I just recognized the emotional cycle of the asparagus harvest season.
When the first spears are coming up in April from the established asparagus bed, they are some of the first foods out of my garden after winter, and they are fat. So I cut them way down under the ground with the knife, peel the bottoms with the vegetable peeler, and appreciate every bite.
Yesterday when i was harvesting some to give away, I just cut off the bottoms of the stems and flung them on the mulch of other beds (in mid to late May). I wanted to impress the friend with my all-tender asparagus. I thought for second of taking the tough lower stems to the kitchen and doing something involving peeling and pureeing them, but honestly I'm harvesting other vegetables and herbs these days so I don't feel like scrounging every last bite of the asparagus.
I searched my photos and found plenty shots from April every year, but tellingly, none in May. Just no longer excited enough to photograph it, right? Here's some from April 2023, peeled, served with lemon butter, and lovingly photographed.
Do you have a cycle like that?
2023-April-asparagus-with-lemon-butter.jpg
Asparagus, carefully peeled and photographed in April
Works at a residential alternative high school in the Himalayas SECMOL.org . "Back home" is Cape Cod, E Coast USA.
Not so emotional about asparagus, though I do like it.
I wait until they are taller and then snap off the tops. If it won't snap it's too tough to eat. Towards the end of the season that might be 2 feet or more above the ground. I don't cut under the soil surface.
About all I do to 'care' for the plants is to gather the berries in the fall and scatter them where I think I might want more to grow.
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