[AT] OT Redbud/asparagus

Mon Apr 18 07:46:39 PDT 2005

I HATE ASPARAGUS!  But I can read about it with gagging.  :-)  FWIW,
when touring Germany in 2001, I swore I would never visit the country
again during the Month of May.  That is obviously asparagus season and
specialty restaurants pop up all over the country that serve nothing but
asparagus dishes and strawberries (since the seasons coincide.)

You can see and recognize the asparagus fields as you drive by because
they are all hilled to keep the asparagus roots nearly two feet
underground.  The ridges of dirt (mulch) down the rows of asparagus are
then covered with black builder's plastic.  When the spears are ready to
harvest, you can see them pushing the plastic up.  It's then a simple
(but still very labor-intensive) task to use a "frog stabber" (kind of
like a dandelion digger with a hormone problem) to go through the
plastic sideways and cut the spears down at the root and pull them out
through the plastic at the top of the mound. 

The restaurants are set up in the parking lots of the asparagus farms.
They're simply big tents set up over a portable wooden floor.  The menu
includes a dozen or more dishes featuring asparagus including a kind of
asparagus omelet and asparagus enchiladas.  They don't mix asparagus
with the strawberries (thank goodness) but they seem to serve it with
everything else under the sun.

Larry 

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Roger Welsch
Sent: Monday, April 18, 2005 7:55 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] OT Redbud/asparagus

Around here it was the custom to "salt" the asparagus.  It seems
asparagus
is more salt tolerant than other plants and it's a sort of easy weeding.
I'd be uneasy about trying it on a favorite patch but maybe it would be
worth giving a shot on an isolated plant or two to see how it works.  In
Europe asparagus is white...or more precisely an ivory or pale
yellow...because they blanche it in the sense of the word of covering it
from the sun.  I like it looking green and healthy rather than like
ghost
asparagus but it is nice and tender...if less flavorful.  They do this
with
mulch, George, so you may be simply exhibiting your European culinary
sophistication!

Rog

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "George Willer" <gwill at toast.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
<at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 17, 2005 9:53 PM
Subject: Re: [AT] OT Redbud/asparagus

> H.L.,
>
> That's a help.  It sounds like they are closely linked, so I'll keep
> checking.  I've had a problem with weed competition so I applied a
mulch
of
> wood chips deeper than usual last fall... so I may have slowed it
down.
>
> I don't expect to be able to have much of a garden this year but I do
hope
> to have a little sweet corn and a few tomatoes.  Time will tell.
>
> George
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "H. L. Staples" <hlstaples at mcloudteleco.com>
> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
<at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Sunday, April 17, 2005 10:07 PM
> Subject: Re: [AT] OT Redbud/asparagus
>
>
> George----I had never given the correlation of Redbud blooming and
Asparagus
> sprouting any thought except to be aware that they both occur in the
Spring.
>  8<)
>
> The Redbud blossoms are now all but gone and we have been cutting
Asparagus
> for about two weeks. We have been having really cool night time
temperatures
> until the last few days. Soil temperature has been low, but now with
the
> warm up the Asparagus is beginning to really come on.
>
> BTW just got a notice of a Tornado Warning in the Oklahoma panhandle.
We
don
> t think we need any severe weather but sure could use some rain.
Earlier
> this spring I didn't think I would ever be able to get the land
preparation
> done because it was all mud.  Now it is all to dry to work.  Our early
> planting of sweet corn is about three inches tall, noticed the field
corn
in
> the North Canadian River bottom is close to five inches tall.  We have
had
> to irrigate the corn to have adequate moisture to get it up.
>
> We will start transplanting tomatoes and peppers this week, with
watermelon
>  cantaloupe, squash and cucumbers to follow soon.  Onions, potatoes,
cabbage
> , garlic and strawberries are looking good.
>
> That's it from Staples' Redbud Vegetable Farm.
>
> H. L. Staples
> McLoud, Oklahoma
> USA
> -------Original Message-------
>
> From: George Willer
> Date: 04/17/05 15:07:10
> To: A.T.I.S
> Subject: [AT] OT Redbud/asparagus
>
> Our redbuds look like they will be in bloom in a day or two... the
buds
are
> pink.  I'm wondering how soon after they are in bloom can we expect to
be
> cutting asparagus?  I'm sure there is a time connection but I forget
what
it
> is.  If I had a guideline I could eliminate a few wild goose chases to
> check.  I'm sure H.L. knows.  ;-)
>
> George Willer
> http://members.toast.net/gwill/
>
>
> "Lord, the money we do spend on government and it's not one bit
> better than the government we got for one-third the money twenty
> years ago." --Will Rogers
>
>
>
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