Spring Harvest
“WHILE THE EARTH REMAINS, SEEDTIME AND HARVEST…SHALL NOT CEASE” (Gen. 822).
Tonight, we will eat the first ripe spears of spring. I’m almost drooling while I type!
Harvest in springtime seems like an oxymoron. Most plants labor all summer to store solar energy in stalks (celery), leaves (lettuce), or fruit (strawberry or bean). This is not the case with asparagus.
Snoozing under the soil all winter, the asparagus stirs to life in late March. Warmish days like today invite them to shoot forth and “look around.” I’ll take advantage of their emergent energy and cut a handful for tonight’s dinner.
For the next five or six weeks we’ll dine on fresh asparagus. Then things change. From mid-May onward throughout summer and fall the spears grow into fern-like plants. They stand over six feet tall, have tiny blossoms, and put on pea-size red berries. Birds love that part!
The magic happens in this long growing season. Asparagus fronds feed the root clusters. Their massive root systems store summer’s collected energy before nodding off into fall’s dormancy. They take a well-deserved winter snooze. Then in March, they begin the process again.
What’s my role in this? Two critical functions fall upon farmer Rod: soil maintenance and hydration. Asparagus grows in the dirt; we gotta keep conditions optimal through weed control and soil health. Weed control (always only manual, NO herbicides; we wanna eat healthy!) and soil health demand time and attention. Soil health involves three things: adequate “looseness,” sufficient nutrition, and proper pH. I spend many hours each year on my knees to keep it productive and make it happen.
Hydration is simpler. When I planted the bed, I also installed a drip-irrigation system. These beauties need to drink; Job done with a turn of the tap!
I’m gonna eat good tonight; but effort and attention to detail made it possible. Life’s like that.
Keep your “garden” growing,
Rod MacArthur
206.949.0325
rod_macarthur@comcast.net