Gardening frenzy

Raymond Gillespie, the chef-in-residence at Salumeria Italiana,  asked me the other day if I would like some asparagus starts. Of course I would, but would I? Asparagus is one of those crops that strikes fear into the heart of the amateur. Not because it’s hard to grow — it’s ridiculously easy. Buy one-year old starts, put them in and the next season, you’ll have asparagus. And the next, and the next, ad infinitum.

Lovely asparagus

But there’s that commitment issue. At least that’s what I thought when I started my garden longer ago than I want to reveal. “What if we move? What if I’m not here next year, or the year after that. What if I decide I hate gardening. What if we (then my boyfriend) break up. ” Asparagus somehow seems so permanent. Like marriage.

Considering that I have mint that I’ve been trying to get rid of for a couple of decades, it may be time to say yes to asparagus.  After all, the marriage stuck, so maybe the asparagus will, too. For me or for the next gardener in my plot.