Asparagus

"You know, when you get your first asparagus, or your first acorn squash, or your first really good tomato of the season, those are the moments that define the cook's year. I get more excited by that than anything else." Mario Batali

Whether merely roasted & drizzled with truffle oil or prepared in a risotto, nothing beats asparagus fresh from your garden.
  

As with planting trees or raspberries, you must be optimistic that you will be gardening in the same spot for many a year because you really shouldn’t harvest asparagus for the first 3 years.  However, it is well worth the wait.  


Five years ago -- at the prompting of my college roomie, Rebecca --  I planted two year old Jersey Knight.  For the last two years I have dined for 6 weeks on delicious asparagus.   UC Davis has a great publication on growing asparagus.  Click on this link.


Enjoy Spring's bounty.

Recipe: Asparagus Risotto 

Adapted from Mario BataliTime: 45 minutes

1 pound asparagus, peeled, trimmed and cut into one-inch-long pieces, tips reserved
4 to 6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1/3 medium red onion, diced
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
Salt to taste
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese.

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add half the asparagus stalks and cook until quite soft, at least 5 minutes. Rinse quickly under cold water. Put cooked asparagus in a blender or food processor and add just enough water to allow machine to puree until smooth; set aside.

2. Put stock in a medium saucepan over low heat. Put oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large, deep nonstick skillet over medium heat. When it is hot, add onion, stirring occasionally until it softens, 3 to 5 minutes.

3. Add rice and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is glossy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add white wine, stir, and let liquid bubble away. Add a large pinch of salt. Add warmed stock, 1/2 cup or so at a time, stirring occasionally. Each time stock has just about evaporated, add more.

4. After about 15 minutes, add remaining asparagus pieces and tips, continuing to add stock when necessary. In 5 minutes, begin tasting rice. You want it to be tender but with a bit of crunch; it could take as long as 30 minutes total to reach this stage. When it does, stir in 1/2 cup asparagus puree. Remove skillet from heat, add remaining butter and stir briskly. Add Parmesan and stir briskly, then taste and adjust seasoning. Risotto should be slightly soupy. Serve immediately.

Yield: 3 to 4 servings.

A Brandywine from the fog belt at last - but was it worth it?

In retrospect it does seem silly to try to grow Brandywine tomatoes in the fog belt of the Richmond Annex; far more sensible to stick with cherry and plum tomatoes suitable for this area.  UC Davis has done exhaustive trials of what tomatoes grow best in each region of California (http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8159.pdf) and therefore, despite finally producing a Brandywine from seed, I have concluded that it isn’t worth the time and expense to try to battle the elements.  I can walk to an organic market and my bi-weekly Farmer’s Market where I can purchase my favorite heirlooms (Brandywine, Black Crimson and Pineapple Tomatoes).   From now on I will stick to growing Sun Gold and Sweet Cherry 100s, which performed great despite a cool summer and an admittedly neglectful gardener.   


My experience growing the Brandywine is akin to that described by William Alexander in his witty and informative book: "The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden"

NPR provides an interesting podcast of an interview with William Alexander at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5360768.

The $64 Tomato

William Alexander

Best Price $0.01
or Buy New $10.93

With only a dozen of these sought after beauties I am not fussing with any elaborate recipes - just sliced tomatoes, fresh basil, Burrata cheese & a sprinkling of black olives.  

Tomatoes

It's a little early, but as an experiment I transplanted a couple of Sugar Sweetie Cherry tomato plants into raised beds this week.  I warmed the planting area for two weeks with black plastic and the transplants are protected by a wall-o-water. I started these early to photograph for a class I gave on indoor seed starting. In general, I wait to transplant until the night temperatures are in the mid-50s and the soil temperature is 65 degrees.  However, the wall-o-waters are designed to permit early planting.  Wish me luck! As a back-up, I started another group of seedlings in early March for transplanting in May. I recommend the following free publication for guidance on growing tomatoes in California: “Growing Tomatoes in the Home Garden,” ANR University of California, Davis Publication 8159.  

Weeds and Pests

Maybe Emerson was correct that a weed is merely “a plant whose virtues have never been discovered,” but I am hard pressed after a day of wrestling with the indomitable oxalis (aka buttercup oxalis, cape sorrel or sourgrass), to see its virtues.  I diligently pull it up each Spring as recommended in a recent article by a fellow Master Gardener, Chantal Guillemin, “Taming Oxalis.”  However, solarization seems to be the best means of eradication.  A planting area layered with cardboard and a thick layer of mulch last Fall is oxalis free -- at present. 

FYI: my go-to resource for identifying & battling plant diseases and pests is the Integrated Pest Management website of the University of California at Davis. Bay Area gardeners can also visit the Sick Plant clinic at the UC Botanical Garden in Berkeley.  The Clinic is held on the first Saturday of the month from 9-12 pm.  Entomologists and Master Gardeners are available to identify what ails your plants.