A is for Asparagus

In my pursuits to start asparagus last year I searched online(of course) for pictures of what it looks like growing. I was very disappointed to find very few NW gardeners with asparagus exploits. I found 1 long since updated Seattle blogger, and mostly asparagus farms from warmer regions.

I couldn't understand why--I thought maybe it does not grow well here, but all I read said it should do just fine!

Obviously in the later years I will be eating the asparagus instead of having photo shoots with it.

As it turns out, it is very hard to get closeup shots.

Here is the majority of my asparagus:  

Not much to look at really.

We have a neighborhood dog who is blind and to keep her from playing Godzilla-we added twine and stakes was an afterthought.

I had 30 octopii roots to plant and could only fit 22 in this bed.

 Either they were going to die or I could put them in some other place with unprepared soil--so I planted some under a tree in the south garden(to be).

 Surprisingly enough, 4 of them grew, a bit later than the others, but this guy below is almost 3ft tall!

I look forward to being able to eat some next year!!

This is the best I could do upclose--

This year we are eating a ton of salads.

 I harvested this on a Friday night and it completely filled a sink!

Lasted us and a friend a full week of salads every night! 

I filled another grocery sack a few days later for another friend and the lettuce was unfazed!

Unfazed!

 Here is my first broccoli. His name is tasty. Not a pretty plant to grow, as we have the bed covered with  row cover. White sheet stuffs that lets in rain and light, but keeps out cabbage moths.
So far so good, but maybe I should check it again today?

 The plants takes up a lot of space for a few bites really.

Maybe I am destined to buy broccoli at the grocery store.

This is a small plate.

I  have my first cherry tomatoes starting! I planned on planting less plants this year, but it may have become just 2 less plants than before... last year we had 17 or something crazy like that(my crazy gardener brings them and I have a hard time saying no) and I didn't have a single one die on me which I was fully planning on!
So this year, instead of 3 rows for spiders to make homes, I only have 2! 6 plants per + 3 cherrys loving it up in a big pot... Oopsie!

First pepper! I planted jalapenos, cayenne, habanero, this one I forget, and some new ones I have never tried. I really wanted Ancho but couldn't find any starts anywhere.

 I have NOT been minding my Peas... I forgot to tuck them into the twine early on and they have become a monster! So it is definitely not pretty, and I have lost a few while trying to wrestle these to keep out of the paths, but maybe a few less peas won't hurt us.

I have really been slacking on my garden photos. Why? It is too big to photograph! I cannot get a shot of the full thing from any direction I have tried. Even from upstairs!

So either we will just have photos of specifics, or the left and the right sides.

Here you cannot see the tomatoes on the right, but you get everything else.

I have 14 new types of flowers tucked into the edges of each bed. Each has a tag and I have yet to learn them all. daisies, zinnia, iris, stock, yellow ones, smelly ones, begonias, white ones, black eyed susans, hollyhock. I may have to photograph each one and make one post just to learn them.

So far these are the only 3 photos I have taken.

The Iris is gorgeous, so that is no wonder.


These daisies, I trampled and broke some stems, so now I have a little vase of them at work.

And this is just glorious. It is growing up the poles now quite rapidly. How did I not know about Black Eyed Susans before now? Orange has always been my favorite. You will surely see more pics of this

I am almost afraid of the garden it has grown so large!

So if you don't hear from me in a while--you know where I will be!

Edit:

Last night I found tons of aphids all over my kale and collards! Eeeek. I started cutting off the offending parts, but taking a look around they have got to almost 1 full bed! What do I do?
I stopped my cutting(clear cutting!) and decided to give it a day to research. Will just spraying them with water make them go away? or would they just land in the soil and climb(hop?) back up?

Little gray/lavender buggers are creeping me out!