A. A. and O...

This post is brought to you by the letters A. and O.

After months of agonizing over a choice I made to start a new asparagus bed I can breath a big sigh of relief. I returned home to find two tiny spears poking through the soil and mulch today despite the juicy Orach that seems to have mistakenly found a temporary garden bed to volunteer in. My family and I are so excited for fresh garden salad so the Orach is very welcome. However, Asparagus is the vegetable that reigns supreme throughout the spring and well into the summer.We can't seem to get enough of it so it goes into strirfry, sauteed with onion and garlic, soups, and even fritattas. 

I'm salivating a little bit while writing this while I find my self digressing a bit from the memory of our big do-over in the asparagus department. You can't jump into a good story without saying, "What had happened was..." Actually you can and you should but I felt like adding a little drama to the tale of the withering spears.  

So what really happened was this, I got an offer from a dear friend four years ago to re-home some plants to add to several blank areas of our yard. My specialty is growing outdoor plants and most especially vegetables and fruits. My daughter and I were super surprised to receive a very long and heavy plastic bin that contained more asparagus than we could possibly eat but were excited to try filling our stomachs with.   With the help of my DF (dear friend) and my daughter we dug deep into what would be our new asparagus bed; amending the soil as we went. By the end of the summer I had reservations about the asparagus fronds because they were drying and withering. There was some beautiful creeping plant that began taking over and slowly choking the life out of every plant that happened to be unluckily in its way. This was something that came with the asparagus and I was reluctant to pull it since it had been growing with my friends plants. I never positively identified this weed and my reluctance to take an aggressive and firm hand to it cost us dearly. This huge mistake for us had us losing all of the asparagus in this bed, some herbs, and squash as well.
BUT, No Worries!!!
Last year after moving the compost bins and expanding the garden into the areas where the bins sat for a few year, we started anew. So far there has only been two spears to speak of and I am already showing no mercy to the beautiful Orach that has found its way into the asparagus's space. I plan to harvest and add more plants to this area soon. 

That brings me to our other new addition in our garden; The Amazing Honey Crisp Apple Tree!

After growing up with a Red Delicious in the back or something similar I have yearned to have another apple tree in my yard for my children and grandchildren to be. After weeks of agonizing on the perfect spot for it last fall we decided to go for front of the house fruit. This location is perfect for us to see every minute change from season to season. Being a wild-life fanatic I've enjoyed watching the blue-jays, cardinals, and robins taking turns trying out the young branches as they check out their new bird bath. This variety may not be my favorite but it goes over well with the other folks in this house. I figure it beats paying $3 to $4 a pound in the fall when my Pink Lady's are not available. 

As I write this there are several more blooms on the apple tree and the lilac has made an amazing display this year. I'll keep you posted with all of those updates and even more changes in our fussy garden. Including a pollinator play area....

Happy Planting,

Tina