What kind of asparagus are you growing sojay? We are harvesting Purple Passion which is so sweet and low fiber that we enjoy it best raw. Really amazing. I think most asparagus growers use the clear cut method which means you cut all spears until they get to be pencil sized or less and then let them fern out. UH mentions another method where you let the first three spears fern out and then harvest any new spears until they get to be pencil sized or less. Probably this is not the preferred method for cold climate gardeners but thought i would mention it since you are in zone 8. I have tried both methods and find that leaving the three ferns makes for a smaller harvest over an extended period of time. Could be other variables in play, tho. I'm seeing more variability in spear size this season and have been letting the thinner shoots fern out. Is that the right thing to do? IDK. Maybe someone else will comment on that later in this thread. Nice to hear of your success ; )

Pn, I think you can keep the thrill alive by growing something new, but you're right the first year is probably the most exciting lol... Congrats on the zuke Aili!

Congrats on the harvest. I am a newbie so I can't give tomato advice but I can help with posting pics. This board uses HTML. If you check out my link it has great instructions. It shows how to post pictures and how to change fonts etc. I found it on Gaeden web and it helps a lot. Karen Here is a link that might be useful: http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/neweng/2007014019017474.html

Hi Silvia, so glad you found your way back :-) My mouth always gets watery and could devour most all of your posted pics! Looks like you captured the Sun's Gold for a real Sweet Treat in a celestial blue pleated plate! ;-) I'll have to raid my Santas so the grape can make it's last stand for a respectable picture to keep up with you for the moment ;-). The only nice thing about this cold here is that if the tomatoes are kept above freezing, they can last so long on the plants ... they don't have top be picked every day as long as they are protected from birds and squirrels (!!!) I bet your transplants are quite big by now, and that's a nice cherry tomato trick to have some munching maters to fill in the gap. I'd like to do that but everything is tied up and intertwined, and since I'm also working with seedlings each day. I'm afraid to clean up little by little with the mold spores that will go flying in my hair and clothes if I try to separate the plants. Suddenly I'm hungry! Cheer! PC