Now is the time of year to plant asparagus!
Why I grow asparagus
- It's delicioius
- It's a perennial that should last a couple of decades.
- Plant once, harvest year after year!!!
- It's a perennial that should last a couple of decades.
2 steps:
- Make the raised bed
- Plant the asparagus
Here's the final result
Creating a raised bed
I got lucky on this raised bed.
I had some round metal used for animal feeders laying around.
These just happened to be the perfect size.
- 56 inches in diameter
- each piece about 20 inches tall
Placement
Traditional recommended trenching
When planting bareroot crowns in the spring, prepare a trench 8 inches deep.
Spread crowns over the soil and cover them with 2 inches of soil.
Gradually fill the trench with soil as the plants grow
I have about 6" of top soil on clay.
- So I dug down to the clay around the bed.
- Plant the crowns on inside, on 6 inches of soil...
- Add about 3 inches of soil.
- Plant the crowns on inside, on 6 inches of soil...
- Leaves me with room to fill in soil as they start growing.
As luck would have it, I wasn't sure which of the 3 outbuilding my level would be in
(we just moved here January 1st and haven't had time to organize these yet...)
- This doesn't have to be perfect, so I thought up a a good enough level
- a board and a jar of water
It worked good enough for me!
Planting the asparagus
Picking a variety
I chose AsparaBest® Asparagus
Harvest lots more spears—without sacrificing flavor. AsparaBest truly lives up to its name! Its predominantly male plants produce little to no seed and 2 to 3 times more spears than popular Jersey varieties. And, the purple-tipped green spears have an excellent flavor. Developed at an Ontario, Canada University, the late-emerging AsparaBest is unmatched for cold tolerance, but regardless of your climate this delicious variety will produce longer than all other asparagus varieties on the market!
- Good for zones 3 - 8 (2 with Winter protection).
- Botanical Name: Asparagus officinalis 'UG-9'
Did you know… AsparaBest Asparagus won the 2015 Green Thumb Award from the Direct Gardening Association—this variety is known for more spears, excellent flavor and cold-hardiness. Produces up to 3 Times More Spears!
Trixie decided to help by digging a hole over there.
- Good gurl
- ::shrug:: haha
Fertilizer:
When planting is the best time to apply fertilizer, especially phosphorus.
I chose Gurney's® Asparagus Food 4-3-1
This bag was 3 pints. I need to fertilize now, when it starts growing and at the end of season, so this worked out perfect.
- I spread 1 pint of fertilizer and worked it in with a rake.
I made a little mound for each crown.
Here's the final spacing.
- 3 4 3 worked out to right about 1 foot apart.
Final step:
- Water the bed
- This helps eliminate air pockets
- And will protect them for my next step...
- This helps eliminate air pockets
creating wood ash
Just one more step for me.
You don't have to do this.
I just happen to have quite a bit of brush to burn, so thought I would do a few armfuls here...
- When I lived here 20 years ago, I burned wood.
- I always dumped the wood ash in the garden.
- This dirt has been bulldozed around a bit,
so I thought I would create some wood ash.
- This dirt has been bulldozed around a bit,
- I always dumped the wood ash in the garden.
- Luckily, Fire Chief Brutus ( my 8 year old Boxer puppy) was available to supervise the small burn...
These weeds had grown up around the cellar house.
- They make a very cool popping sound in the fire!
Tha-Tha-Tha-That's all folks!
Asparagus Tips
- They do not compete well with grass or weeds.
- Keep your bed weeded!
- Use a mulch, so you don't have to do that as often...
- Keep your bed weeded!
- Do not harvest any spears in the first year.
- Just a very light harvest the 2nd year. About 2 weeks
- You can start full harvesting (5-8 weeks) the 3rd year and beyond.
- Just a very light harvest the 2nd year. About 2 weeks
- Harvest when about 6-8" tall for the tenderest shoots.
- before the spear tip loosens
- or it will get woody and pithy.
- before the spear tip loosens
- When done harvesting, let the ferns grow.
- Prune them to the ground in very early spring.
- This allows food and nutrients to build a strong root system.
- Prune them to the ground in very early spring.
- Asparagus freezes well.
- Just lay out on cookie sheets and allow to freeze, then bag them up.
About the contest
Check out these links for the rules:
 @WizarDave |
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