asparagus

[gottadance]

I planted a bunch of Mary Washington asparagus and three New Jersey Giants. The New Jersey Giants have all produced one little stalk - so I know they're growing/alive and it'll just take a few years, but nothing from the Mary Washingtons.

Anyone had a similar experience with Mary Washington's? Anyway, I've heard that they're not the greatest variety anyway...

[Russ]

no experience but I was wondering how you prepared your bed? I'm considering an asparagus bed this year, but I will make it a raised bed from cedar. From my understanding, if you take the time to do it right in the beginning, the bed should last 20-30 years.

[Saule]

When I bought my house, I had my brother dig out an asparagus bed, with one end deeper than the other, so that the growth would be staggered. I planted my roots, tended them carefully - and got nothing! nada! squat! The couple of extra roots that I carelessly threw in among the rose bushes produced for five or six years!

[monkeywrangler71]

I would love advice on preparing an asparagus bed as well, although I don't have a yard to put one in right now. I want to get one started as soon as we have land since they take so long to take hold.

I tried to start some 3 years in a row here and could not get anything to grow. My grandmother had some by her back door that just grew like a weed for years with no effort.

I love asparagus and spend a fortune on it year round.

[gottadance]

I didn't do anything special at all - I have a lot of compost in the soil because I have two bunnies, so there's poop, urine, hay and wood pellets from that in the soil. But I just stuck them in the ground. It's just odd to me that the NJ Giants came up and the others did nothing. I think the root stock was no good because they're all in the same soil, same water, same sun.

[Trentt]

I followed the directions a few years back, dug a trench, made a mound of dirt for each crown, positioned the crown on the mound, spread the roots over the mound, covered all. Got zippo.

Last year I planted 8 crowns in a trench, basically just set each crown in the trench, no mounds, no spreading the roots around, covered 'em up. Three came up, and have come up again this year. So it seems that the quality, or maybe just their pickiness, varies from crown to crown.