Asparagus

One of the first crops of Spring is asparagus, coming up at some point in April, and pickable until Royal Ascot (obviously a posh vegetable), which is early June I think. After that the plant needs to be given some time to grow and regenerate for next year.

Asparagus is a very fussy vegetable, starting with root stock, it takes two years of growing before you can pick at all, and then for the next couple of years, you need to pick fairly lightly so as not to damage the plant.

Then, in dry weather, it needs water, and in the summer it gets Asparagus Beetle (a red-backed beetle), that it and its larvae need picking off.

So, with all of this, we don't get that many portions given the size of the plot that it takes up and the cost of the route stock in the first place. I can understand why it costs so much in the supermarket.

A few portions a year are great for us.