Asparagus - Grow Your Own Wants Your Advice!!

[Nicos]

What, picking it?

Only on the longest day!

[nick the grief]

......PS - it makes your pee smell :O

See, Told you LJ

[Nicos]

See, Told you LJ

Does it really Nick???

[theothermarg]

just bought 1year crowns from e bay. thanks for the smelly pee warning
I,ll try to remember it in a couple of years

[craigpugh]

Asparagus query- i got brought loads and loads of crowns for xmas, connovers collosal, ginjlim and a purple one. My beds are all dug and i have been checking for the Return of the Evil Bramble for 6 months. But can i plant now? Or will they die? I'm worried they will just dry out or rot if i dont get them in.

Cheers,

Craig, sheffield

[crivens]

Only 40% of people in the UK have smelly wee from eating Asparagus. The smell is caused by the breaking down of sulfurous amino acids in asparagus. But to make it even more complicated, 90% of an Israeli population and 75% of a Chinese population have an iability to smell the sulphur.

[Slug]

Can asparagus be grown in pots, so it doesn't get disturbed in the garden?

[Nicos]

They have a massive root system, so I wouldn't grow them in pots.

[CarolineSonning]

This has all been very helpful, can't wait to get mine planted .

A couple of people have mentioned pests liking their asparagus, but does anyone know if rabbits, deer or pigeons are a problem?

[Paulottie]

Salting Asparagus beds

Grow Your Own is looking for your advice on growing asparagus. What are your top tips on growing and maintaining an asparagus bed and just how do you get a bumper crop from this short season vegetable? Which variety do you grow and are you happy with its flavour?

The best will be published in the March edition of Grow Your Own. So come on all you asparagus growers!! This will be a big plug for the Grapevine plus you might have your advice published.

Hi,

Although I have been a GYO subscriber for ages this is my first message on the forum so be gentle with me!!I thought the March asparagus article excellent.

I've got a fifty crown asparagus bed on my allotment and this will be its fourth season....yummy. I have Ginlym,backlim and grolym, none of which I can spell but all of which I can recommend as cultivars.

Only, one thing tempers my family's enthusism for these shoots and that is spending the rest of the summer picking off grubs and beetles. My tip for the adults is to put card or plastic at the base when picking as they can be difficult to spot on the ground once they do their dropping off trick you can even put out sheeting and shake them off. Any good control tips would be welcome.

My other question is about salting the beds. I have often been told that asparagus, being a salt marsh plant, will tolerate much more saline soil than weeds and slugs; and it is further reputed to increase yields. Sounds great in principle hey. What I can't seem to find out is how much, how often or when to apply and what form of salt to put on.

In reply to another enquiry I read . We do have deer and pigeons on the allotment and my brussels, purple sprouting and a few broad beans have been lost in action this year. I havn't found them to trouble the sparrows grass. (Can't say about rabbits.) You could think of putting a post at each corner and stetching a string round the bed. This would discourage the deer running across the bed and has the added advantage of stopping the ferns blowing over later.

[debjay]

hi. would it be posible to grow asparagus in an old washing machine drum. i had success growing runner beans in one last year ?

[Lesley Jay]

I don't think it would be successful debjay. The asparagus crowns grow very large and really need a dedicated asparagus bed to grow best.

[debjay]

thanx lesley jay. I will use it again for some more runners ;-)