Sweet Potatoes: Slips Into Potting Soil

Well ... this being my first effort at growing sweet potatoes, I have been relying on youtube videos and other blogs to figure out what to do.

I purchased the sweet potato "seeds" at a seed exchange in order to grow slips. The slips are basically sprouts from the seed potato that get removed and are then rooted in water.  I had the luck of running into the person I bought the seed potatoes from at a recent gardening seminar (I plan to share info on that and other seminars in other posts).  She suggested it was better for me to transplant the slips into potting soil at this point as it would be easier for the final transplant into the garden space.

And that is what I did this weekend.   For some ...

But just in case, I kept some of the slips in water.

And I also have more slips growing from the original seed potatoes ... just in case.  Because I have no idea what I'm doing.   :)    But whatever I'm doing seems to be going pretty well!

My First Asparagus of 2016! (And a Question ... Do You Cut or Snap)

If you love asparagus as much as I do, you might be able to relate to the fact that I'm posting about harvesting two, yes just two, spears of asparagus from my garden.  But it's very exciting for me!

I have about a dozen other spears on the way but these first two had a head start and I feared they would begin to fern out - LOL, no idea how to refer to this stage ("flowering"?).  Anyway, I didn't want them to mature into the next stage where they become fern fronds.  Mind you, even though this is now my fourth season and I should be able to harvest steadily throughout the season, I still think I'll avoid taking too many in the first 6-8 weeks to allow the ferns to grow and replenish the nutrients for next year's production.

When I harvested them, I grabbed a knife and cut the spears just above the soil.  As I was cutting the second one, I suddenly had this realization that I have always snapped the asparagus when harvesting and why was I using a knife?

There is a similar question when preparing asparagus to eat ... I generally snap the asparagus which (according to literature and my general experience) naturally breaks at the point where the woody point ends and the more tender portion starts.  Many cooks choose to cut the asparagus rather than snapping (on rare occasions when I am desperate to save as much asparagus as possible, I'll use a peeler to remove the tough parts).

So ... do you cut or snap?

And by the way, I ate the spears fresh.  They tasted like spring. 

Harvest Monday: May 2, 2016

A small harvest this week including another clipping of the lettuce shown above.  And a bonus harvest of a single parsnip and some fingerling potatoes while planting new crops in the respective areas.  It is always fun to find a few leftovers from the fall harvest that were left undiscovered.

I am linking in to Harvest Monday hosted by Our Happy Acres.  Check it out to see what other gardeners are doing this week!