Monday, May 14, 2007

patience

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A few nights ago I served this seasons first picking of asparagus at the dinner table. As I explained to our house guest, asparagus takes patience to grow. If you can get through the considerable amount of work that it takes just to plant it, you then must wait several years before you should harvest it. But don't let this discourage you...your efforts will be rewarded over and over each spring for 20 to 30 years.

We grow a total of 18 plants, the majority of them are male-(Jersey Knight and Purple Passion). We have a few wild plants and few Martha Washingtons. Our asparagus patch is about 8 years old now. It requires a little attention each spring...weeding by hand so as not to disturb the crowns. I also use weed block cloth between the rows. I remove these each spring, give the beds an overhaul, and replace them for the remainder of the season. We apply compost to the bed in the fall, normally in the form of composted manure from the chickens and rabbits. Here is a useful link for instructions on how to start an asparagus bed in your own backyard. http://www.asparagus.org/maab/homeGarden.html?id=771

6 comments:

meresy_g said...

Oh that looks so good. I love the purple ones. I just have the green. Nothing better than asparagus picked a few minutes before dinner!

Unknown said...

HI! we had a nice big plate of our asparagus too, it was sweet and melted in the mouth, yum, even my boys love it! I would grow asparagus just for the pretty ferny fronds and red berries, too.

cindy said...

They are breathtaking!!! Glad you took the time.

KnittingJones said...

Yummy! We have some too, but have to harvest before the deer eat their dinner.

Elise said...

I started a bed last year...from seed just for the challenge of it! I know I am an idiot but a happy one - ha ha! It did survive the winter and just a few tiny crowns have poked through!

Thistle Cove Farm said...

My O My O my! That asparagus looks **wonderful** and worth all the work.

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