Soilman's Allotment Blog

No more woody asparagus!

How to harvest asparagus correctly and prepare it for the kitchen

May's heavenly harvest

Had our third meal of asparagus tonight. Eaten within minutes of cutting, it needs only 3-4 mins of steaming and is sweet, crunchy and delicious. A total delight.

For the next few weeks, I'll eat it plain – not even any butter. By mid May, it will need some kind of accompaniment... so we'll break out the hollandaise sauce. Once that novelty's worn off, we're in trouble.

Sick of asparagus: classy sort of problem, huh?

Sickly spears

This time last April I was cutting the first asparagus spears. This year I'm watching them rot in the frost.

I can't even point at other successes for encouragement. The early potatoes aren't even through yet. Or rather, they did come through... and were promptly frosted.

This really is the latest spring for a very long time, isn't it?

Muck 'n' garlic

Gorgeous day today. The sun was shining, my back felt pretty good and I got a load done at the plot.

The main achievement was to get eight bags of horse shit spread on the asparagus bed. This will pay tasty dividends when the spears are coming through.

I will of course regret planting the row of garlic. After last year's rust disaster I don't expect much.

But life without garlic is, like, unthinkable. Right?

Ready for spring spears

I managed to get out on the plot today, thanks to a bit of decent weather. Didn't get much done, but there's plenty of time before the spring. Unfortunately.

Cutting back the asparagus bed for winter http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1321305943http://www.brightcove.com/channel.jsp?channel=1213897953

Short days, hot nights

The asparagus is just beginning to turn yellow. Another few weeks and it will have to be cut back.

When it stopped raining, I finally got some work done on the plot. Pulled out the old sweetcorn stems and dug in some manure.

Wonderful weather on Sunday; it was sunny and warm, but with that beautiful watery light of early autumn. It would have been a perfect weekend had the wife not insisted upon switching to the winter-weight duvet yesterday.

I sweated like a donkey all night and this morning I feel terrible.

Wife's frond farewell

Another step and I'd need a team of sherpas to get her back.

The rain has driven my asparagus into a Bacchanalian orgy of growth. It's threatening to annexe my neighbour's raspberries.

I'm reduced to visiting the plot at anti-social hours to avoid bumping into him.

So embarrassing.