Jenmenke

Road Warrior

spring clean up

The Lazy Way to Cut Back Asparagus Plants

Burn ’em right in place…

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not actually endorsing this method. I’m simply stating that it is a very good way to rid yourself of a very massive amount of dead asparagus tops in short order.

No cutting.

No grunting

No hauling.

Perfect for me. You might want to read last year’s post on this garden chore. [Which I pretty much hate.] Why didn’t I think of this sooner? It’s like cutting out the middle man!

Also very dangerous and unpredictable.

But very effective. Provided I haven’t killed the plants. Guess I’ll have to wait and see on that one…

Assuming they turn out fine, I think I will add it to my annual repertoire. Just don’t tell Dave. He was quite upset with me.

Notes for next year’s burning:
  1. Have hose hooked up and water ready.
  2. Burn in the still air of morning. (*bonus is that neighbors and husband are also absent at this time.)
  3. Stomp down combustible tops more thoroughly so that burning is more even and reaches the fat, soggy, hard-to-cut bottoms.
  4. Have a wider angle lens on camera to allow for larger field of view in case grass starts on fire again.
  5. Bring marshmallows.

Tis the Season

…For Poop

Sorry for that sick photo, but you either a) get it, or b) don’t. If you don’t, then you obviously do not own a dog in a northern state that receives any appreciable snowfall.

I do.

And I am making my annual rounds on poop duty. It is a thankless job. If you miss the precious window of time where the poop is exposed from under the snow, yet still mostly frozen, all is lost. You will find yourself smearing and fighting waterlogged masses that you would far prefer not to ever have to even look at, much less try and pick up and dispose of.

So that’s what I did yesterday. That and pretty much take all my clothes off and run around in the Mid March Minnesota HEATWAVE! It was sunny, after five straight days of rain and dense fog, only to have the clouds vanish, the sun appear and the mercury soar to SIXTY! In the cities, I heard it got to 64 which was warmer than PHOENIX! Crazy talk.

I worked outside all day and felt my winter fat melt away.

I wish.

The fat. I wish the fat had melted away in one day. Wouldn’t that be awesome? I can’t be the only one who thinks things like that.

I cleaned the chicken coop out and let them outside for the first time since last December

I used the manure-laden shavings to fertilize the raspberries

And to feed the small rodent-chasing dog, known as Poopy. For not only does she like to poop in my house, but she clearly likes to eat it as well!

I spread the rest in the garden which is starting to emerge from under the snow and found these amazing living things!

Thyme and strawberry plants? Do strawberry plants typically look like this after a winter of subzero days and nights? I wouldn’t know because I just planted them last year…

And I found this mess staring at me. I know what I have to do soon and I don’t want to do it…. one of my most hated jobs of spring is cutting the old asparagus plants. In fact, it reminds me that this blog is a year old, because it was one of the first things I ever wrote about!

I raked driveway rock off the grass and nearly died from exhaustion. No photos.

I went in to the greenhouse, found the fat cat lolling in the sun (it was about 80 degrees in there)

Then noticed that my previously mentioned crispy rosemary plants had some glimmers of life (see the brighter green in the second pic)

So happy! Plus, the healthy ones are starting to bloom!

Note cat hair above and to the left of bloom and what looks like a human jennie hair directly behind bloom.

Never mind.

I’m sure we’ll get walloped with more snow and sub-zero temps, but this one day was pure heaven.