Speaking of tips - lol, anyone know why animals won't eat them? I always wondered that... You'd think they would be gobbled up!
Of course we as humans eat bunches of stuff that animals wouldn't think of touching! LOL!
Nicole
Anyone in zone 6 see their Asparagus yet ?
That is a good question Nicole. I know if I let my cat outside he would eat them! He prefers them cooked though. We covered ours the past few nights so things are looking good still. We have 50 crowns and when we are allowed to pick most of what we want I think we will have enough -for the two of us and one cat!
-Kim
Which kitty is eating the asparagus? I can't imagine.... LOL
That would be Rocco. He likes butter, corn, asparagus and helping people pack their suitcases - LOL
You feel free to just mail him right on over here.
You don't want that one Zeppy - he is full of 'tude with nails and teeth to match if you don't speak cat. How about one of these three?
Bwhahahahah! That sounds like Rocco is filling out a personal ad! LOL!!
Nicole
Oh, I speak cat.
My problem is our renegade rooster who roams the yard. He's unwelcome in the coop and chicken yard with the other birds, but then spends too much time scratching around my asparagus. Frustrating...
I don't think deer like the taste of asparagus much. My asparagus is outside my deer fence and they came thru there the other day and ate some carrots and beet tops I had planted. One spear of the asparagus was nibbled but then they left the rest alone.
Jeff
My few are in a front raised bed and now my old cat has decided to use that bed as a litter box. Probably kill them. Ugh.
The frost definitely did it's number on the few tips that were starting to poke through. There are more on the way now though, just a little set back.
When I planted my bed, I dug the trench, put in the compost, carefully started putting in the best looking crowns, and slowly started getting tired so that by the time I got to the other end of the bed I was just throwing them in. Guess which end of the bed looks the best now. The carefully planted end of the bed had hardly any, and I have since had to replenat that end. The other end of the bed took off like wildfire.
I leave the ferns through the winter and cut them off in the spring. I then lightly till in a bunch of composted horse manure. Seems to be working well, but the "carefully planted" end of the bed still hasn't caught up with the thrown in and covered end of the bed.
DH always says that I coddle the plants too much :) I was talking about sterile soil and not having any for starting some seed one time and he busts out with "yeah, cuz the ground where seeds fall and grow is oh-so-sterile hon..." Now I try to take a more relaxed approach (at least when he's looking...haha)
~S.
Sterile soil for seed starting isn't an issue with outside growing conditions (such as winter sowing or direct sowing or when plants self-sow), because the temperature changes and so forth take care of a lot of pathogens for us, I think. Also, we're more willing to accept natural selection on 1000 seeds sown outside than on 5 tomato seeds sown under the lights. But when we're trying to start seeds inside, with high humidity and warm temperatures, the molds and so forth can really take off and overwhelm the little seedlings, or even rot the seeds before they sprout. We create a lot of potential problems with that sort of controlled seed starting environment, but ironically enough the answer to that is to exert even more control by sterilizing potting mix etc. LOL
Mscheinost makes a very good point that coddling isn't always the best answer! I'm just glad that some of your asparagus is doing well, carefully planted or not. :-)
bluekat, you have some adoreable felines. Here's our family brat-cats. Jake on left is 12 yrs old (had to keep him hidden from superstitious folks today) & Felix on the right, I believe, is around 5 yrs old now. They are real pals & appear to be wrestling at times. Jake is good at body slamming Felix. Jake also has the dogs bluffed into fearing him. Both cats are absolutely crazy about the patch of catnip in the herb garden.
I forgot all about my asparagus until viewing this most recent post. Now it's dark and storms are coming tonight and tomorrow. I may run outside with a flashlight before the rain gets here. Better get movin'.
Love the name - greenbrain. In my mind Jake and Felix translates to Frick and Frack with the color difference. I love the wrestling - we call it a smackdown around here.
We have a bunch of asparagus up but I won't pick it unless it is actually going to snow on Monday. Please say it isn't so.
That is funny about planting the crowns. When I got mine I thought for sure there was more than 50 so I put in the biggest ones first, sure enough there was 50 but both ends are doing about the same. Just can't tell what Mother Nature will do.
A few of mine are just now starting to come up again. Good thing they were hiding under the soil when the freeze came. The ones that were up were nipped, but there was a little more to come. Yea ! Now if I can just figure out where my potatoes went. They were up about 2 or 3 inches when the freeze came. Probably rotted. Sigh. ........ Oh well, glad for asparagus.
The beautiful weather the past few days has woken up my asparagus at long last. Was weeding the asparagus bed today and found that the first few tips are poking out! Yay!
Here, too. I'm surprised how thick the spears are; this is their first spring after planting.
Hey!! The DH said we have a spear!! lol.. I need to go look
In earlier post, someone wondered why animals won't bother the asparagus.
Since animals go by scent, marking territories etc. (mostly urine), maybe they don't like the way it makes their urine smell ? I know I can sure tell when I've been eating asparagus. :-)
Here we are, another year gone bye for the asparagus plants. I'm anxious to see the progress they've made. This year I should be able to harvest a good amount.
Mine haven't peeked thru yet, but should be any time.
The weather man said our soil temperatures were in the 50's. So we're getting there...........finally.
No glimpse of mine, just planted last year. I need to enlarge the bed and plant more!
DH tried to help me get my raised beds ready...... while I was not home. He started by pulling roots out. But he got to one and said it was impossible to clean out because of the masses of roots. He said they were so thick and stubborn, he just gave up on it.
Thank goodness he did ! ! ! ! ! I was my asparagus bed ! ! ! ! !
Yeeeeooooowwwwwwwwwww ! Hopefully they will be ok. But I'm sure they didn't like it much.
Yikes, that was a close one! So much for "helping". Could I interest you in some plant markers?? LOL
Oh no!
Was there any death involved? (Your husband, not the plants LOL)
I'm in zone 7 and I haven't seen a single spear yet, but then again, we had 26 degrees last night. I hope I didn't put too much cow poop on them. Then my son went and put some pine mulch over them . I hope we didn't bury them up too much. Their in a big raised bed . I'm hoping for a bunch this year, this makes year 4 for them, but they were transplanted during that time too.
Whoooeee!~ I have TIPS showing!
Now how did you get tips before us LOL
Mine have been up for about 3 weeks in zone 8a.
Awwww, you lucky ducky ! Have you been harvesting them ?
yes. A couple of times we have just broken the tender stems and eaten them right there. I love it when I know where it came from and is really clean. Don't even take time to wash it. This is my third year so first time to harvest.
LouC
Mine are in their 2nd year in the ground. I probably will be tempted to sample ONE spear and allow my sister to do the same. BUT THAT"S ALL!! I need to add more plants to that bed, too.
Maybe the reason for the 3rd year thing is to allow them to multiply. I have 3-4 times as many as I planted originally. Just a guess.
Christi
I think you are most likely correct!
I'm not sure about that, I think it is to let the crowns develop and get established. The first couple of years the spears were weak and scraggly. Now they are as thick as my thumb. Should be up in the next two weeks. Last year the Easter freeze took out most of my first spears.
I need advice. If I miss harvesting one day, the stalk immediately forms a fern.
I have been cutting the fern down but don't if that is right or wrong. Help.
Christi
You should be okay cutting down the fern that next day, Don't harvest after they start getting pencil thin. Let them go from there on out.
Thank you.
Christi
You all inspired me to take a trip down my back 40 and look what I found! This one will be eaten soon after the rain in the next couple of days. I bought one year crowns and this is the 3rd spring so I am looking forward to a larger harvest this year.
-Kim
yep, me too, I saw one purple spear out there today up about 3 inches, NOTHING else. weird. I hate having to pick one or two a day , they don't last long, by the time I get enough picked to eat the first ones are ruined.
Eat 'em just raw as you pick them!
Yay, Kim! (Or should I say "Yum", Kim?)