I Want To Start An Asparagus Bed

[matthew2riches]

After watching a few of Hugh FW's shows, I thought it would be good to get an asparagus bed on the go... any tips?

I can get the crowns cheap enough... what is a tried and tested way of growing it

[broadway]

Hello Matthew,

Not sure about tried and tested but I'm also starting one this year. I've built a raised bed 1 metre x 1.5 metre, I plan 6 crowns in this.

I'm sure you will get loads of useful advice so I'll be keeping an eye on this thread!

I suppose the main thing is patience?

[matthew2riches]

I suppose the main thing is patience?

Absolutely

[Jeanied]

The patch needs to be totally weed free and well dug over - add as much good stuff as you can. I went wrong with this and wreaked havoc trying to get the couch and bindweed out of the asparagus bed. Then plant the crowns on a mound, fanning roots out and then draw the soil up over the roots and mulch well - I got confused on the mound bit and left my crowns a bit too high in the ground - solved this now by a couple of years' good mulching. They do need to be watered well - I failed in this too and lost a few plants. Watch out for the asparagus beetle - they were all over our plots this year but I squished all the ones I could find. Cut the old ferns back in the winter to stop the bugs overwintering in them - I failed on this as well this year but I hope the hard winter did for them.
Having made so many mistakes my asparagus bed is starting to forgive me and it looks like I'll have a few spears this year. I also have bought some plants to fill the gaps with.

[Paulottie]

A very good idea Matthew

I'm going to suggest you use the very excellent search function here.....I have posted many times on the subject over last 3 years.

First Bit is to make sure you have a well dug weedfree bed 4 ft x howeverlongulike. lavish manure on it...relly important this bit as it will repay you as you go on

Get your crowns...variety...Gijnlym, Connover's Colossal.... any variety U like....don't let them dry out too much.

... and in three rows set em out 2" below the soil (to start.> if you have bad drained soil grow level with existing if its good well drained land 6" below) and 12"-15" apart.

but I'm happy to talk you through next bit then.

[bobleponge]

I am no expert but this is what I did:

Selected an area that I could afford to leave as it was for about 15 years, as once they are in, its not good to move them.
I chose an area about 3ft by 10ft with pretty much full sun, and a bit of wind protection. I dug it over several times and removed all (??) traces of previous vegetation. All weeds, grass, nettles etc etc. Once the crowns are in I believe conventional wisdom is not to dig around in the bed, in case you cut the roots.

My soil is very heavy clay, so I threw in loads of sand, and dug it over again several times (still removing any green stuff I found). I then covered the whole bed with a layer of about a foot of well rotted horse manure, and dug it all in.
Once I had my crowns, I dug a trench in the bed, about a spade and a bit deep and made a lump in the middle of the trench. I placed the crowns on top of the lump, and placed the root system down in the wells of the trench, then covered them, leaving just the little white rooty bit sticking up. During the year, as the white bit grew, I filled up the trench bit by bit, always leaving the little bit showing.
First year I took no spears (torture) second year I took a few but now I have good crops every year. Just before I came back to work I actually threw in a few more crowns doing the same process, will start cropping lightly in 2 years and fully cropping the following year.
Once the season has finished, I always cover the whole bed in a good layer of well rotted horse/cow manure.
Sounds long winded, and perhaps it is a touch, but fresh asparagus is certainly worth it.

As I said, I'm no expert but thats how I did it and it worked for me.

[matthew2riches]

I am no expert but this is what I did:

Selected an area that I could afford to leave as it was for about 15 years, as once they are in, its not good to move them.
I chose an area about 3ft by 10ft with pretty much full sun, and a bit of wind protection. I dug it over several times and removed all (??) traces of previous vegetation. All weeds, grass, nettles etc etc. Once the crowns are in I believe conventional wisdom is not to dig around in the bed, in case you cut the roots.

My soil is very heavy clay, so I threw in loads of sand, and dug it over again several times (still removing any green stuff I found). I then covered the whole bed with a layer of about a foot of well rotted horse manure, and dug it all in.
Once I had my crowns, I dug a trench in the bed, about a spade and a bit deep and made a lump in the middle of the trench. I placed the crowns on top of the lump, and placed the root system down in the wells of the trench, then covered them, leaving just the little white rooty bit sticking up. During the year, as the white bit grew, I filled up the trench bit by bit, always leaving the little bit showing.
First year I took no spears (torture) second year I took a few but now I have good crops every year. Just before I came back to work I actually threw in a few more crowns doing the same process, will start cropping lightly in 2 years and fully cropping the following year.
Once the season has finished, I always cover the whole bed in a good layer of well rotted horse/cow manure.
Sounds long winded, and perhaps it is a touch, but fresh asparagus is certainly worth it.

As I said, I'm no expert but thats how I did it and it worked for me.

That sounds like a plan I'll see about ordering some then

[solway cropper]

I did a similar thing to bob but this is my first year with sparrow grass. the crowns arrived from T&M a couple of weeks ago so I got them planted as per instructions and covered the bed with fleece. Noticed this morning that there are some lumps in the fleece so I took a peek and at least half the crowns have thrown up strong shoots so time for a thick mulch then sit back and wait, and wait, and wait.

[matthew2riches]

I did a similar thing to bob but this is my first year with sparrow grass. the crowns arrived from T&M a couple of weeks ago so I got them planted as per instructions and covered the bed with fleece. Noticed this morning that there are some lumps in the fleece so I took a peek and at least half the crowns have thrown up strong shoots so time for a thick mulch then sit back and wait, and wait, and wait.

And for the best harvest........... WAIT A LITTLE LONGER!!!

[Alison]

I'm going to prepare my asparagus bed this year but not plant up until next so that I have as much time as possible to clear the bed of weeds / couch grass etc. Am hoping to double dig it next weekend (weather dependant) and then cover with card and manure. Have some one year old plants grown from seed last year but they're going to stay in pots for another year yet so that I can get the bed as good as possible as I know if I rushed it I'd be weeding round the plants even more than I'll probably have to next year.

[Jeanied]

I'm trying to contain my excitement - one of the purple plants has just started to throw up spears - 6 on one plant - and I reckon it is one crown that has been in for a few years so I'll be in there with the asparagus knife soon!