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dioxide and water into sugar that it stores in the roots to enable growth of new spears the following year. Asparagus is usually planted in beds dug about two feet deep and four feet wide. Rich soil is formed into two side- by-side mounds in the bottom, each about six inches high in the center, and a purchased crown is set on a mound, with its roots equally spaced down the mound's sloping sides. The whole bed is then planted with side-by- side crowns every two feet down the length of the bed, and the beds filled in with rich topsoil loosened with a shovelful of sand mixed with every dozen shovels of earth. This promotes good drainage and cre- ates soil that's easy for the spears to grow through. The bed can be any length you want, but to use our all-season technique, 50 feet of bed is ideal. This gives you 50 plants. Drive stakes to mark off five ten-foot sections. Each section will be harvested for four or five weeks se- quentially. So, if the spears emerge down the length of the bed in May, you harvest spears from the first section only during that month. The rest of the sections will grow into fern. About a week and a half before you finish with the first section, cut down the ferns in section two. The roots in section two will now send up new spears. In June, you'll harvest from section two only, allowing the first section's spears to grow into fern. About a week and a half before you're finished with June's section two, cut down the ferns in section three. By July, spears for harvesting will emerge in section three, and you'll allow section two to grow into fern. And so on through sections four and five, taking you to the end of September. At that point, the season is finished, all the sections have been harvested, and all have had plenty of time in fern to make sugar for next year's crop. To harvest spears, don't jab knives into the soil, which can damage the roots. Simply snap the spear off at ground level with your fingers. The deeper the roots, the fat- ter—and more tender—the spears. Because the roots tend to grow up toward the surface over time, it's a good idea to top dress the bed with six inches of compost or topsoil each fall, after the first frosts. If your climate is cold, let the ferns dry out but don't cut them down. They'll hold snow that will melt into next spring's first watering. On average, beds will last for 25 years. After roasting the spears, topping them with caramelized local ricotta salata, and adding two sticks of toasted brioche and house-cured prosciutto, Chef Valette of Valette in Healdsburg, CA, drizzles the dish with extra virgin olive oil. Part of the overgrown asparagus bed at Laguna Farms in Sebastopol, California, has been cut back to ground level in mid-July, and the roots are sending up new spears for harvesting. ■cr 6 | t h e c l e v e r r o o t