Pine Needles and Asparagus ??

[timmyalex]

This thread follows on from one earlier involving pine needles and blueberry plants.

I have 3 large pine trees which shed huge amounts of needles that i generally burn. However, my asparagus bed is coming up to it's third year and i am expecting to take my first harvest next year.

I have prepared the bed for winter by cutting back the fronds and covering with a 4" mixture of 50% home grown compost and 50% chicken litter (bark chippings and poo !!). Then as a covering for frost protection i have used a thick layer of pine needles.

The comment in the previous thread about adding pine needles to increase the acidity of the ground concerned me so do you think i might be inadvertantly creating more problems than answers by using the pine needles.? I do intend removing the needles in the spring as the weather improves.

[northepaul]

Hmm the reason I would add pine needles to blueberries is because they are acidic, and therefore makes a good mulch. I dont grow asparagus so dont know if it likes acidic conditions? If not, then it might be worth removing them, and keeping for your acid loving plants.

[Nicos]

Our last UK plot was very acidic peat- constantly under water
We did manage to grow asparagus although some spears were very bitter. We did wonder if this was due to the acidity of the soil.
What sort of pH are you talking about??.if it's almost neutral after the needles, then it'll be perfect!!