I am planning on putting in some asparagus this year and have a bunch of questions. I have an area of about 10'x10' that is gets a lot of sun. There used to be a bunch of shrubs there that I cut out over the last couple of years. I'd like to run my single bottom plow through it to break up the soil and let me get whatever roots are still left out. How many asparagus roots can I put in that area? I haven't tested the soil in that area but in other places nearby where I plant veggies the ph is about 6.8-6.9. Can I use peat moss to help acidify the soil? We have a problem with LOTS of rabbits. Will I need to fence this off? Does anyone have a recomendation on the kind of root to get? We are in Vermont, zone 4. Gurney's is having a sale that ends on May 17 so I'll need to put my order in soon.
It will answer many of your questions. As to the rabbits, if you really have lots of the critters, they can and will eat some of the spears. Deer like them, too. I have some of my asparagus fenced against deer, though the rabbits can get to it. They did nibble a bit this year for the first time. The other asparagus is not fenced and both the rabbits and deer have gotten in it. Neither did much damage, but I probably will fence it in against both critters next year, when that will become my principal asparagus bed. Welded wire is fairly cheap for a small area and will keep all but the baby rabbits out.
Thanks Chuck. I put in an order for 100 crowns last night. Hard to plow only a 10x10 area, it keeps growing every time I drop the plow [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] At least it's a little more lawn that we don't have to mow!! I want to run some landscape timbers around the edge of it to keep the grass down. If I have to I have some 2 foot chickenwire that I can run around it if the rabbits find it. We have never seen deer down around the house. We live on the outskirts of the village but own 13+ acres of hills and woods behind the house and see them up there. I'll be getting chickens at the end of the month so there will be a good supply of fertilized wood chips in our future!!
100 crowns! Are you going into commercial production? We have maybe 50 plants, and some of those are just two years old so that we didn't pick them as long as the longer established bed, and we had more asparagus than we, presently a family of three, cared to eat. I guess you can freeze it, though we haven't tried that. I made some pretty good asparagus/potato soup, and that would probably freeze well. But the yield from 100 crowns in a couple of years will be huge.
Chuck, I believe I could eat the produce from 100 crowns by myself. I love that stuff; just pick and eat it right there, chopped raw in salads, steamed with or without cheese topping, or as you said, cooked in a soup. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]
There are 3 of us that eat it, IF you include our GS dog. Some day I hope to retire so if I can raise enough to sell it'll help with the maple syrup, raspberries, apples, eggs, pumpkins and whatever else we can grow. The 10'x10' plot has turned into a 15'x23' plot [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
For 100 crowns, I think you'll need the extra space. I put mine about 18 inches apart in trenches. In one bed I have two trenches that are about three feet apart. I guess the plants spread some, but in my five year old bed, the plants still haven't grown together. They have spread out a bit, and now spears come up in perhaps one foot circles about each crown location. Be sure to mulch them good to keep the weeds out. It is much easier to prevent weed encroachment than to try to dig the weeds out from among the plants without getting into the asparagus. I got some used sawdust from a guy with horses. He used it in the stalls, and it was saturated with horse effluent. It worked great to stop the weeds and probably fertilized the asparagus at the same time. You might also find it worthwhile to put in some support lines for the ferns, at least around the outside of your bed, so that you can mow close. The ferns get really tall and then droop over, or blow over in the wind, making it difficult to mow close.
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