you have a produce stand growing up?  That's a lot of Asparagus.

Did you miss the love part?  ;)   My Father loved that stuff. Yes it worked. He could and did eat it almost every night. He loved asparagus.  ;D
I started to sell stuff, My father never sold nothing. He was too busy giving it away. And he would delivery it too.  :

[21incher]

We have been harvesting ours for about 2 weeks now. Love it grilled. Home grown definitely adds aroma to #1.  ;D Our bed is 15 years old and going downhill with smaller harvests now. 

[Al_Smith]

Decades ago on some of the rail road tracks they used cinder fill .The wild asparagus loved it .It's been years and now too late in the season to do but I used to walk the tracks and get the wild asparagus .It would all be 3 feet tall by now and not edible by anything but a horse or goat  .End of March or first of April in this neck of the woods for that .
It takes about 4-5 years in a gardening situation to establish a good bed .My dad did it but i doubt that I do because I always seem  get myself with a woman who doesn't share my liking for the stuff .Two wives and one domestic partner and none of them did .One likes grits though and I can't relate to that . ;D 

[kantuckid]

Our go to method to enjoy asparagus is to break where it wants to break & discard tough base, wash, dry, roll in olive oil with salt and pepper, then bake 15 min @ 425 deg..
I see these chef plates of gourmet food with 5 or 6 pieces of asparagus and laugh! Who likes it and eats that few of them? 

[thecfarm]

Who likes it and eats that few of them?

Not my father.  :D

[Al_Smith]

As a side note it's been said sheep manure with a high potassium content makes the best fertilizer for asparagus .When I was kid it wasn't hard to find, now days it might be .

[kantuckid]

Years ago I was talking to a Farmers, KY greenhouse owner/operator, now long gone, who told me they grew asparagus commercially up on the small plateau where now sits the small regional airstrip operated by Morehead, KY. It was mostly a truck farming operation for the Cin., OH restaurants trade. He said the white version brought more which as I recall, involved sun blanching it with tarpaper laid over the rows. I used to have a wild patch that i sort of fought over with a lady we worked with-first come/ first serve from a roadside ditch-then a local sawmill owner bought the place a re-fenced, removing my veggies, after clearing the timber out. I see it along an area near Grayson, KY on the N side of I-64 but gets mowed and ravaged by the hwy dept. so only the tall, seed head survivors show much. 

[Don P]

Hmm, I don't think I've had asparagus and grits, thanks for the idea 

[doc henderson]

we had stir fried onions, carrots and asparagus for dinner.  oil salt and pepper.  great.