starting a new asparagus bed

I'm finally taking the plunge. I've never built an asparagus bed before. I've read the entry in the Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, and it sounds too complicated to me. Anyone out there have good methods that won't bog me down or intimidate me into inaction?

Hi lee, I'm glad that you posted this. All winter I've been thinking of how great it would be to grow asparagus. I LOVE asparagus ... but don't know what's involved in growing them.

I planted mine about 4 years ago. I dug a trench about a foot deep and planted them in there with a mixture of topsoil and manure. As the plants grew, I kept filling in the trench with ore topsoil and manure until the trench was ground level by the end of the summer. They all took real well and this year will be the first year that I could harvest them for an extended amount of time. You have to give them a few years before you start harvesting all season.

It is a little work to get them planted and started, but it is so worth the effort. Once asparagus is established, I think it will produce for many, many years.

I'm starting another bed this summer, or real soon, we have a weed problem real bad, so I'm putting ground cover down in the garden, long narrow, about 5 feet wide and maybe 20 feet long, and cutting big holes in the plastic that I cover with a thin layer of mulch to keep it from flying away, putting the crowns in the holes, big enough holes cut out so they can multiply though, I have another batch in a raised bed, it's doing nicely, but I have to move the crowns because I have blue balsam mint planted near by and it's decided to take over the asparagus bed, so this winter i'll be moving them to the new bed in the garden, I went to a nursery in mossouri, and this is how they had their asparagus growing, so there's no weeds to have to mess with, we raised horses for a while, so our garden is full of horsey poop already LOL.

I think it might be easy for me to maintain doing it this way.

kathy_ann

Sveiks hi I am also contemplating growing some asparagas. I did a search and came up with a fact sheet that has a different slant on how to plant and grow asparagas from the above. It says dig deep and plant in a 6 inch trench and just toss the crowns in anyway they want to fall and cover them all at once no need to fill the trench in stages. In fact it states that reasearch shows that planted deeper than 5 to 6 inches reduces the yeild. It is a very comprehensive report covering all aspects of growing and harvesting.

This was written for growing in Ohio and don't know that all of it would be true for your area nor am I saying the folks posted above are wrong. Just found it interesting and you may as well.

I would do the link thing for you but don't know how sorry. I found it by typing in aspargas growing though and think you will to. ohioline.ag.ohio-state.edu may get you there and once there HYG-1603-94 is probably the publication to ask for.

Or try http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1603.html

If none of that works e mail me and I will try to find it again and get someone to help me send you a link lol I am challanged. hope this is of use to you. Ernie