ASPARAGUS

Jack Schmidling Productions, Inc.
Marengo Illinois

MOST RECENT PHOTOS PHOTO INDEX HOME PAGE

New SLIDE SHOW New



Photo

Asparagus



Everyone knows what asparagus looks like but the fun aspect of this picture is that we picked it this morning before breakfast.

What we then did with it is the subject of the last picture of this series.

..





Photo





The green, weedy looking strip at the edge of this garden is actually the crown jewel of our gardens.




..




Photo

This is a typical small section showing asparagus shooting up among the violets. We pick it when it is about 8" high and usually can pick about a dozen stalks a day between late April and the first of June.

It is then allowed to grow freely and turns into a bushy, ferny hedge about 6 feet high. It then has the whole Summer to nurture the rootstock for next Spring.

Unfortunately, in spite of the hundreds of pictures in our files, I can not find a single one that contains the asparagus patch in late summer. I will make a point of taking one this year and add it to this file.



..




Photo


This asparagus, cheese omelet was this morning's breakfast and the first one of the season is as eagerly awaited as the disappearance of snow.

Our favorite way of eating cooked asparagus is to lay it out in the toaster oven pan and roast it in a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

Freezing is not an option but a waste of fresh asparagus so what we do with what we can not eat fresh is to pickle it. We do it the old fashioned fermented way and it makes the most wonderful pickles. It is the same process described on my Sauer Kraut page, just substituting asparagus for shredded cabbage.



..




Asparagus Ferns

ASPARAGUS, The Sequel

In May, I posted the Asparagus Story and someone asked what it looks like after we stop cutting it and it gets a chance to grow.

We cut the asparagus shoots for one month, until the first of June. Then the plants are allowed to finish growing into the classic asparagus ferns. This stage is necessary to replenish the rootstock for next year's cutting.

This is what the asparagus patch looks like in the Middle of August.