Closing In On Madness
We returned to our garden though there wasn't a lot on our agenda. I burned the debris under the trellis to get it ready for planting when it gets a little warmer out. My wife cleared out her cut flower patch and we burned all the debris in the middle of our two small raised beds that were our failed strawberry beds from two years ago and last year's carrot beds. I hoped that the burning of the debris would sterilize some of the weed seeds and add some nutrients to them. We then planted a few potatoes that we had that were going bad and starting to sprout.
I checked the asparagus bed which we had burned a few weeks earlier. The burning is supposed to warm up the ground a little bit so that we get early asparagus and sure enough, I found a single solitary spear of asparagus. Hopefully in another week or two, we should get enough for a meal and to start preserving. It is also a reminder that my favorite time of the year is fast approaching. That time of year when I start dreaming of fungi and doing foolhardy things like wading through ticks and poison ivy looked for a mushroom machine, i.e. a recently dead elm tree. I call it mushroom madness.
The first asparagus is both notable and exciting! A promise of many more to come. I hope both your asparagus and mushroom hunting are both abundant.
ReplyDeleteWell the asparagus hunting this morning was fruitful. Morels, not so much. But rain is in our forecast so perhaps next week on them.
DeleteYou mentioned ticks. My SiL found one well buried into her head. I am not even sure whether they got it all out (they didn’t). I know she will be on antibiotics for a month.
ReplyDeleteThere really isn't a good way to get them out and the damage, if any, has already been done at that point. I usually just scrape them with my fingernails and then monitor the site for a red bullseye looking rash. I haven't gotten one of them fortunately but I know others that have.
DeleteLooks like you're ready to go. I tried to grow asparagus once; didn't have the patience.
ReplyDeleteMy parents actually planted these, I don't know how many years ago but a long time. Mom's been gone for five years now and I'm guessing it was a good decade or two before then.
DeleteI have 40 tomato plans that are about two inches high... waiting until mid-May! I need to learn more about growing asparagus
ReplyDeleteI probably have that many too growing in the greenhouse though not as high as yours. I'll probably stick some of them in the ground here in another week or 10 days just in case we gets some good growing weather.
DeleteSpeaking of ticks, the grandson next door said he's never seen so many of them. He and his lady friend are both finding them all over their bodies after they go looking for morels.
ReplyDeleteWe went hunting morels this morning after working in the garden and both picked off a couple wood ticks, the bigger ones. Next time I'll spray down my pantlegs before heading into the woods.
DeleteGood luck Ed! I am looking forward to this year's mushroom adventures.
ReplyDeleteI hope we have another good year. Right now it is too hot and dry but cooler wet weather arrives in just a matter of hours.
DeleteI like mushrooms but I'm out if there are ticks. I'm terrified of them!
ReplyDeleteI've grown up around them all my life and for most of that time they have been harmless. Now Lyme's disease is more prevalent and so I take precautions. I would hate to get bitten by the one that makes me hate meat!
DeleteI have a friend who got that from a tick last year!
DeleteMy stepson's dog got Lyme disease. The antibiotics did not seem to work. He just kept going down hill. He died just a few weeks ago. That really does give me the heebie-jeebies about ticks. I had my first one on me. I never even thought about them so early in the year. Now I'm thinking about them.
DeleteKelly - I find it bizarre that someone can go from loving a type of food to hating it all as a result of a tick bite.
DeleteDebby - I have never heard of Lyme disease being fatal for a dog. That is such a shame that your stepson lost his dog due to that. My condolences. Yes, unfortunately tick season is getting earlier every year. It always used to only be an issue at the very end of mushroom season and now it is here before mushroom season has started.
Ed, it actually made her sick to her stomach if she had anything with beef (or beef products) in it.
DeleteDebby, I didn't realize dogs could get Lyme disease, but we've had two get Erlychia (sp?), which is another tick-borne disease. Despite large doses of antibiotics, one finally died of it, but not before enjoying a fairly long, very happy life. We cannot control ticks on our free-range dogs, but I know they'd rather take that chance than be cooped up.
That DOES sound like madness. You know, I'm not sure I know what asparagus looks like after it grows out of the "sprout" stage. What does it become? Have you ever let any go just to see what the plant looks like?
ReplyDeleteWe do every year. Eventually it will bolt like broccoli and the head end will become loose like broccoli does. When that happens, we just let it grow and it will get six to seven feet tall. I just mow around it all summer and fall and then in late winter, we set fire to all those now dried up stalks of asparagus to heat up the soil underneath and maybe add some nutrients. I have posted many pictures of them on here in the past but you probably didn't know what you were looking at. I'll try to point it out for you in a month when we stop picking them. The "twigs" in my closely cropped photo of the sole asparagus spear are some of the remains of last year's asparagus.
DeleteI planted my herbs and a couple of tomato plants today. I wish I could borrow your green thumb to keep them alive! That asparagus stalk looks so neat coming out of the ground like that! Wait until Debby sees it!!
ReplyDeleteWait until she sees my post for Wednesday. I actually titled it "Look Away Debby"!
DeleteI hope to plant some tomato plants in a week or so if temperatures look to hold off and they are far enough along. We are planting a lot of them this year so it helps to stagger the plantings.
Looking forward to hearing more about mushroom madness. Although I detest asparagus (the taste), I wholeheartedly endorse your growing it and hope this is the first of many stalks!
ReplyDeleteYou would probably like my pickled asparagus though. I use a medium heat pickling spice and then eat them as a side throughout the year, especially whenever I grill steaks and such. I've converted a lot of people who said they "disliked" the taste of asparagus with those things.
DeleteWelp. Here we go again. You bastard.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are able to get some to grow for you eventually. Once you do, they are a gift that keeps on giving.
DeleteGood to see and hear that you off to a good start with your garden, Ed. And I hope mushroom madness is a great success.
ReplyDeleteI hope so too.
DeleteKay of Musings: I love asparagus. How awesome that you will be getting a crop of it.
ReplyDeleteMy kids aren't big fans but I certainly enjoy it when it is in season here for a few weeks a year.
DeleteI just transplanted some purple asparagus from one bed that wasn't getting watered (my daughter's yard) to a smaller bed that is always watered. They are truly a crop that keeps on giving!
ReplyDeleteMy son and his wife love to hunt for mushrooms. I rather just buy them in the store.
We may try to transplant some of ours as well if we move our garden eventually.
DeleteAsparagus! Good for you!
ReplyDelete