Hi all!
It is now time to leave the asparagus grow on. Over here it was a very good year. The 2 beds of 20 meters in the walled garden gave us about 15-16 kilo's of asparagus of very good quality. Bit of a difficult start because of the cold weather but I had covered them for more than a week with black plastic which helped to warmer up the soil. So, happy! Now its waiting till all the red/black currents, raspberries, plums and gooseberries are ready!
Weed: not so much as last year. Maybe because I did some work with the cultivator on the not used spots to keep the weed down. Only the horse tail is spreading out like hell. Could not find a good cure for it. Any suggestions?
Han
I'd always heard that mid-summer's day was the date to stop cutting asparagus - although any time around now would probably be fine. As the seasons are different each year it probably just serves as a reminder.
As for horsetails - the old saying here is "never let them see two Mondays" - which I take to mean as once you've tried to dig out all the roots you can find - you hoe them off at least once a week to weaken them. I've heard you can use weed killer on them, but you have to roughen the stems first as they will not absorb it otherwise - rough sandpaper might work.
I'm certainly eating mine up to Midsummer's Day, especially as it started so late this year (Sussex, UK).
Would love to try some but read some where you can't really touch it for couple of years ?
Than you all for replying!
In The Netherlands they stop at June 15th and as I am Dutch I will hold on to that :-). At last the stems were a bit sturdy, not as soft as a couple of weeks before so I decided to stop the cuttings :-).
Horse tail: I read that the roots (and seeds) can go till 1,5 meter underground so very, very difficult to get out.......especially whgen they are between the gooseberries and red/black currants... At least twice a week I try to pull them out as much as possible and in the open area once a week with the cultivator to get them down. Every year they come up again..........and so is the black spot of the 65 roses........:-(. Propably something to get used to? (not!!)
Han
Yeah - I reckon you stick with whatever rule of thumb your local area has ... but probably don't pick it in to July to give it time to recover for next year. On the Horsetails Han - I reckon you can't really beat them so have to just keep cutting them back whenever they show above ground. Even the most carefully dug ground for me has them coming back - and I dug a well on the allotment last week and found roots going down over 1 metre.
For CaptainHastings - yes Asparagus is a long term project, and that is frustrating, but to be honest in the first two years what comes up is so thin and spindly that it is not worth eating. If you give it a bit of TLC at the beginning, prepare the ground really well and let it grow in to ferns then you can expect 20 or so years of great harvest years with not a massive amount of maintenance. Given that asparagus is delicious, expensive to buy and better if it's freshly cut ... growing it should be a no-brainer.
Yes Squeezy, I know I can't beat the horse tail but I will keep on cutting it down as much as possible.....simple because I hate the horse tail!
Captain: last year I put in about 20 new asparagus plants.....this year a crop of about 8 sprouts (only!) It all takes time, time, time..........
With this years crop of that many kilo's......splitting in up between my bosses and ourself.....given some to other people.......we ate enough asparagus (almost each other day) for this year. We like them so much that even in winter we buy and eat at least once a week asparagus. So, its worth waiting Captain, maintain the soil, try some black plastic in spring to warm the soil extra and you will enjoy seeing it grow, grow, grow!
this is hard to assess for me as it is 3 weeks behind a normal year and its only just getting going so I will pick until the end of next week I think
Gregme: enjoy the apsaragus: king of the vegetables!
As I said: I speedend (is that right written?) up the season by putting black plastic on the bed in the beginning of April......
Han
As Han implies - it very much depends on how soon your bed warms up. Which should depend on whether you like a late crop or an early one.
Commercial growers will have them in a sunny spot - but mine is in the shade of a low trained (1m) grapevine.
The asparagus fronds easily top it when I leave them - so they provide a reasonable yield from a place where little else (apart from maybe peas and courgettes) would do well.
The downside is that the spears are very late - this year there was virtually nothing until mid June - and not all of that was slug damage and the occasional 2-leg rat (who also take my feral fennel - big hint who they are!).
I also use a very thick mulch as I find the spears are thicker when they have to come from deeper - this means the heat takes even longer to reach the roots.
My cropping period starts later so I stop in July - I reckon I still give the fronds as much heat and sun as stopping at midsummer does for people in N England - I am in N.London and the indian summer has been pretty much the only summer since 2006.
Incidentally - if you find you want to reduce the number of female plants in your bed then mark them (I pin down a ring of coloured wire) then next year you can crop them to death and have asparagus right through July.
You'd have to be mad to go to the trouble of digging them up and wasting all those spears! Not to mention the danger of damaging surrounding males.
- Unless you're in a real hurry - because it can take them more than a year to die.
Cheers.
Hi thanks friends v useful tips- I got my plot last year not sure I will ever get 16kg out of my bed like Han but it has recovered very well considering when I took my plot last July it was so overgrown with couch grass that my plot neighbour had to point out that the bed was there at all. It seems to have recovered well but is very hard to keep weed free the couch seems to be in the path and keep coming back but I have had about 10 asparagus courses this year so cant complain.
In Denmark the date for stopping cutting asparagus is 23rd June - which is the eve of St John the Baptist Day! Which sounds religious and isn't! There are bonfires with witches on the top which are burnt - singing and the mayor (any old mayor) holds a speech.
And THAT is the last day for cutting asparagus. Can anyone beat that?
Gregme: put (rock)salt on the beds regularly to keep the weed down, spray it a little with water........and asparagus loves salt!
Thanks all for replying!
Today I made a last picking for my son, and made butter flavoured with garlic, lemon and herbs for him.
I have grown asparagus for about 50 years in 3 gardens without salt - just a rich mulch of pig manure or anything else available (we used to have pigs but no longer)......very sad that this late year is now over....
Quote from: mormor on June 25, 2013, 16:43:19
In Denmark the date for stopping cutting asparagus is 23rd June - which is the eve of St John the Baptist Day! Which sounds religious and isn't! There are bonfires with witches on the top which are burnt - singing and the mayor (any old mayor) holds a speech.
And THAT is the last day for cutting asparagus. Can anyone beat that?
I can beat that!
The best day to stop picking asparagus is ........
TOMORROW!
does anyone ever get asparagus beetle- ? I've never found one - I quite curious to see one as they look to be pretty things.
I do, and so does everyone else I know. I was almost flattered at first, as it meant my tiny new ferns were recognisably asparagus..... Now they are just a nuisance to be squashed when seen, as their nasty grubs really can strip the fern and ruin the plant.
They are clever, and as you peer closely to find them, they dodge round the other side of the spear, or drop to the ground and hide. Do you never even find the eggs? They are neatly stabbed into the spear horizontally, in rows. Quite an admirable insect in many ways, but to be strongly discouraged.
By the way: who has experience with replanting? A few years ago they made a new bed of asparagus but most of them died. There are about 10 plants on the spot that I would like to replant to the original 2 beds of 10 meter but I am a bit terrified with the idea of replanting them...........
Han
Re asparagus beetle - I had it for the first time in 30 years last year, it was utterly disgusting seeing the spears all bristling. I cut the whole lot down to the ground (mid-May, this was) and checked the bed twice a day for the rest of the season, squishing every beetle that appeared. (More disgustingness). This year? Not a sign of a beetle or egg all season! Eternal vigilance, and a large slice of luck....
how can you tell which is male or female spears ,i grew 8 tiny plants from seeds last year and they all have feathery fonds
As the fronds grow older, the seed pods will show & can be prolific.
They will be male origin plants,
Why did I reply?
Never link in to the website on the intro. page!
Just to be clear about male and female plants: they both produce tiny flowers, but only the female plants go on to produce red berries, as you'd expect. You can't tell which they are when they only have fronds without flowers. All the spears from one plant will be the same sex.
Females grow berries mid-season that are the size and colour of peas before ripening red - a slight wait but lot easier to spot than the male flowers.
To repeat what I said before - don't try to dig the females up (I've never had any luck transplanting either - but my soil is heavy) just mark the spot carefully and next year keep cutting them until they stop producing spears at all.
Cheers.