One Alaskans greenhouse

[Alasgun]

75 Asparagus (3lb can) seeds went into soil today. These are new for us and im hoping they’ll play the part of “fill in” in the bed. They’re from the SSE and im excited to see how they’ll do?
A good handful of the “chili petin’s” have emerged and so have some Stevia and Self Heal which adds to the existing beds.
Real soon we’ll get full bore!

 

[Branching Out]

That's cool that you're growing asparagus--from roots I gather? I grew asparagus from seed a couple of years ago, and the little plants were SO adorable. They were like teeny asparagus (why this surprised me I am not sure). I almost torched them when I thought they were ready to be outdoors, and then all of a sudden they turned completely white from sunburn. Fortunately they recovered, and they are doing fine now.

It feels so good to be getting rolling. I started 3 dwarf tomato seeds today, a variety called Red Robin. They say you can even grow it to maturity indoors. $5.49 for 15 seeds, so 3 seemed like a good number for now. Fingers crossed.

 

[AMKuska]

I'm thinking about starting an asparagus bed! I'm excited to read how yours gets on.

 

[Alasgun]

@AMKuska, ill be sure and let you know. Asparagus has done well for us for several seasons now; this new strain is interesting to me and will be used for filling in weak areas of the bed.

 

[Dahlia]

I'm thinking about starting an asparagus bed! I'm excited to read how yours gets on.

When I lived in Northern CA, we moved into an older house where the previous owner had a garden. There were lots of volunteer asparagus growing! I thought that was pretty amazing! Before that time I never grew asparagus and only saw it at the store!

 

[Alasgun]

The packet said they may take 2 months to germinate which makes me think i should have started these in October and carried them thru Winter with the other slow stuff?

A few of the Artichokes are emerging and as an experiment i don’t need but 2 or 3. Our Daughter grows them to fruition so naturally we’ll give them a try. We eat them weekly!

The Rosemary, Self heal and Chocolate mint which were started late fall all did fine and will be very nice And ready to go out in May.
The Chocolate mint was started from cuttings and in another couple weeks will get cropped heavily, turning these into MANY more young mint plants. It‘s one of our staple Tea mints and while it over winters pretty well, id say it’s a “tender perennial”. We make a couple dozen starts each year for fillers in the 2 beds And always get over a gallon of dried tea from them.

 

[AMKuska]

@AMKuska, ill be sure and let you know. Asparagus has done well for us for several seasons now; this new strain is interesting to me and will be used for filling in weak areas of the bed.

Please tag me as it grows! I probably won't start a bed this year, but I'll likely start one next year.

 

[Branching Out]

Please tag me as it grows! I probably won't start a bed this year, but I'll likely start one next year.

If you are able to determine where the asparagus will eventually grow you could start amending the planting bed now with rock phosphate and bonemeal, to gradually increase phosphorus in the soil. Asparagus likes phosphorus. Buckwheat is also good for scavenging phosphorus, so if you grew a few crops of that and then did the 'chop and drop' technique it could enhance the soil. And growing the plants from seed was not difficult and a LOT of fun. Aparagus is a long game though; it takes several years before you can harvest the spears.

 

[AMKuska]

If you are able to determine where the asparagus will eventually grow you could start amending the planting bed now with rock phosphate and bonemeal, to gradually increase phosphorus in the soil. Asparagus likes phosphorus. Buckwheat is also good for scavenging phosphorus, so if you grew a few crops of that and then did the 'chop and drop' technique it could enhance the soil. And growing the plants from seed was not difficult and a LOT of fun. Aparagus is a long game though; it takes several years before you can harvest the spears.

Hmm, can they handle some shade?

 

[Branching Out]

I think they are sun-loving plants that will tolerate a bit of shade if necessary. Our asparagus are in full sun, and the ones that grow wild in our Okanagan are sometimes found on sandy, sunny slopes.

A couple of years ago I dug up my mom's 40 year old patch that had stopped producing spears. It was a lot of work to find and remove the roots. The roots end up looking like a huge octopus, buried by a foot of soil. Very weird vegetable.