Asparagus

My mom gave me some asparagus roots years ago which I planted in my garden and they still make asparagus today.  We like to eat asparagus.  By the way, what is the plural of asparagus?  Surely it is not asparaguses!?  I'd bet it is asparagi, but it would probably just be safer and easier to say, "I ate 5 stalks of asparagus."

Asparagus is a plant indigenous to Europe and eaten by people worldwide.  If you plant them one time in your garden, they come up every year.  You've got to be very alert and check them every day in Springtime as you can only eat the young shoot.  If you let it get too big before cutting, it gets "woody" and is not palatable or fit for eating.  See in the picture below, there are two shoots ready to be cut and eaten.

Fresh asparagus ready to be harvested

Asparagus are easily recognizable by kids who watch Veggie Tales as one of the main characters is Junior, the asparagus.

  

Junior?  Is that you?

I can eat them raw right out of the garden.  They are delicious grilled, though.  I've even seen them wrapped with bacon and broiled.  You can't go wrong with that.

If you don't pay attention and harvest the young shoots to eat, the shoots quickly become what I call ferns.  The shoot grows upward, sends out branches that open and fall to the side.  They flower and make little bell-shaped flowers and produce little red berries on them.  Careful though - the berries are poisonous to humans.  In the fall, the foliage turns yellow and I generally cut it back.  Come Springtime, you'll have more asparagus!

Foliage of the asparagus plant

Here's an unrelated item that I wanted to share - next year's Sugar Snap Pea seeds.  I let the remaining peas turn brown on the vine and dry.  Prior to pulling the vines down to make room for the spring green bean crop, I pulled the pods off and let them continue to dry in a can.  This weekend, I shelled the peas.  I'll store them and use them for seed this fall.  

Sugar Snap pea seeds for next year!

I always like to save some seeds for next year rather than eating every single thing produced from the garden.  Don't eat your seed!  Think ahead for next year.