Take a spring fling with asparagus

Take a spring fling with asparagus

The season is very short so make sure you enjoy some asparagus while it’s here

This year, May arrived suddenly, without fanfare, but with enough warmth for bare arms. Like many Prairie gardeners relieved to finally — and abruptly — exit winter, I spent the sunny first day of the month cleaning up my garden beds. To my delight, I found furled red knobs in the rhubarb patch, and sprigs […] Read more

Agricultural workers gather on Dec. 2, 2020, whilst blocking the Panamericana Sur highway at Villacuri, Peru, during a protest over a long-standing but controversial agrarian law. (Photo: Reuters/Sebastian Castaneda)

Peru farm protests grip country, turn deadly

'There are no harvests, there is nothing'

Lima | Reuters — Protests by farm workers demanding better wages in Peru raged on for a fourth day Thursday, spreading north into key agricultural areas of the Andean nation, derailing harvests of some crops, snarling transport of produce and leaving at least one dead. Peruvian interim President Francisco Sagasti called the death of a […] Read more


(File photo)

Ontario extends fruit, forage insurance premium deadlines

Extension offers 'flexibility,' Agricorp says

Ontario fruit and forage growers who have production insurance premiums due this month will now have until June 30 to pay, the province said Monday. The extended premium payment deadline applies only to production insurance plans for fruit, strawberries and asparagus — and to the forage rainfall insurance plan, which uses rainfall as an indicator […] Read more

Migrant workers clean fields in California’s Salinas Valley on March 30, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)

Canadian, U.S. farms face crop losses on foreign worker delays

Winnipeg/Chicago | Reuters — Mandatory coronavirus quarantines of seasonal foreign workers in Canada could hurt that country’s fruit and vegetable output this year, and travel problems related to the pandemic could also leave U.S. farmers with fewer workers than usual. Foreign labour is critical to farm production in both countries, where domestic workers shun the […] Read more



Start your own hybrid Guelph Millennium asparagus from seed. Plants have good cold tolerance 
and produce high yields of very uniform 100 per cent male spears.

Start asparagus plants from seeds

Singing Gardener: Plus, what is Paruresis and some tips if you have it

Late March and early April are the times of year I begin scratching around the soil to see what’s popping up besides dandelions and daffodils. Depending on weather, I may soon plant, or will have already planted a short row or two of radish seeds in a sunny sheltered microclimate spot. I share a short excerpt from […] Read more


This photo was taken at harvest time: June 3, 2015.

Lessons in asparagus… and water

When a soil scientist grows vegetables, it soon becomes a lesson in the water table

Western Canadian farmers have two main ways to generate income: growing something that either goes through a grain auger or walks on two or four legs. But there are other things to grow. In 2002 I planted a small asparagus plot: 1,000 crowns of Jersey Knight male sterile hybrid imported from New Jersey. It is […] Read more

Asparagus Quiche with Parmesan Crust

Wild asparagus is hard to find

Prairie Palate: It prefers an undisturbed area, so the more land that is cultivated, the less it can find suitable habitat

Not long ago, I was asked if I had ever picked wild asparagus. The answer was “No,” but it got me thinking. I’ve picked wild mushrooms, wild strawberries and wild mint but I have never been so lucky as to come across a patch of wild asparagus while walking in the great outdoors. Come to […] Read more