Hi,
Does anyone know where I can get a aspargus crown at in this area... (clarkston, north oakland county)... I went to a few local nurseries and they said they couldn't get crowns only seeds, and from what I am reading it is better to have the crown....
Thanks
Mandie
Where to get a asparagus crown at??
Uncle Luke's Feed store at 6691 Livernois in Troy.
A GREAT place for the gardener. Seeds, plants, equipment etc.
Paul
I ordered 100 crowns from a vendor in Ebay two years ago. They were one year old crowns. They were very healthy and all have grown and seeded and this year we should have a bumper crop of them. I did havest some last year but they recommend you let them develop some before heavy harvest. I don't remember the name of the vendor though.
Wal mart, Kmart and Meighers. The ones I bought in a package at Walmart did as good as the ones I ordered from a seed catalogue.
Take care to prepare your bed and follow the directions for planting asparagus. Here is a link that goes over that for you. After the tall ferny folliage goes dormant in the fall we cut it down and carted it out to the woods where the deer feasted on it. :)
http://www.emmitsburg.net/gardens/articles/frederick/2001/asparagus.htm
I really think I planted too much of it. I had no idea it got so tall and took up so much room. Good thing we like asparagus. :)
Good luck.
Brenda
Brenda that's a great and informative link. I've just spent an hour reading all the info on that site.
We are planting asparagus in our Square Foot Garden this year, we bought our crowns from Seeds of Change. We're doing Jersey Giant and UC-157. Though that last one has an unappealing name, the description did it for me :) http://www.seedsofchange.com/garden_center/browse_category.asp?category_id=10347
Julie
Julie, Jersey Giant is the name of the plants I have. Because asparagus can live for fifteen or twenty years you need to think carefully about where you plant it. It gets so tall...........maybe five or six feet............that it will shade out plants next to it.
Do the soil prep carefully. I think the hardest thing about having an asparagus patch is keeping it weed free. The first year I tried mulching it with straw and the weeds just grew up through it making it hard to hoe around. I then removed all the straw which was a lot of work. Last year I got in there with the scuffle hoe and kept it hoed around good. I do not want the wild grass or weeds to take over the bed. This year I may try hoeing and then mulching with grass clippings. I don't know. I have my husband to help me and I think if we go out and hoe as part of our daily routine after breakfast we'll be OK. Hopefully, in time we'll get all the weeds out of there. It takes years to do that though but it is doable. I left a row open all the way around my 114 plants so we can walk around it to hoe.
I side dress around each plant with compost & manuer each year. I lightly hoe it in. I put in about ten bags of the stuff.
I just wanted you to think about how you will maintain this and not have to make the mistakes I did. Whatever you do, don't cut down that ferny foliage since leaving it up helps feed the roots for next year's crop. It will make seeds too that are like tons of little balls. They fall to the ground and I think make more plants. Maybe I'll get lucky and the asparagus will grow so think it will choke out everything else. :) I'll let you know. Around AuGres asparagus grows wild along the ditches. Many of the locals have told me they go harvest asparagus in the wild. I shouldn't be so fussy but my patch is inside my 8 foot fenced in garden area and I don't want grass or weed seeds spreading around. I've had to remove my raspberry bushes too since they were taking over. Live and learn. :)
We'll have to share asparagus recipes.
Brenda
I appreciate the forewarning! We will have to think very carefully about where to put it. We have a smallish backyard and the Mr is crazy about doing it this year. But I like to indulge him so we'll figure something out.
It's already killin' me knowing we won't be able to have a full harvest for a few years anyway!
Julie
I heard sprinkling salt around asparagus helps with the weeds and doesn't affect the aspargus
Thanks for all the info.... and Loon, thanks for the link, tons of info :).... I have a big area mapped out for it... we LOVE it!!
Sorry it took me so long to reply back, had hardware issues in my computer.... took a minute to get it all fixed....
Thanks again everyone!
Mandie