General Outdoor Discussion
Asparagus
All the spots I pick wild asparagus have started to go to seed. It's been so dry here and overall too warm. The stuff in my backyard grew 2 feet in about 2 days. Also I noticed some small red bugs on some of the stalks. Anyone know how to eradicate those? Not sure if those are asparagus beetles, or something else.
still picking wild and from the garden here in WC IL. thought it was about done but we've got almost 5 inches of rain in the last two weeks. found two dozen spears in a wild spot yesterday, hard to see with the grass and weeds getting tall.
asparagus and venison filets on the grill this afternoon!
I took another walk today and found 16 spears. As I was checking out a patch I heard a rustling sound and about 5' away out popped a hen turkey. After I cut what I wanted I checked where she came from and found the nest with a dozen eggs in it. I left her alone as she didn't run far.
i didnt have good luck planting store bought roots, but have two patches in my garden that i started from seeds. one is 3x3 foot about six years old that is producing six to eight nice big spears every few days. have another 6x6 in its third year, has close to 100 spears, from wispy to pencil size that i decided to let go another year.
its a good supplement to what i find wild
I find a lot of spots are by power poles and fence posts where they dont get cut down. I had a few really good spots between the property and the road where the owners were were too stupid to know what they had and kept mowing it, now its all gone. I had 2 spots about 1/4 mile long that the township never mowed and then they mowed it and the only stuff that came back was behind bushes or metal fence posts and there isnt really much, just like 3 spots with a couple stalks. I posted this before, in the spring, look for what looks like a dried up tumbleweed from last years growth. Its hard pressed to find a patch no one knows about, every year I find some one else cutting ''MY'' spears very early, but then they give up. I think maybe its a tourist out of towner that comes up for memorial day. If it is front of some ones house and they arent cutting I'd take it but if I see it cut I leave it. I had a patch out by my garden with a bunch of old transplants and all kinds of new ones that I started and bought and they are all gone. they got taken over by Rasberry bushes or I didnt feed them enough. kind of sucks after all the work I put into them over the years. Now I just have to find the wild ones. A lot of driving I kind of gave up on finding new spots as I have looked for twenty miles around
could have been mentioned earlier in the thread, but the best way to find wild asparagus is summer and early fall.
drive around and find the tall patches that have gone to seed, much easier to see than green spears sticking above the grass and weeds, then remember it for next spring.
thats how i have found my spots over the years. i picked 15 spears a couple days ago from a patch i noticed on my way fishing last fall