asparagus

[CrealCritter]

We had a pretty nice asparagus patch at my in-laws. I recall making raised beds, we dig deep and back filled with rotted manure, when we planted the bare roots.

Unfortunately with my father in laws' ALZ. He couldn't tell the ferns from weeds and killed quite a few of them weeding. Then I think he just forgot all about them and pulled up the raised beds and flattened the area out with his tractor and box blade. The asparagus obviously didn't survive.

So now I would like to plant an asparagus patch of my own. What's your thoughts/experiences with different varieties? Should I do a block or a row? Full sun / part shade or shade? Soil PH?

Decisions decisions decisions & so much to discuss...

 

[Lilbitsnpieces]

We had a pretty nice asparagus patch at my in-laws. I recall making raised beds, we dig deep and back filled with rotted manure, when we planted the bare roots.

Unfortunately with my father in laws' ALZ. He couldn't tell the ferns from weeds and killed quite a few of them weeding. Then I think he just forgot all about them and pulled up the raised beds and flattened the area out with his tractor and box blade. The asparagus obviously didn't survive.

So now I would like to plant an asparagus patch of my own. What's your thoughts/experiences with different varieties? Should I do a block or a row? Full sun / part shade or shade? Soil PH?

Decisions decisions decisions & so much to discuss...

Hello..im new to site, and this caught my eye. I have grown apparagus for 35 years..my patch was started by my grandmother, over 75years ago. I have Mary Washington (who doesnt love free plants& the birds eat the berries) though some argue for all male. I also have Jerseys and 5 years ago started adding purple passion.
What makes my patch so different is grandmaw planted in a circle, (she was scotch irish) saying all things in nature are round & we should work with nature not against.
The original bed was 15 feet across, with a trench surrounding it. Potatoes are planted in the trench, Tomatoes in the middle of the circle. They both repel apparagus beetle while the apparagus repels nematodes. After potatoes are harvested raw compost is placed in trench and covered. This feeds the apparagus. Then after tomatoes are harvested. All peelings from fruits harvest and other cannings are placed in middle after ferns are burned. This is all covered with leaves so everything breaks down over winter. If i want to expand circle or replace plants this is also done before i cover with leaves.
Then in early spring i turn ducks into area and fill trench with water...ive never rotated or deviated from this. My harvest are long and consistent. No bugs ever. I do change the variety of potatoes and tomatoes periodically. I now have three of these growin with much success. Original bed is now 25ft across as ive added plants over the years.

 

[CrealCritter]

Planted 100 ft row of asparagus today.

Here's what the roots looked like in the bottom of the kiddie pool. No way to separate this mass. so I cut 50 chunks with a garden spade, making sure I had a few crowns in each chunk. I planted them about a foot deep on 2 foot spacing.

Root mass

Left bed is asparagus

Hopefully they send up asparagus ferns early spring.

Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Hello..im new to site, and this caught my eye. I have grown apparagus for 35 years..my patch was started by my grandmother, over 75years ago. I have Mary Washington (who doesnt love free plants& the birds eat the berries) though some argue for all male. I also have Jerseys and 5 years ago started adding purple passion.
What makes my patch so different is grandmaw planted in a circle, (she was scotch irish) saying all things in nature are round & we should work with nature not against.
The original bed was 15 feet across, with a trench surrounding it. Potatoes are planted in the trench, Tomatoes in the middle of the circle. They both repel apparagus beetle while the apparagus repels nematodes. After potatoes are harvested raw compost is placed in trench and covered. This feeds the apparagus. Then after tomatoes are harvested. All peelings from fruits harvest and other cannings are placed in middle after ferns are burned. This is all covered with leaves so everything breaks down over winter. If i want to expand circle or replace plants this is also done before i cover with leaves.
Then in early spring i turn ducks into area and fill trench with water...ive never rotated or deviated from this. My harvest are long and consistent. No bugs ever. I do change the variety of potatoes and tomatoes periodically. I now have three of these growin with much success. Original bed is now 25ft across as ive added plants over the years.

I'm loving your system. I have 5 questions: #1:"Then in early spring i turn ducks into area and fill trench with water." Does the water stay, or do you just flood the trench to make a "mud soup" for the ducks? My soil wouldn't hold water. #2: I had to read your post several times to wrap my head around the "burning of the ferns. Do you burn them in place? #3: What kind of soil do you have, and when you put in new asparagus plants, how deep do you put them? #4: What is your growing zone? #5: Do you have this area fenced in to keep the ducks in?

One thing that I especially like about your post: It totally debunks the "crop rotation" theories. I can see the benefit of crop rotation in mega-Ag. farming. But... for the back yard gardener: it's just not a sensible or logical plan IMO. If the soil is well fed, disease is not likely to ever be an issue.

 

[CrealCritter]

What happened to the kiddie pool?

Everyone who sees it for the first time asks me "what is that?" I say asparagus that I started from seeds indoors over winter and transplanted into the kiddie pool early spring. I get all kinds of responses and questions, but the common one, is a look of confusion 🤔 I just laugh 😂

Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸

 

[CrealCritter]

I suppose I done asparagus transplanting correctly. Read up on how to transplant asparagus AFTER I already done it 🙄

Might be useful for someone else.

How To Transplant Asparagus Plants

Asparagus is a popular perennial vegetable grown in many home gardens. Sometimes home gardeners wish to take on the task of transplanting asparagus plants. Learn how to transplant asparagus in this article.

www.gardeningknowhow.com

Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸

 

[CrealCritter]

Supposed to harvest April through May, it's March 17th, so about 2 weeks ahead of schedule. Martha Washington has a sweet nutty taste and is way different than store-bought. My opinion... Martha Washington grown from seed is most definitely worth the effort, it's what I remember asparagus tasting like 👍

Jesus is Lord and Christ ✝️

 

[CrealCritter]

FB who does not like asparagus, snapped off a martha washington spear yesterday and tried it. She smiled real big and said this tastes nothing like any asparagus I've tried before. I asked her, so you you like it? She oh yes it's really good, it has a sweet nutty flavor. I just gave a 👍and said I thought you might like it.

I'll let the remainder go to fern, but next season its game on 😀

Jesus is Lord and Christ ✝️

 

[farmerjan]

Our co-op has asparagus root crowns and they are pretty decent looking... $25 for 25 in a bunch... so I think that is reasonable... I might go on and get one bunch... Have to see what kind they are... would get a year ahead... and still do some seeds.

 

[farmerjan]

I wouldn't get too big for the present time. You are going to be transplanting them to a permanent bed so that ought to do fine. You need a place for them to develop some and feeding them will take care of that. Crowns need a little more depth than they need width... I would use what you have and make sure they can grow down so the crowns develop a root system below them.