some butter and Parmesan cheese:  yum.

LOL, I've been picking since February down here.

TRG

Well, it's warm in Somalia, dont'cha know...  ;)

I usually see the first shoots here around the first week of April.  This year's been off-kilter; had days in the 80's, and then it snowed again last Thursday
Back up in the 80's for the weekend again.  Go figure.

I'm just glad to see 'em.  Asparagus is my second-favorite garden veggie, after tomatoes.  And maybe sweet corn.  Whatever... it's up there somewhere.

I love that stuff!  We're going to work up a bed this summer so we can plant some next spring, but I've never grown it before.



What varieties do you guys grow, and how many plants?  

You have asparagus?  Bring some if u can.

Txl

Nothing exotic for us, I think it's mostly Jersey Knight with some Mary Washington here and there.  I'd guess we planted around 50 crowns in total, although it wasn't all at once... add a few every year.  Our bed is maybe 10'x20'.

My favorite way to cook it is big fat spears tossed with olive oil and coarse salt, then thrown on the grill.  Grilling seems to bring out a sweet taste that's a little different than steamed, although I don't turn my nose up at steamed either.  Good stuff.

I like it because it's perennial... once it's there, it's there.  Weed control is a problem for us, though.  We generally use a layer of cardboard with grass clippings or shredded leaves on top for most of our garden, which of course won't work for asparagus since it has to be able to poke through.  I spent a couple of hours yesterday pulling dandelions out of the bed.

This afternoon's task is to rebuild the fence around the patch.  We have free-ranging chickens, and they find that open spot pretty attractive.  They don't seem to eat the asparagus itself, but they sure play hell with the ground scratching and rooting it all up, which I don't think the asparagus appreciates.  They also stomp down a fair number of spears when the sneak in there.