I harvested a potato from an overwintered plant
Of two other side by side plants, one was ravaged, one was not!
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Pretty! It looks like Caribe.
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Inspiring! Decorative frogs, too.
Journal entry March 20, 2024: 67° Chives have come up. Snow tomorrow.
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I think the seeds I planted yesterday are hating me right now. It’s 37 degrees in Manhattan.
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Uh oh @small_h ! Is that unusual there?
It is pretty! Maybe it is Caribe. I think it’s supposed to be Purple Viking. I also got Magic Myrna from the same place, (), but it’s not the right shape. It’s early though, and that part seems to work best here.
The past couple of months have been unusual. Lotta temperature variation. It was 70 degrees not that long ago.
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Southwestern Ontario has 3 inches of snow on top of the seeds I planted on March 5th and 15th. 
We can’t really plant without a chance of a killing frost before June 1, so planting in March, April and May is vegetable growing bingo for me, to see which seeds are survivors. Cheaper than slot machines.
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Every year is a new adventure. I have gardening records going back to 2010: what I grew, when I planted it, how much it yielded. Fat lot of good it does me. Because - just like the stock market - past performance is no guarantee of future success.
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Interesting! My problem is I need to wait to plant out until nights stay above 50f, but need plants to be setting fruit before days are above 90. Both of those things usually happen in May.
I have seedlings I keep in a greenhouse overnight, that are sometimes registering above 100 degrees during the day.
I’ve been bringing them in and out this week; our days have been in the low 70’s this week. I keep having to remind myself it’s way more work if I start too early for most years.
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I have started taking slightly better records this year.
I usually write down what I planted and on what date.
We had a blast of warm weather, and the deer have already damaged 14 of my tulips. I have been spraying deer and rabbit repellant on the undamaged tulips once or twice a week. 3 years ago, after a decade of 60 or more tulips, only 1 tulip bloomed. The rest never came back. So, I’ve planted at least 120 tulips over the past 2 years. I think around 50 bloomed last spring, with deer repellant applied after most rains and chicken manure spread around to discourage squirrels, chipmunks and other little critters. I planted some more tulips again in the fall. We will see how the tulips do next month.
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Wow, those are some nice looking spears! I miss having locally grown (and cheap) asparagus!
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You’re way ahead of us on the peas - our biggest are about 2" tall. 
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In the store here, asparagus is currently about $6 a pound. Not even local stuff, which should be coming over the pass by the truckload in a few weeks.
A couple of years ago we were over on the east side and found 5-lb. bunches of local asparagus for sale for an insanely cheap price. We bought a bundle. I’ll tell you - 5 lbs. is too much for a couple of trailing-edge boomers. I’m much happier scrounging for spears in our own backyard.
In our local store circulars this week, asparagus has been ~$1.50/lb, but all from Mexico and parts south. My county used to provide the majority of asparagus to the western US, but for the last few years growers have not been able to make it a profitable venture to grow asparagus due to NAFTA and labor costs south of the border. A decade ago there were hundreds of acres planted in asparagus within a 25-mile radius (possibly thousands), but my farmer brother-in-law-in-law says nobody in the area is growing asparagus anymore.
For scrounged spears, they sure look good! I may have to convince Mrs. ricepad to devote a section of the garden to the 'gras.
Oh, same thing up here. The industry has been decimated.
If you live in a suitable climate, it’s a pretty low-key addition to the garden. Plant once, and from then on out it’s only weeding and watering. I’ve read a patch can last 20 years. We have two small patches, neither bigger than 10’ x 2’-ish. They’re planted in different micro-climates around the property, and thus we enjoy an extended season, providing plenty for the two of us.
You’re making me miss Germany. My last visit was in March 2019, and I had asparagus.
I don’t buy asparagus in Canada until the Delta asparagus from California starts to show up. The Canadian and Michigan asparagus, which I also buy, starts about 4 weeks after that.
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