It’s Spring

TheReview

Wednesday, March 21,1990 — C15

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Planting

Most vegetables are annuals, but
there are a few perennials, one of
these being asparagus. As you
know this has to be one of the
most expensive of vegetables, even
in season, and unless it has been
locally grown is often thin, shrun-
ken, and tired-looking.

The longer I have a vegetable
garden the choosier I get about
what to plant. What is the point in
planting cabbages, and brussels
sprouts when the local farmers can
do it better? Our space is some-
what limited, so why not just grow
those things that are hard to find in
the market or are outlandishly
expensive, things such as green
peas, Swiss chard, Kale, leeks,
sugar snap peas, etc., and aspara-
gus.

The preparation of an asparagus
bed is somewhat time-consuming,
but when you think that this bed
will provide you with succulent
shoots for up to thirty years, a little
extra effort seems worthwhile.

For your asparagus patch choose
a location in full sun, that is
well-drained winter and summer,
where the soil is somewhat sandy.
On the Peninsula this seems an
impossible demand. In most cases
this is clay-city. To remedy this
you will have to add sand in

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quantity. Since most coastal soil is
acidic, you will also need to add
some lime to bring the PH to about
6.5.

To the area where you pian to
have your asparagus bed pile on,
then did in as much compost,
seaweed and rotted manure as you
can lay your hands on.

Dig a trench for each row you
plan to plant, working out the
mathematics of it by figuring on
one plant every 12 to 18 inches
apart, and rows three feet apart.
Your trench should be no less than
eight inches deep, and about a foot
in diameter. Make a ridge three to
four inches high all the way down
the trench, and space two year old
asparagus plants along it so that
their roots run down the sides of
your ridge. :

Fill in around the plants until
your asparagus crowns are buried
about two to three inches. Water in
very thoroughly.

Now all you have to do is keep
your bed free of weeds. Mulching
with sea-weed, sawdust, or com-
post will help, and this could be
applied when the first asparagus
shoots appear. Don’t cut any of
these the first year, and leave the
ferns to grow until cut down by
frost, since they will spend the

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summer beefing up your asparagus
Toots.

Next year you will be able to cut
one asparagus spear from each
plant leaving the remainder to
again feed those important roots.

Year three you should be able to —

cut all the tips during a four weck
period, but after that leave them all
to mature.

From year four on asparagus
may be cut for six weeks, then NO
further harvesting until the follow-
ing spring.

Each fall when the ferns have —

died they may be cut and gar-
baged, then your bed should be
mulched for the winter with com-
post, manure, seaweed. The fol-

an asparagus bed

lowing spring pull the mulch back
before asparagus tps show, and
fertilize with 6-8-6, 13-16-10,
down both sides of each row, using
a cup of granules every 10 fect.
Pull the mulch back around your
plants when harvesting stops, to
control weeds, and conserve mois-
ture.

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