How I grow, nuke and grill asparagus
12:28 AM Sun, May 27, 2007 | Permalink
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Last week, the first spears popped through the soil. I pick them when they’re 6-12 inches tall by cutting them with a knife just below the soil. Since the spears don’t produce all at the same time, I save the spears in a vase with water. When I have enough, it’s dinner time.
Cooking the spears is pretty easy, too. You can’t beat boiled asparagus with butter- either boiling water or the nuke will do. I nuke them for about 5 minutes on high, add butter and eat. Cook it a minute less if you like it on the crunchier side; more if you like it mushier. The French make a nice marinade for it and serve it cold, which is delicious. They’re great in omelets, terrific raw in salads as well as on the grill. See the photo below for grilling hints.
There’s a pretty good website that can explain this phenomenon and give you growing tips, recipes, etc. at www.asparagus.org. In summer, asparagus pretty much stop producing spears and put their energy into the larger stalks. These stalks provide food for the crowns, so don’t cut them down right away. Later, you can cut them down and give them a good blanket of mulch for the winter, and wait for those magic six weeks next spring.
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One of the first things to come up in the vegetable garden is asparagus. It’s the crop that keeps on giving, as asparagus can produce year after year without much fuss. It takes a few years to be able to harvest, but after that, things are pretty much on autopilot. Keep it clean of weeds, add a little mulch and light fertilizer and leave it alone. Asparagus does not like to be moved around. Keep it in one spot. Mine have been in the same place for almost 20 years. One row still produces as much as two of us can eat.
After a while, (about 6 weeks or so) the spears will begin to slow down. The remaining ones grow tall stalks that are usually a little too woody to eat. However, they produce these miniature-like fronds at the end of the stalks. I haven’t heard anybody else who does this, but I prune them and they are delicious raw in salads.
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Two other happy perennials, low work - rhubarb and horseradish.
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I went off to a plant selling web site where I've purchased excellent plants before, because I remembered that they sell asparagus also. I was shocked to see that they're selling them in quantities of 25. How many spears of asparagus do you get per plant in a season, once the plants have matured? Thanks.
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The plant place tells me about a pound of asparagus per plant. That's a lot of asparagus :-)
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