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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2015 16:13:44 GMT
Finally got some coming up. I got one big fat one about four inches tall and a bunch of other starting to poke through the soil. Looks like I'm cooking asparagus tomorrow.
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Post by Weed on Apr 20, 2015 0:20:58 GMT
I just got 8 crowns of Mary Washingtons since I've tried Jersey knight twice I decided to switch it up. I wish I had known they love fish guts, I caught a lot of fish last summer. Hopefully I will be doing it again this summer. Any planting tips? I've already failed twice I really don't want to fail again. If you've failed twice, maybe you need to go the extra mile in prepping your bed? In Long Island you're probably sitting mainly on sand, which is good as it drains well, but probably lacking a lot of what your bed is gonna need for the long haul. Some here may consider my planting method a bit overkill but keep in mind that your bed, if prepped properly will better ensure that it will produce for decades. I dug my trenches 16" wide (backhoe) x 28"-30" deep. Filled the trench with 16" of composted manure, then topped the manure with about 4"-6" of fertile sandy loam mix. At approx. 18" centers drop the crowns down by giving them a spin like you would a mop when swabbing a deck, that will send the roots out in every which direction. After all the crowns are in, add a few more inches of soil. After all my Gus was set, the ditch was about 6" shy of level. As it grows out, gradually pull more soil in to build your trench up until it's just slightly raised. Start out with at least 2-3 yo crowns. Don't harvest anything from them the first year, second year I cut for about one week only....gradually increasing the harvest time every year. I believe the rule of thumb is 3-4 yo plants can be harvested for about 2 mos. Here in the land of asparagus, it's everywhere, so I played it more on the safe side and did very little harvesting from my own patch allowing them to fern out heavy (which in turn makes for stronger root systems). A few inches of compost early every spring is all I feed them and I try to hold the pH right @ 7 Im no expert, but I do have one heck of nice patch of Gus, and plan on it putting out for a long, long time
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2015 5:16:44 GMT
I feel so much better now 'bout calling mine spear guts.
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Post by Woodpecker on Apr 20, 2015 19:24:09 GMT
I just got 8 crowns of Mary Washingtons since I've tried Jersey knight twice I decided to switch it up. I wish I had known they love fish guts, I caught a lot of fish last summer. Hopefully I will be doing it again this summer. Any planting tips? I've already failed twice I really don't want to fail again. If you've failed twice, maybe you need to go the extra mile in prepping your bed? In Long Island you're probably sitting mainly on sand, which is good as it drains well, but probably lacking a lot of what your bed is gonna need for the long haul. Some here may consider my planting method a bit overkill but keep in mind that your bed, if prepped properly will better ensure that it will produce for decades. I dug my trenches 16" wide (backhoe) x 28"-30" deep. Filled the trench with 16" of composted manure, then topped the manure with about 4"-6" of fertile sandy loam mix. At approx. 18" centers drop the crowns down by giving them a spin like you would a mop when swabbing a deck, that will send the roots out in every which direction. After all the crowns are in, add a few more inches of soil. After all my Gus was set, the ditch was about 6" shy of level. As it grows out, gradually pull more soil in to build your trench up until it's just slightly raised. Start out with at least 2-3 yo crowns. Don't harvest anything from them the first year, second year I cut for about one week only....gradually increasing the harvest time every year. I believe the rule of thumb is 3-4 yo plants can be harvested for about 2 mos. Here in the land of asparagus, it's everywhere, so I played it more on the safe side and did very little harvesting from my own patch allowing them to fern out heavy (which in turn makes for stronger root systems). A few inches of compost early every spring is all I feed them and I try to hold the pH right @ 7 Im no expert, but I do have one heck of nice patch of Gus, and plan on it putting out for a long, long time Thanks for your advice! Believe it or not the soil is all clay here despite our proximity to water. I bought 2 year old Mary Washington crowns. I'll plant them tomorrow when it stops raining. I looked in my old bed and saw some spears finally coming up. Everything is so behind this year. Thanks for the advice, I'll put it to good use!
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Post by Weed on Apr 21, 2015 13:44:01 GMT
If you've failed twice, maybe you need to go the extra mile in prepping your bed? In Long Island you're probably sitting mainly on sand, which is good as it drains well, but probably lacking a lot of what your bed is gonna need for the long haul. Some here may consider my planting method a bit overkill but keep in mind that your bed, if prepped properly will better ensure that it will produce for decades. I dug my trenches 16" wide (backhoe) x 28"-30" deep. Filled the trench with 16" of composted manure, then topped the manure with about 4"-6" of fertile sandy loam mix. At approx. 18" centers drop the crowns down by giving them a spin like you would a mop when swabbing a deck, that will send the roots out in every which direction. After all the crowns are in, add a few more inches of soil. After all my Gus was set, the ditch was about 6" shy of level. As it grows out, gradually pull more soil in to build your trench up until it's just slightly raised. Start out with at least 2-3 yo crowns. Don't harvest anything from them the first year, second year I cut for about one week only....gradually increasing the harvest time every year. I believe the rule of thumb is 3-4 yo plants can be harvested for about 2 mos. Here in the land of asparagus, it's everywhere, so I played it more on the safe side and did very little harvesting from my own patch allowing them to fern out heavy (which in turn makes for stronger root systems). A few inches of compost early every spring is all I feed them and I try to hold the pH right @ 7 Im no expert, but I do have one heck of nice patch of Gus, and plan on it putting out for a long, long time Thanks for your advice! Believe it or not the soil is all clay here despite our proximity to water. I bought 2 year old Mary Washington crowns. I'll plant them tomorrow when it stops raining. I looked in my old bed and saw some spears finally coming up. Everything is so behind this year. Thanks for the advice, I'll put it to good use! I'm only about 80 miles west of you as the crow flies, if you got the same heavy rains overnight that we did, you should be able to tell just how well your ground perks while planting you're asparagus today. The " all clay" conditions you described could be your issue?, asparagus likes well draining soil. If the rain missed you, this should help you determine how well your garden is draining. youtu.be/e6VV6OU3ssA
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2015 14:49:25 GMT
My two asparagus beds are fairly small. Well, small in my mind as I really do like asparagus. They are only about 70 square feet each with about 30 or so crowns planted in each.
I purchased what was advertised as three year old crowns (not saying that they were not) because I wanted a return for my money and effort sooner. I know that I purchased both a hybrid (Jersey Giant) and an heirloom variety (whose name escapes me), split right down the middle, and I planted them in the separate beds.
I just let them grow out the first year even though I was supposed to be able to harvest lightly. Believe me, that took a lot of restraint. I fertilized them a little bit more lightly than I should have.
The second year I harvested lightly as I wanted the crowns to continue strengthening and then I forgot to fertilize them.
I fertilized them heavily this spring with composted horse manure and they seem to be responding quite nicely. I have been picking them for about two weeks or so and have totaled about 5 lbs. so far. I plan on harvesting for another two weeks or so and hopefully not forget to fertilize them further.
A problem with growing asparagus in my area is the nearly constant and somewhat strong wind. I have had to build bamboo grids that are placed over the asparagus to keep those six foot ferns from blowing over. The grids are not pretty, but they are effective.
Muller's Lane Farm,
Thanks for the idea of using fish guts!!! Living near the ocean I should be able to get my hands on plenty of that. I usually just use fish guts for the compost piles, but I may have to gather more and feed them directly to the asparagus. Well, that and some comfrey tea now that the comfrey is large enough to harvest regularly.
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Post by Woodpecker on Apr 21, 2015 17:04:51 GMT
Thanks for your advice! Believe it or not the soil is all clay here despite our proximity to water. I bought 2 year old Mary Washington crowns. I'll plant them tomorrow when it stops raining. I looked in my old bed and saw some spears finally coming up. Everything is so behind this year. Thanks for the advice, I'll put it to good use! I'm only about 80 miles west of you as the crow flies, if you got the same heavy rains overnight that we did, you should be able to tell just how well your ground perks while planting you're asparagus today. The " all clay" conditions you described could be your issue?, asparagus likes well draining soil. If the rain missed you, this should help you determine how well your garden is draining. youtu.be/e6VV6OU3ssAWe did get that heavy rain, about time too! I do think clay is my biggest issue, I'm going to add lots of compost before planting. Thanks for the link! I'll let you know how planting goes.
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Post by Woodpecker on Apr 22, 2015 1:37:17 GMT
@weedkicker I got the Gus in today, I tilled in one of the only spots around my place with full sun. I added lots of compost and tried to do the swirl. God willing in a few years I will have a nice patch. Thanks for the advice! Muller's Lane Farm tagging is so hard!
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Post by Weed on Apr 22, 2015 1:55:51 GMT
My two asparagus beds are fairly small. Well, small in my mind as I really do like asparagus. They are only about 70 square feet each with about 30 or so crowns planted in each.
I purchased what was advertised as three year old crowns (not saying that they were not) because I wanted a return for my money and effort sooner. I know that I purchased both a hybrid (Jersey Giant) and an heirloom variety (whose name escapes me), split right down the middle, and I planted them in the separate beds.
I just let them grow out the first year even though I was supposed to be able to harvest lightly. Believe me, that took a lot of restraint. I fertilized them a little bit more lightly than I should have.
The second year I harvested lightly as I wanted the crowns to continue strengthening and then I forgot to fertilize them.
I fertilized them heavily this spring with composted horse manure and they seem to be responding quite nicely. I have been picking them for about two weeks or so and have totaled about 5 lbs. so far. I plan on harvesting for another two weeks or so and hopefully not forget to fertilize them further.
A problem with growing asparagus in my area is the nearly constant and somewhat strong wind. I have had to build bamboo grids that are placed over the asparagus to keep those six foot ferns from blowing over. The grids are not pretty, but they are effective.
Muller's Lane Farm,
Thanks for the idea of using fish guts!!! Living near the ocean I should be able to get my hands on plenty of that. I usually just use fish guts for the compost piles, but I may have to gather more and feed them directly to the asparagus. Well, that and some comfrey tea now that the comfrey is large enough to harvest regularly. We get some mean winds off the open field to the west quite regularly, and at least a few x every year, the heavy tropical stuff that comes from the south. Ive had some blow over here and there & thought many times about doing a single-line Florida weave type of support using T-posts and 1/4" nylon rope...but it never reaches the top of the priority list. Here it's the corn that gets all the attention after being blown over, as the timing of those bad storms always seem to coincide with near harvest time!
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Post by Woodpecker on Apr 22, 2015 2:10:34 GMT
@weedkicker I got the Gus in today, I tilled in one of the only spots around my place with full sun. I added lots of compost and tried to do the swirl. God willing in a few years I will have a nice patch. Thanks for the advice! Muller's Lane Farm tagging is so hard! You have to hover your mouse over their username. weedkicker is actually jhn56 or something like that. Thanks, I'm on my iPad though @redfish.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2015 4:06:12 GMT
A problem with growing asparagus in my area is the nearly constant and somewhat strong wind. I have had to build bamboo grids that are placed over the asparagus to keep those six foot ferns from blowing over. The grids are not pretty, but they are effective.
We get some mean winds off the open field to the west quite regularly, and at least a few x every year, the heavy tropical stuff that comes from the south. Ive had some blow over here and there & thought many times about doing a single-line Florida weave type of support using T-posts and 1/4" nylon rope...but it never reaches the top of the priority list. Here it's the corn that gets all the attention after being blown over, as the timing of those bad storms always seem to coincide with near harvest time!
Hey Jack,
It is good to see you posting here. First off, let me thank you again for the Covington sweet potatoes. They are doing quite well in the slip-producing department.
Yeah, where you are I bet you get some nasty winds too. No major hills or mountains to aid in blocking the wind at all. And I bet that, like your sweet potato growing square footage, your asparagus growing square footage is at least double my entire garden's square footage. I can see where it would be a huge job for you to Florida weave all of that.
I am going to try four different methods to keep my tomatoes upright this year and a variation of the Florida weave is one of the ones that I will be trying. I will be using a metal fence though as opposed to the nylon rope. It will be easier for me to do so with the shorter distances to cover.
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Post by Woodpecker on Apr 22, 2015 15:31:10 GMT
Woodpecker I have zero experience with an ipad, do they not have cursors? I really should get with the times one of these days! I'm a technological caveman. No they don't. It doesn't help that I'm technology challenged too. I'll have to go on my laptop and see.
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Post by Weed on Apr 22, 2015 17:12:56 GMT
Tom, Thanks for the update, although the taters were free- the shipping wasn't cheap at all IMO. Glad to hear they're doing good, if you decide you need more (slips)...don't hesitate. I won't be getting them from my supplier until very late May or early June. Unfortunately, I have no control over that date as that's the annual routine for my area- when they're shipped up here to all the big growers from NC. Breakfast don't get much fresher than this. Eggs from the coop were still warm! Attachments:
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Post by Weed on Apr 22, 2015 18:01:02 GMT
Hey Tom, After harvesting my breakfast this AM, I remembered the temptation you're up against! Best to just avoid the Gus as much as possible...just stay away from it! When I was at that stage, whenever I'd get near it- the wind (or the devil) would whisper in my ear "go ahead...you earned it". I always gave in to temptation
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Post by Muller's Lane Farm on Apr 22, 2015 18:01:16 GMT
I picked about 2 lb for supper tonight ... home grown sirloin & asparagus
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Post by Woodpecker on Apr 22, 2015 19:19:37 GMT
I picked about 2 lb for supper tonight ... home grown sirloin & asparagus Muller's Lane Farm how did you cook the sirloin? My mouth is watering.
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Post by Muller's Lane Farm on Apr 22, 2015 20:35:56 GMT
Both will be seasoned with a little salt & pepper & a drizzle of olive oil, then onto a cast iron grill, Woodpecker. Finish off with a pat of butter. I'll also make a side of sliced onions & mushrooms cooked in butter with a splash of basalmic vinegar
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2015 22:37:57 GMT
Hey Tom, After harvesting my breakfast this AM, I remembered the temptation you're up against! Best to just avoid the Gus as much as possible...just stay away from it! When I was at that stage, whenever I'd get near it- the wind (or the devil) would whisper in my ear "go ahead...you earned it". I always gave in to temptation
LOL!!!
You are evil sometimes!!! But it is all good!! My asparagus are on their third year in the ground here and they were allegedly 3 year old crowns (I suspect that they were two-year olds) so they have enough age behind them to start producing fairly well and give me enough to eat to whet my appetite. I have been keeping track of how many spears I harvest from each crown and how many I let grow into ferns. This year (year #3) should be quite telling.
Which begs the question that I have never been able to find an answer to. Is there a safe number of spears that can be allowed to grow into ferns and thus supply enough growing energy during the rest of the year for the crown?
I know that it would be impossible to predict how many spears will grow from the crowns, so harvesting what comes up until I have had my fill and then hoping that more spears will appear, thus providing for the crown is a crap shoot at best.
But what if we reversed the process? Let us arbitrarily say that an asparagus crown needs, on average, five ferns to grow out through the year to properly sustain the crown. Even if I go with a worst case scenario and use six as the number of ferns necessary, does it make sense to allow the first six spears that appear from each crown to grow into ferns and then harvest anything that pokes its head up afterwards?
I would definitely be able to harvest more asparagus as I routinely prune down at least 12 and as many as 20 or more ferns from every crown in the fall.
Just a thought... Or have I been doing it wrong from the get go by harvesting for an annually increasing amount of time and then stopping?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2015 22:39:03 GMT
Both will be seasoned with a little salt & pepper & a drizzle of olive oil, then onto a cast iron grill, Woodpecker. Finish off with a pat of butter. I'll also make a side of sliced onions & mushrooms cooked in butter with a splash of basalmic vinegar
Hmmmm!!! Sounds good!!
So when is dinner???
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Post by Woodpecker on Apr 22, 2015 23:12:47 GMT
Both will be seasoned with a little salt & pepper & a drizzle of olive oil, then onto a cast iron grill, Woodpecker. Finish off with a pat of butter. I'll also make a side of sliced onions & mushrooms cooked in butter with a splash of basalmic vinegar That sounds delicious, enjoy it!
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Post by Weed on Apr 23, 2015 13:54:04 GMT
Tom I started with 3yo plants as well, that I'm sure of. I got them from Scott, one of the Bros from www.walkerplants.com the crowns were much larger than any I've ever seen at my farm supply. Just after starting to harvest for a few weeks from the initial bed I wound up doubling the rows sidexside in the spring of 2012, by adding another 100 crowns, making the bed 6' x 100' bordered on all sides using standing deadwood trees I took from the surrounding woods. After expanding I decided to play it on the safe side and allowed both rows to grow out to build stronger root systems that year and waited until the following spring to harvest-basically starting my harvest plan over. Since then, I've been gradually harvesting longer each year but never really gave much thought to your questions. I just cut everything that pops up, thick or thin through the harvest period, then let everything grow out. One of these days when I'm in the area, and they're not extremely busy as they are now, I'll stop by Walkers and see what they have to say about how they maintain/control and deal with females. One things for sure, their rows are much more orderly than my patch, their Gus grows in spaced clumps while mine grows thick like a wall with very little space between ferns. I haven't tried to control my plants in any way, but I just might begin culling some of the females this summer as I'm getting very thick and they drop a lot of berries. In some cases-not sure about asparagus, but less may = more at some point when they're as thick as mine (as is the case with the raspberry canes). Many of those seeds pop as as young ferns both inside/outside the log borders. I kick the outside seedlings down to prevent them from taking hold
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Post by Weed on Apr 25, 2015 17:11:06 GMT
Earlier in the thread I mentioned buying 100 3 yo crowns for just $20 (a few short years ago). That's all changed a bit! I got a call from my buddy, who asked me if I wanted to expand my patch. With so much going on, I declined but still offered up some help to help him get his planted. The walk-in price (yesterday) for 1 yo crowns is @ $26 for 25. They do get cheaper in bulk though, this thousand cost $200 Since streamlining their operation in 2013, they now only specialize in strawberries and Gus and I'm sure 99% of those sales are transacted on-line. Minimum web order is 2000 strawberry or 1000 asparagus now...only walk-ins can order smaller quantities ...good thing I'm local
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2015 22:27:25 GMT
Earlier in the thread I mentioned buying 100 3 yo crowns for just $20 (a few short years ago). That's all changed a bit! I got a call from my buddy, who asked me if I wanted to expand my patch. With so much going on, I declined but still offered up some help to help him get his planted. The walk-in price (yesterday) for 1 yo crowns is @ $26 for 25. They do get cheaper in bulk though, this thousand cost $200 Since streamlining their operation in 2013, they now only specialize in strawberries and Gus and I'm sure 99% of those sales are transacted on-line. Minimum web order is 2000 strawberry or 1000 asparagus now...only walk-ins can order smaller quantities ...good thing I'm local
LOL....
So are you just teasing us with the great pricing for strawberries and asparagus that you have available to you or are you, in a left-handed manner, trying to tell us that you can help us minions get similar pricing through you?
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Post by Weed on Apr 26, 2015 2:28:01 GMT
Earlier in the thread I mentioned buying 100 3 yo crowns for just $20 (a few short years ago). That's all changed a bit! I got a call from my buddy, who asked me if I wanted to expand my patch. With so much going on, I declined but still offered up some help to help him get his planted. The walk-in price (yesterday) for 1 yo crowns is @ $26 for 25. They do get cheaper in bulk though, this thousand cost $200 Since streamlining their operation in 2013, they now only specialize in strawberries and Gus and I'm sure 99% of those sales are transacted on-line. Minimum web order is 2000 strawberry or 1000 asparagus now...only walk-ins can order smaller quantities ...good thing I'm local
LOL....
So are you just teasing us with the great pricing for strawberries and asparagus that you have available to you or are you, in a left-handed manner, trying to tell us that you can help us minions get similar pricing through you?
I searched the web...believe me there's no great pricing here anymore, not even for walk-ins since these guys began focusing on the 2 fruits/veggies they sell the most of rather than 50 The key line was "that's all changed a bit!" The 3yo plants I bought back in 2012 was a helluva deal, unfortunately those days and prices are long gone
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2015 4:55:33 GMT
This is my first year with asparagus and I planted 96 of them (had 100, but I ran out of trench AND the last four were the runts, so into the compost pile they went). So far, so good...got them in the ground on 4/9 and there was at LEAST one per crown up on 4/14, with new ones peeking through just about every day. The tallest ones right now are probably pushing 3 - 3.5 feet.
I can hardly wait until next spring for my first (albeit light) harvest!
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