Monday, February 02, 2009

Asparagus planting


'D' examining the new Asparagus bed and harvested carrots in foreground

Well, after a very long break in the blog I'm back! Sorry to anyone who has been waiting for a post (especially the Suffolk contingency!!)

So, when we first took on the plot I didn't think we knew that it would last for as long as it has. Part of me wondered if it would be a flash in the pan but no, here we are in our 3rd year. One of the veg that I LOVE is asparagus but one downside of growing your own is the time needed for the plant to mature to the point of being harvestable (is that a word?) I've taken the plunge now and decided that if we're now in our 3rd year that we may well still have the plot in a couple of years so I went and bought some asparagus plants.

I'm really excited at the prospect of cutting our own fresh asparagus, steamed and smothered in butter and grated parmesan....yuuuummmmmmmm!!!!!!

I say I went and bought some plants when in reality I sat by our roaring log fire and perused a brilliant website for a nursery in Kent and ordered them. The nursery is called ''Victoriana Nursery Gardens" and is owned by the Shirley family. I first used the nursery a couple of years ago when I was on the search for a 'Brown Turkey' Fig tree, I was so impressed by their service then that when deciding to buy the asparagus, a crop that will be in the ground for many years, I decided they would be the place to get them from.

I have to say that once again I'm really pleased by the service I received, a cardboard box arrived with my plants well packaged and masses of literature to read about them and other things. I couldn't resist buying some cauliflower plants from them at the same time as I'm normally rubbish at growing them so I thought I'd start off with some good plants.




Planting the Asparagus 'plugs'


We went up to our rather soggy plot and dug over a spare bed and then 'D' planted the asparagus plants (well big plugs with roots!) whilst I put the cauliflowers in. Fingers crossed, I can smell the melted butter and parmesan now!!!!