... planting asparagus

Hello everyone,

My order from Vesey's has finally arrived and among the goodies were 48 beautiful asparagus crowns. The variety is Jersey Giant. We already have 50 of them growing very happily in the garden and these are the same ones that we have been eating this year.

Sadly the Martha Washington crowns that we planted in 2012 did not do well and only a handful of the 50 we planted survived. You have to wait so long to be able to harvest the spears that I did not want to take any chances so went with the sure thing, Jersey Giant.

I have been working quite hard to keep the asparagus beds weed free but I very thoroughly weeded the areas to be planted again this morning. I like to soak the crowns in warm water for about an hour before I plant them. These crowns were not dried out at all but I think the soaking helps get them off to a good start.

I used a hoe to create two furrows in the bed which made a nice little mound down the center.

I lay out the soaked crown on top of this mound, arranging their roots down both furrows.

Then I carefully backfill with triple mix so just the little shoots are peeking out. Asparagus like a really well drained soil but also need lots of organic matter. Our soil is very sandy so drainage is not a problem. Once they are growing strongly I will add another inch or so of triple mix on top and from them on they will be top dressed each fall with well rotted compost.

So now the waiting begins. Three years. That means we will be able to harvest from these new crowns in 2018! Remember what I said about patience.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great evening. Cheers.