Photography by Guhui Lin

After around 6 months, we believe it is about time to see at least a couple of asparagus shoots.  Sure enough, the shoots are blossoming and will soon be part of our salads and daily meal!

After the planning as to just where the slab will be placed, the form must be made.  With the materials of the 1X4 inch boards and a level, one can be assured that the final product will be flat and fairly close to being level.  The next step was to spread some loose gravel in the area where the cement was to be placed and tamp it down to form a fairly flat, firm base.  Then comes the mixing and pouring of the cement.  As there was no wheel barrel available, the cement was  mixed in a large pot with the use of a power drill and a hoe.  Pouring the cement was no issue as long as it was loose enough (had sufficient water content).  After the pour came the smoothing of the top,  as a final step a 1/8 th pre-cut piece of wood was wedged into the poured slab.  The reason for the piece of wood was to prevent cracking after cured. With the placement of the piece of wood, there was no need to use a concrete circular saw blade to generate a spacing after curing.  The 1/8 th piece of wood should eventually rot away.

Okra nutrition benefits:
http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/okra.html

At the end of each season, we save some seed pods so we are ready for the next season.  Okra for the salad will grow very quickly after flowering.  Harvest is basically once a week when having 6 plants producing. This is a good addition for every salad.