What a wild gardening year this has been so far. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that the warm weather had made the asparagus pop up much earlier than usual. In the first two weeks of harvesting we’ve hauled in over 6 pounds of asparagus. And to an asparagus lover like me, that is a wonderful thing.
My wife and I have done all the usual things with this bonanza of asparagus. One of my favorite ways to cook it is on the grill. You can find my basic recipe here. We’ve had it in a frittata. I’ve sauteed it as a side dish. And last week I stir-fried it with some shrimp, using Norma Chang’s great recipe. I wish I could say I had some photos of the stir fry, but I don’t. You can bet I’ll be making it again this season though!
grilled asparagus (click on any image top enlarge)
While asparagus may be the star of the garden right now, I’m still harvesting plenty of other things – including lettuce, spinach, mache, green garlic and kale. I’m still waiting on Beedy’s Camden kale to bolt. It’s still standing tall, and flowerless, which is pretty amazing given our hot March weather.
compost - a gardener's Brown Gold
One other thing I harvested last week was compost. I dug out 6 bushels of it, spreading some on a bed intended for spring broccoli when the plants are ready. The rest of it I squirreled away for later use. Then I turned the full bin of cooking compost into the now empty one. There’s nothing like forking into a steamy pile of compost to open up your sinuses on a warm day!
full compost bin, after turning
I’ll close with a sign of future (hopefully) harvests. It looks like the mild winter not only left the fig vines alive, but it’s also going to give us an early crop of figs. That will be a first here, since the vines have died back to the ground every year in winter since I planted the figs. Which mean all we’ve ever gotten is a fall crop, usually coming on quite late in the season. It also looks like the Celeste fig is finally going to bear for the first time, and I’m really looking forward to that.
Celeste figs setting on in April
To see what other gardener’s are harvesting, and cooking up with their harvests, visit Daphne’s Dandelions, host of Harvest Mondays.
Loved the compost opening your sinuses line. Ahh the joy of figs – they are a simply fabulous fruit aren’t they?
I love that you’re growing figs. Are they outside? I’m thinking of growing some at the end of my high tunnel.
Yes, they are outside, planted in the ground. I have Brown Turkey, Hardy Chicago, Conadria and Celeste. This will be the fifth year for them.
Fig vines? I’ve heard of strangler figs in the jungle and here we have fig trees but not vines….
Fig bush would be a better description. Since they usually die back to the ground every year, they grow into more of a bush shape than a tree.
My figs show no sign of life at all which is sad. I wonder if they died back to the ground this year or not. I’m supposed to protect them in my climate, but didn’t last winter. With the mild winter I thought I might have gotten away with it. Maybe not.
Mine usually are pretty late in coming up. I believe it was May last year before they showed signs of life, so yours may do just fine!
Oh happy day when the asparagus patch is in full production! I miss having a mature patch. When we moved to this homestead, I immediately got one started since I missed my big patch at the old homestead in central Washington. Unfortunately, after several years of just not thriving, I finally pulled it out. I really need to find another spot and give it another go, as I miss them alot.
I was messing with compost this weekend too. I need to consolidate two working piles on the next available opportunity to make room for the new additions during the summer harvest season.
Love your asparagus! Mine is just starting to wake up so not harvesting anything just yet. And we also planted 2 figs this weekend but I don’t know how long it would take them to fruit – definitely not expecting anything this year. It would be very lovely to have some fresh figs as I love them roasted in meals 🙂
WOW I don’t even have figs on yet! Leaves, but not figs.
Love the asparagus! Figs are so yummy, I hope you get a good crop.
6 pounds of asparagus already that’s awesome. i look forward to checking more out about the varieties of figs you grow; very interesting! I can’t believe how many of my overwintered veggies are going to seed already; CRAZY weather.
Crazy weather indeed. I rolled my fig tree out of the garage onto the driveway to harden off during that warm spell because it leafed out and there were figs. Then we had this freezing week. I did bring the tree back into the garage but wondered if any damage was done?
Thanks for the mention. Glad you and your wife liked my recipe. Over 6 pounds of home grown asparagus, what a treat!
Figs and asparagus…the two items you mentioned that I am most jealous of right now. How absolutely wonderful!
No asparagus here. Mr. Curbstone wouldn’t permit it 😉 I’m impressed at your harvest already though! I think I need to try your Beedy’s kale. Our strange warm December/January weather resulted in a lot of our kale varieties bolting before setting many leaves, and most of our cabbages failed to head-up too. Was a somewhat disappointing winter season for us on the winter greens front. Red Russian is always slow to bolt for us, but it would be nice to have another kale that can tolerate early season heat waves here, and Beedy’s looks promising, and lush. I wonder if I can find some seed through Seed Saver’s?
I know how much you love asparagus. 6 pounds is a gift! We’ve not seen a single spear yet. I’m worried something’s wrong. We’ll keep waiting for now.
I’ll bet it will be poking up soon Jody!