Our asparagus really came on this year and let me tell you it was so worth the wait and work of getting here. We were able to go out every other night and pick a jumbo handful of spears. There is nothing like eating what is in season, and eat we did. We had so much asparagus we were able to satiate our appetites for the tender grass for another year. That's the great part, there will be another year of gorging and I won't have to do more than keep them watered and weeded. During the fall I throw some chicken manure on them and that's all there is to it. No tilling and amending to create a new garden bed because it was done once and now the asparagus keeps coming back year after year.

That's because asparagus is a perennial vegetable. Perennials live for three or more years and in the case of asparagus it can live for 25 or more years. Think of it, you till and plant one time and for the next umpteen years you harvest delicious and nutritious vegetables. Perennial vegetables allow soil micro organisms to get established, their deep roots systems stabilize the soil, they need few inputs and they are multi-purpose plants that can be used for food, medicine and as ornamentals and there are more of them than you think.

One that I have been getting to know is called sea kale, Crambe maritima. It's a lovely plant used ornamentally in New England gardens but it is also edible. Sea Kale is native to the beaches, cliffs and rocky areas of Britain and is tolerant of drought and salt. The blanched young stems, young flower heads and leaves are all edible and the mid rib of the large leaves can be cooked like asparagus. It couldn't be easier to grow too. Just pick a sunny spot with really good drainage and plant. During November or December when the plant has died back and gone dormant clean up all the dead leaves and flower heads. Next cover the crown of the plant with dry leaves and cover that with an upside down black plastic pot. The idea is to block any light. In about 3 months lift the pot, remove the leaves and begin harvesting the tender blanched shoots. Stop harvesting by May and make sure you leave enough new shoots for the plant to grow on. Steam or stir fry to enjoy the delicate nutty flavor. For the remainder of the summer the plant develops into a very pretty ornamental with large blue-green succulent looking leaves and clouds of fragrant tiny white flowers. The plants will grow 3-4 feet tall and wide so space them accordingly.