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From commentor Marvel:
It’s been a mild winter here in the Willamette Valley (OR) — we had a few weeks-worth of hard-frozen nights, but the covered beds (6-mil poly) did a swell job of protecting our hardy veggies. We’re still nibbling away at our winter crop (kale, chard & spinach planted toward the end of last summer) and have started fresh seedlings (lettuce & spinach) in the greenhouse.
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Anybody here grow asparagus? I have a four-foot-square raised bed that I intend to top up with compost and plant this spring. That corner’s too shady for tomatoes until we can persuade the utility company that the half-dead sprawling oak on the adjacent storage company’s sidewalk should be removed as a public hazard, but I’m hoping asparagus will survive because the tree doesn’t leaf up until mid-June (southwestern exposure). If anyone wants to offer an opinion as to whether ten supermale Jersey Giant crowns are a reasonable investment, I would be grateful for your advice.
cathyx
I grow asperagus. Competition with tree roots won’t help them. If you don’t know about asperagus, there are some important things to know about growing it.
Gretchen
I got 10 green, possibly Jersey Giant, and 10 purple asparagus, and planted them in a 8×4′ spot two years ago. Didn’t pick last year, am hoping for my first harvest this year. I think it’s worth a try – if it takes, it comes back every year with no more work. My mother always used the asparagus foliage as filler on bouquets.
I’m wondering about an electric fence. Some groundhogs took up residence in my garden last year, and the bunnies ate everything the groundhogs didn’t eat. Oh, except the tomatoes. The squirrels and possums took care of those. So I basically got nothing last year. Any suggestions on electric fencing or screen-houses would be welcome.
The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion
We’ve had really good results with Jersey Giants planted on the southeast corner of the house, in intermmitent shade next to the porch. If you dig asparagus (and why else would you plant it?), I have to say I think its a good investment.
cathyx
How old are your starts? Mine were 3 years old when I bought them.
Plant them deep.
Plant them about 1 ft apart.
Depending on how old they are when you get them, don’t harvest them the first to 3rd year. Since mine were 3 years old, I started harvesting it the second year.
The first year I harvested them, I only cut them for about 3 weeks. Stop cutting and let them grow up the rest of the year.
Every year after that you can only cut them for 2 months. Stop after that and let them grow the rest of the year. They need that time to rebuild their roots and get strength for the next year’s harvest.
woodyNYC
Asparagus was one of the first things I put in my plot when I dug it out 6 years ago. I bought the root packs from a local garden center – pretty cheap. I still don’t get that many, maybe 20 spears a year, but the amount of labor involved is pretty low and there is really something special about raw asparagus right out of the garden. I think it is definitely worth it. Plus they are handsome when they leaf out and show their red fruit.
Jennifer
Sodium chloride rock salt is a good soil amendment for asparagus – add 2.5 lb per 100 ft of row before the spears emerge or around the first of July. Helps it resist crown and root rot and improves overall growth. (Edited – for some reason, I always confuse it with Epsom salts.)
Schlemizel
Anyone else catch the Bill Moyers program on PBS? It was a fascinating discussion about how we got to where we are in politics in the US. I have to get the name of the author & the book. I don’t agree with all his conclusions but his analysis was very interesting.
Don Beal
Although I am wintering in Costa Rica right now I have a community garden plot in a park in Portland Oregon. I planted Jersey Giants two years ago and am looking forward to my first limited harvest this spring when I return. My plot has a bit of shade cover from the firs in the park during the early morning but the plants have thrived. We seldom have severe prolonged freezes in Portland but I keep the plants well mulched with straw during the winter and feed with blood meal in the spring.
jharp
Central Indiana and brought my potted pepper plants inside for the winter and had a good time with it.
They look really nice and though the pepper output has been sparse the ones they have produced are really really cool looking. And tasty.
It’ll be interesting when I put back in the ground this spring. To be honest I have no idea what to expect.
Dave Trowbridge
We have about 30 sq ft of asparagus, and the two of us eat it twice a week March through June, and freeze a lot as well. We find the purple variety more robust than the standard green. Asparagus is actually a sweet vegetable, but the sweetness goes away even faster than sweet corn: basically, unless you’ve eaten asparagus within 12 hours or so of harvest you’ve never really tasted it fresh. Amazing.
Maude
There’s moss growing on the roof.
I am surrounded by concrete, asphalt and idiots.
jnfr
I hope for an asparagus bed one day. I’ve already got a spot picked out. But we got 16 inches of snow this week, so gardening isn’t quite the priority yet.
floridafrog
@gretchen – electric fences rock. I live next to a tidal marsh. Its a dense urban development for raccoons and lost over 100 gorgeous tomatoes in one night to a raccoon gang food fight until I installed a single wire electric fence around my garden. I only have to turn it on once a year to keep their tiny, sensitive paws away from my veggies for a whole season. It doesn’t hurt the awesome emerald tree frogs a bit. They hang out in the lettuce and traverse the fence with ease.
@ Don Beale – where in Costa Rica? Mr. Frog and I are thinking of summering there since our garden season ends in July. We are looking in the Puntarenos region.
Don Beal
Hi floridafrog. We are in Puriscal at about 3800 ft.It is beautiful and so pleasant but it is the dry season here. My expeience with the coastal area is that it can be quite hot. I can handle it for a week or so but much prefer the high elevations.
floridafrog
@Don Beal – Thanks, I will check it out. Our corner of Florida is lovely except for the summer months- Ok its summer six months out of the year, I mean the worst of the summer months. I have enjoyed every minute of previous trips to CR and would love to experience living there.
Violet
@Jennifer:
I was told that asparagus like salt because the plants came from seaweed and grow naturally in salt marshes. I was also told that if you can go to a beach and get seaweed, go fill up a garbage bag and put it on top of your asparagus bed.
floridafrog
@violet
Really? Can asparagus take the heat near salt marshes in the south? I have never tried to grow them because of that. Seaweed – I have lots. Cool weather, not so much
Violet
@floridafrog:
I live in the south and am trying asparagus. I think there are some varieties that work better than others in the heat. I got the variety that was recommended for me, something with numbers in the name.
It’s definitely a cool climate vegetable. I’ve heard it needs the freezing weather in the winter and in warm climates it doesn’t get that and thus doesn’t do as well. I don’t know if that’s true or not. Mine is going gangbusters and since we’re having a warm winter, it’s already putting up new shoots.
I’ve got it in a raised bed with quality soil, a lot of compost mixed with sand. The sand is to make it drain well and mimic the ocean-ish location. I dumped some seaweed on it last spring but haven’t been back to the beach to get some more.
floridafrog
@ Violet – thanks for the inspiration. I live on a barrier island with lots of salt so raised beds for anything are a must. An asparagus cultivar with numbers in the name…. I’ll give it a try
RoonieRoo
We just built asparagus beds and planted 20 crowns.
Violet
@floridafrog:
Just checked the catalog from the place I bought it, and I think the variety is UC157.
Jennifer
Re: the salt – you do NOT want to use regular table salt!
Peter
Asparagus is dead easy to grow. It likes lime and compost, and needs to be left alone for the first couple of years to establish. After that, you can cut it until July 4th, then leave it alone so it can grow its full cycle before fall. Keep it well-mulched; it doesn’t like weeds. Deer don’t bother it.
I have purple passion (6 years old now) and last year planted Jersey King as well since it’s hard to have too much and it freezes so well. I have the rows along the North side of the garden where they act as windbreaks in the fall and winter.
currants
Try this info from Johnnys— at the bottom of the description there’s a link to a pdf that has growing info. I’m on my second round–first one didn’t make it, not enough ph and water for survival past the first year. This planting is in its third spring, so I’m hoping for a full cutting season this year. There are damn pine trees all over the place here, and soil ph really matters–so I keep putting down oyster shells, compost, salt marsh hay, and lime. Also the dogwood is competing with my garden, sending its woody roots into the raised beds, dammitall.
Anybody have any good (not too expensive) ideas for keeping pine needles out of a garden?
currants
@Peter: July 4th…depending on where you live, I think?
Peter
@currants: Yes, of course. I’m in NY, around 42˚N. Your mileage may vary.
waratah
My MIL gave me some roots to get started and I have no idea what variety it is but is very hardy. The variety I have has seeds and with the wind blowing frequently here I find asparagus can pop up anywhere in the garden. I generally leave them where they start and dig them up the next year when they are bigger to transplant.
Charlie, Philomath OR
I’ve been growing asparagus in the Willamette valley for about 15 years. Our site is on the north side of a hill on the western side of the Valley. It does okay here in a 4×8 raised bed, but my friends who live in out in the middle of the Valley, do MUCH better. The Jersey Giants should do just fine.
Candy King
@jnfr: Go for it. I’m not sure about the yield if the area is somewhat shady, but worth the effort. My garden doesn’t get sun all day either. I’m in Vermont. The trick is to plant in trenches 10-12″ deep about a foot apart, spreading out the roots. Cover with about 4″ or so of soil and continue adding soil as the first shoots come up. Don’t let them dry out! Once the plants are established, I just keep the patch weeded more or less. The home grown stuff is so much better than commercial that I don’t even bother buying commercial anymore. We’re spoiled. Harris Seeds in Rochester, NY has a new variety: Viking that we grow in addition to Jersey. We had great results with that last year. Go for it!
ThresherK
Did anyone else know M.I.A. was there next to Madonna until the professionally offensible brigade started clutching their pearls? I mean, I saw the show but didn’t see the bird.
Bonus catchy number that will never make the Super Bowl.
ThresherK
@ThresherK: Well, that was a blourghup. Take 2:
Did anyone know singer M.I.A. was onstage? (I barely know who she is, but didn’t catch it at the time.) Did anyone else see her flipping the bird live, or just the professional offensible who started clutching their pearls on replay?
Bonus clip which we’ll never hear at the Super Bowl.
Wyliecoat
Why am I not seeing any new posts?
Jason Bylinowski
@Wyliecoat: Yeah it’s creepy for sure, though if everybody else is having the kind of day I usually have on mondays, then it’s not so surprising. Hope everything is okay with John Cole’s dad.
acallidryas
I’m not seeing any new posts online-on any browser-but I am when I go to the site on my phone. Which is odd.
Swishalicious
same here acallidryas
Gust Avrakotos
Boy, lots of activity around here today….NOT! What happened, did Cole declare today a gloom free day or something? That is the only explanation for all you gloom porn addicts not having anything to blog about.
Gust Avrakotos
Hey Cole, isn’t it time for another one of your gloom porn diaries.
Like the one where Libya is going to be just like Vietnam…oh wait guess not…damn.
Or the one where Obama is just like Bush because Greenwald told you so….oh wait……guess the timing wouldn’t be right for that seeing as how he’s been pretty mellow lately on that front.
Or the one where the economy is terrible and employment will continue to go to 25% just like in the great depression…I am paraphrasing all your bullshit half assed nontelectual blogs over several months on this one.
Or how about the one where the stock market is tanking. Dow was around 11,000 then….damn, 12845 now.
Shit, what is a gloom porn addict to do these days eh?
I know, lets focus on the housing market. Yea, that’s the ticket. Or the Drones….yea drones. Obama is just like Bush. Even worse because there are more drones everywhere. The drones are comin to git ya. How about a blog like that just to remind people what a farce you and your predictions are.
Nate Dawg
DougJ was nominated for a Moore award!