Page 33 - Simply Veg 3.21

2019. Early May.
Asparagus bed, hard baked clay pan. 2021.
this was a fatal mistake as the said muck was riddled with slugs and their eggs and it delayed cropping. I would suggest well rotted horse muck that was literally ‘dropped’ on shavings or
Asparagus beetle laying eggs
down. Water and feed the ferns after cropping if you live in a dry area. Now to the nitty-gritty. Prepare the bed in February for a late February/ early March planting.
paper strips; apparently horses suffer from as many ailments as man - and women, they can be allergic to straw. Mulches are best applied after cropping,
If you must water, use a handheld device, under no circumstances use a sprinkler, unless you want the crowns to rot
Dig out trenches soon after the arrival of the crowns, do not let the crowns dry out, and leave them covered until the time to place them in the trench. The trenches require to be nine to twelve inches deep (bear in mind the soil will settle) make
a compacted ridge in the centre of the trench around four inches high and spread out the crowns on top of the ridge and back fill, all work is best done off a batten, I
why, because a thick layer
of manure insulates your
plants from the warmth of
the sun, asparagus responds
to warmth and during a hot
spell can be cut daily. More
don’ts – If you must water,
use a handheld device, under
no circumstances use a sprinkler, unless you want the crowns to rot. Don’t water during cropping; In Spring 2018, it was noticeable that the flavour was excellent, and then
never trod on my bed until I started cropping ‘proper’ three years later. The trenches/ rows require being at least three feet apart, preferably four; plants require being two feet apart in the row’s minimum, preferably more.
Backlim
Asparagus and mint soup
11⁄2 lbs of prepared (cut-up) asparagus 1 chopped onion 11⁄2 pts water
6x crushed cloves garlic,
smoked or otherwise
3 oz grated ginger
2 Veg or chicken stock cubes
3 large sprigs of mint or mint sauce mix
During hot weather I store asparagus in the fridge and make twice the quantity). Slow cook the cut- up asparagus, onion, garlic, ginger, mint, in a saucepan containing the water, (use a maslin pan if you are making larger quantities) add the stock cubes. When cooked put through a liquidizer. This is your basic stock and can be diluted, heated and cream added before serving. If you want to freeze the basic stock, ladle out family sized portions into labelled freezer bags, placed inside Tetra-packs, stand upright in the freezer until frozen, then stack. When wanted, defrost, add water if desired, reheat and serve with cream. This is one of my best soups. Footnote, before someone says it was Unit four plus two that did concrete and the clay – they both did it, eleven years apart.
it rained, the flavour was literally watered
Simply Vegetables 33