It's a mess & a disaster but my garden provided me with my first harvest of the 2024 season. I was there to do some cleanup so I could plant my beets.
I brought home 3 leeks, a large handful of asparagus and a tick. A little Sunday inspiration for the vegetable gardeners out there. And a few tips starting with how to remove ticks.
Now onto the fun portion.
Table of Contents
LEEKS
How do I get such handsome looking leeks at the beginning of May? Any leeks I didn't think were big enough to harvest last fall, I left in the ground. As soon as the soil warmed they started growing again and are now ready to harvest.
The most important thing with leeks is to plant them deep. The white part of leeks is the portion that grows underground. The tough green leaves are what grows above.
The deeper the leek is planted, the more of the white, tender (has never seen the sun) section it'll have.
It's the same way with white asparagus. It's white simply because it isn't exposed to sun. White asparagus is just green asparagus that's been kept covered with soil while it grows.
YOU CAN PLANT YOUR LEEKS NOW. If you want to learn exactly how I grow mine, read my how to grow leeks tutorial.
ASPARAGUS
Also harvested was this bunch of asparagus. My first asparagus harvest of the season unless you count the two stalks I broke off accidentally a few days ago when I was cleaning up the asparagus patch.
I ate those raw while sitting in the dirt.
The most important thing for asparagus is to eat a few the second you cut them. If you've never eaten raw asparagus straight from the garden (I mean right away, straight away, and immediately into your mouth) you have no idea that IT DOESN'T TASTE LIKE ASPARAGUS.
Straight from the garden, an uncooked asparagus stalk tastes just like fresh, young peas.
If you've always wanted to grow asparagus but never got up the motivation to do it then read this post because I did the same thing for years until I finally, finally planted it.
How do I preserve asparagus?
I make and freeze asparagus soup to eat throughout the winter.
I blanche and freeze stalks with a small Foodsaver like this one. There's no need for one of the huge ones, they just take up more space.
p.s. Asparagus isn't a great texture after freezing but in January I'm pretty non judgemental about that after eating approximately 7,883 pounds of root vegetables over the winter.
The Puzzle
Have a good remainder of your weekend.
Your leeks look great! I thought you were going to tell us how you cook ticks, but somehow am glad you didn't cover that topic. :)
I have leek envy! Thanks for the tip about leaving them in the ground. I was delighted to find last year's kale growing in my garden a few days ago. Just enough for a lovely lunchtime salad along with a couple of chopped asparagus stalks. Have a fun gardening year, Karen. :)
Have been enjoying fresh asparagus from the garden for a few weeks now here in SW Missouri. My Westie agrees with you about eating fresh raw asparagus. She trails along while picking the asparagus and begs for it! My previous Westie did the same. The first sound of the snapping of an asparagus stalk brought them running.
My leeks didn't do well last year (my first time planting them) - I've learned something new! Leave 'em in the garden overwinter (will that work in Calgary)? I love raw asparagus, but my asparagus never did well, either, so I have to munch on the ones from the store. :(
My garlic is coming up, and I have a hot pepper growing on the plant I brought in over winter, too! A friend told me they're a perennial, so I tried it out.
Peppers *are* perennial. Smart friend. :) Calgary's winter is more of a beast than Hamilton's so I'd probably mulch the leeks or protect them somehow with a little hoop house, or both! You really don't know until you try so you could leave some unprotected the first time you try it to see how they do. If you plant the leeks according to my guide you will get good leeks. There's a little trick to them. ~ karen!
I tried leeks this winter but FL is just not welcoming to leeks. Yours look and sound delicious. No matter what - your smile is a beautiful thing to share! Did you have no opinions concerning the microwave beeper?
Those are awesome! I do love following along with you on your yearly garden journey. Thanks for the puzzle - and you look marvelous.
Those are nice chubby asparagus! Yum. So far we’ve never found so much asparagus that we couldn’t eat it all! Sometimes with nothing else for dinner. Butter of course. Just bought 25 more asparagus root from William Dam, all male Jersey Giants, supposedly the most productive. We’ll see. We’re ahead of you on ticks, 11 so far. They seem prolific this year. Our record was 178 so I hope we’re not headed for that, but they’re off to a fast start for sure. Thank you as always. Where else can one discuss ticks in passing!
Ticks are really REALLY BAD. We really didn't have winter so nothing will have been killed off. I predict a really bad year for pests. Plus my garden is such a mess right now it's a tick haven. ~ karen!
Whoa! Some leeks! And I didn't know one can eat raw asparagus. Quite some harvest for this time of year in our neck of the woods! I've only just planted snow peas the other day, though the garlic & onion (they sprouted, so I planted them) are growing beautifully. So are the celery and cabbage that rooted from kitchen scraps. In fact, if I don't mind the small size, I can even start harvesting the cabbage leaves and slender celery stalks. But definitely not such beauties as yours!
Those are beautiful! Yesterday, a neighbor gave us some onions that he'd planted last year - they're like ginormous scallions and so lovely. My father used to plant onion sets and in the fall he would step them over, unlike our neighbor. Is this the way to get more of the white part to grow because these just look like scallions but really nice ones. When is the proper time to plant onion sets - we live in Northern IL, USA ? By the way, did you ever try my method of keeping scallions for a really long time - wrapping them individually, unwashed, rolled up in paper towels and then putting them in a long plastic bag sealed up...how's that for probably a very grammatically incorrect sentence?!? Sorry to get so stuck on stupid; I'm actually pretty well educated - just hard to tell in this case.
No, I completely forgot to try that! But I bought green onions 2 days ago so I'll try it right now. :) Although they're store bought so already washed. I've never EVER had good luck with onion sets but realized a couple of years ago that it was because I was planting them way too late. Onion sets need to be planted when it's still pretty cold and miserable out. My last frost date is May 10th. I planted onion sets at the end of March (could have gone in the middle of March) so that's 8 weeks before my areas last frost date. They're looking good. ~ karen!
Thank you so much for the info. Guess we'll wait until it's yukky after the winter season next year and get them in the ground. My husband will be planting the tomatoes tomorrow - we've had so much off and on rain that it's been hard to find a day when the weather is cooperating. We have 2 cherry varieties and then 6 different heirlooms. Hoping that this year will be a better one for tomatoes than last year. Again - thank you kindly.
Thank you for sharing, I enjoy reading your helpful comments. I feel blessed to have found them.
Two of my fav soups are a Cream of potato & leek and a nice cream of asparagus. The mind of a child that is mine came up with a few comments about taking a leek, but I shall refrain from mentioning them on a public forum. I will note that your smile could melt a fella's heart.
Almost forgot - fun puzzle - thanks for sharing it - 12:53
And hearty felicitations of the day -