Vegetable Patch

Previous Page (Creating a Cropping Plan and Crop Rotation)

Index:

• Page 1 Making the veg patch 2007-8
• Page 2 Creating a Cropping Plan and Crop Rotation
• Page 3 2008-2012 Asparagus Bed (this page)
• Page 4 2012 Raised Beds and Windbreak
• Page 5 2014 Woven Weed Suppressing Membrane
• Page 6 Before/After Photo Gallery

feeds us, and does much the same year-in year-out, so nothing very noteworthy to write about, so here’s a catch-up of the last couple of years – written retrospectively in November 2012.

2008-2012 Asparagus Bed

I planted an Asparagus bed in 2010. I bought some packets of seed in the Autumn sales in 2008 for 50p, raised seedlings in Spring 2009 and grew them on in pots

Asparagus Seedlings – Jun 2009

They were left outside over winter (they were fine) and then planted them in Spring 2010. I had to uncoil the roots in the pots and splay them out star-shaped on a couple of handfuls of sand. First of all I dug a double-trench along one of my raised beds, and mucked it.

Asparagus Trench

Then I stood the pots in-situ and juggled them about to get them evenly spaced – serendipity I had the right number of plants for the bed!

Asparagus Spacing

Asparagus Plant

The roots were tightly crammed into the pot – not bad for a single years growth from seed.

Asparagus Rootball

I untangled them and splayed them out ready for planting

Asparagus Roots

and then arranged them star-shaped on top of a good couple of handfuls of sand

Asparagus Planting

Once planted up the rows looked like this – it alls looks a bit “skinny” at this stage!

Asparagus Planted – April 2010

by July 2010 they looked like this:

Asparagus – July 2010

and in June of the following year, 2011, this:

Asparagus – June 2011

We picked our first crop in Spring 2012. We were then away for a bit, so temptation to harvest more than we should was resisted as by the time we came back the plants were all up and growing; so we can look forward to harvests in future years.

Update

The Asparagus bed has been a great success, and I would recommend growing from seed to anyone who has an extra year to get ready; in my case the bed was not ready for planting in Year 1 – so it would have been Year 2 before I could have bought & planted Crowns anyway, thus for me sowing from seed took no longer – and was a significant saving (at this time Crowns are about £1.50 each and seeds range from £0.03 each for Connover’s Colossal (non-hybrid) to £0.07 each for varieties like Gijnlim, Backlim, Thielim). I have about 60 plants.

I didn’t know anything about variety when I planted mine, and I bought a packet of Mary Washington (heritage, open pollinated) and another of an F1 all-male variety. With the benefit of hindsight I should have only grown F1 all-male as the females are now self-seeding which is a nuisance.

I top dress the bed each Autumn with well rotted manure, and cover all winter with weed suppressing membrane – until the spears start showing – as otherwise there was a lot of hand weeding prior to the crop starting. I have also put a narrow strip of membrane between the rows, which reduces the area which needs hand weeding without restricting the spears / ferns.

I recommend putting a stout stake at the 4 corners (and at intervals along both sides if the bed is long) so that you can run a wire, or a strong string, around them all to stop them flopping over during the summer.

Varieties

Connovers Colossal – non-hybrid, awarded RHS Award of Garden Merit
Martha Washington – strong growing, American favourite with a long harvesting season. Open pollinated, yields are lower than modern hybrids, and the female plants will self-seed.
Backlim F1 – Somewhat less highly recommended than Gijnlim, has good resistance to rust, crops late and has the RHS Award of Garden Merit.
Gijnlim F1 – favoured by some Kent growers. Suitable for either clay or sandy soils, very high yielding, early, crops and has RHS Award of Garden Merit.
Grolim F1 – early variety giving a good yield of very heavy spears. Sensitive to a high water table.
Mondeo F1 – high yielding, mid-early, crop of non-fibrous spears with good disease resistance.
Thielim F1 – crops early with a good yield of thick excellent quality spears, less susceptible to Botrytis (although that has never been a problem for me [Touch Wood!])

Moles Seeds – Asparagus Seed

Suppliers of Crowns keep them refrigerated so that they can be planted around March time, e.g.
www.asparagus-in-kent.co.uk

Next page (2012 Raised Beds and Windbreak), or next topic: Greenhouses

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