Asparagus winner!

[seedcorn]

Thanks for link. Been planting them too deep it turns out. Wonder why all these years they told us to plant them 1' deep?

Should have been harvesting last year it seems.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Wow GwR, that Ohio State fact sheet flies in the face of everything I have ever learned about Asparagus growing. Many years ago I was instructed to dig an 18" deep pit and mix a mild fertilizer well into the bottom soil, then carefully spread out the roots and cover with 3" to 4" of loose soil/compost. When the growth began to show cover the plants with more soil and repeat this until the soil level was flush with the surrounding land. Only after the second growth year was I allowed to harvest.

The times sure have changed.

That is what I did. I dug this trench and had manure in there, and built a mound to spread the roots out. I was so tired. My son helped me finish it. I went in the house and wondered if I did it right, so I started searching for information and found this. Just TOSS THEM IN. I thought, well since I worked so hard spreading the roots that they should be okay and they did come up and looked great. I cut the ferns after they turned brown. I am going to harvest some to eat, but not a lot and see what happens.

 

[MontyJ]

Hurray vfem! My asparagus patch came from a couple of bags of dried up roots at Walmart for $1. It was one of those "What the heck" moments. I ended up with 14 plants that survived. After the second year I thinned the patch to 8 after digging out the females and giving them to a friend. I want to expand the patch, but it's one of those things that never seems to make it to the top of the to do list :/ Lucky for me I didn't read about planting it first or I probably would have went too deep as well. I spread the roots and buried it just deep enough to cover the crowns about an inch or two.

 

[the1honeycomb]

vfem, maybe if you entirely cage them to protect them from the varmints?

If you have some wire fencing and lineman pliers to make a circle large enough, then wrap that with gopher wire which is like chicken wire but smaller holes, side around, top and bottom, but don't put the top on until after you sink it deep enough... plant your asparagus in it, then top it with the gopher wire after putting 5 mousetraps in it and another 5 outside it, you may have better luck. Asparagus plants get to a good sized bush, so make it big enough. FORT ASPARAGUS! Set some gi joe toys in and around it too! A cuple rambo toys will help! Oh, gotta put the top on it in a way that is not too hard to remove later.

Down,t forget the transformers

 

[vfem]

Marshall, I did lay mesh wire caging at the bottom of the raised bed before I put it in. I did it with almost all of my raised beds. Usually left over pieces or chicken wire. Some how they figured out how to wiggle through the few spots where the wire over lapped, or they just came up out the ground, and went around and then dug back in. EVIL little animals. My cat needs to do a better job.

The good news is because of that wire.... I only have the tops covered by about 1-2" of soil and not deep at all.

After reading that link, I think I'm going to add more bone meal to the soil. I hope its not too late!

 

[MeggsyGardenGirl]

OK, I'm stumped. I've never heard about digging out the female plants. Can someone explain why? I planted my asparagus in the deep trench, back breaking, wait-two-years-method and have had reasonable harvests in my zone 5b/6a garden. But we are asparagus hounds and would love triple the yield. I do cut down the foliage in the very late fall after it's died back. I'm afraid I don't do much to enrich the beds between seasons now - how should I? I need an asparagus mentor!

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

the females aren't as productive as the males, especially if they get pollinated and put their energy into producing seeds. if they drop their seeds it starts to become a mess of asparagus 'weeds' taking over, so most people pull those out to give room to the more productive males.

 

[MeggsyGardenGirl]

if they drop their seeds it starts to become a mess of asparagus 'weeds' taking over, so most people pull those out to give room to the more productive males.

Are the "weed" asparagus that grow from the seeds automatically female? Or as productive? I've got a couple of those around the bed and I'm wondering if they will just become more asparagus to harvest or will they be not worth it? They aren't in the way...well one could get in the way if I let it grow big without transplanting it into the bed. Oh, and can they be transplanted?

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i'm fairly new to growing asparagus so i see no real harm in letting nature play her roll. i'm also not someone producing tons of spears for selling, just for myself and hubby. but i'd imagine those newer weeds would be growing close to the surface and not be able to make their spears long enough.

i also see no harm in digging up the extras and transplanting them somewhere else. after all, how most people get their crowns is by transplanting them when the came from some supplier.

 

[Smart Red]

Those asparagus 'babies' will set their roots down deeper as they grow until they are just as deep as their elders. I have never removed the female plants.

I do know that male asparagus plants are supposed to make bigger spears, but like Chickie'sMoma, I grow them for myself and relish each and every spear I can get.

I have always thought a good experiment would be to cover 1/4 of a bed with black plastic and a tunnel, 1/2 au naturale, and 1/4 with white covering, bags of ice, and all the left over snow from driveway piles. I would (hopefully) imagine I could tease an extra early harvest in the tunnel, a normal harvest season, and garner enough late spears for a harvest a month later than my usual July 4th last cutting date.

My new asparagus bed is only 4 years old and still filling in (assuming the plants survived last summer's drought), but someday I'd like to try that experiment.