Asparagus!!!

[barefootgardener]

Asparagus!..Yummy!..Your raised bed gardens are very nice! What variety of asparagus did you plant?

I looked into the garden for evidence of spears poking up..No such luck yet. I planted Mary Washington variety 2 years ago..Unfortunately the weeds are growing like crazy in the area they were planted..Thinking of digging up and replanting in a better location later..I recently bought a pkg of the purple asparagus..need to get it planted when the rain stops..

 

[lesa]

I wouldn't move them. If you pull the weeds, it shouldn't hurt the asparagus any. My oregano spreads into my asparagus bed, and I pull it out- no problem so far.

 

[lesa]

We ate asparagus from the garden, for the first time, last night!!! If you think you like the asparagus in the grocery store- wait until you eat it out of your garden. Completely different!
If you have not already planted an asparagus bed, do it today!!
Absolutely delicious!

 

[country freedom]

We've got asparagus and is it tender and sweet!!! Teresa made omelets this morning and served fresh steamed asparagus with them. We were eating it right out in the garden so I'm surprised there was enough to make anything with. It was like candy.

http://jimwwhite.smugmug.com/Other/Our-Chickens/PICT7811/1246551836_rHZW9-L.jpg
Teresa with an empty bowl because we kept eating it right out of the bed.

http://jimwwhite.smugmug.com/Other/Our-Chickens/PICT7812/1246552785_tYWbE-L.jpg
As you can see we're going to be almost 90% boxes this year. I've left one area over to one side for okra, potatoes, and onions. The box in the foreground is romaine and bibb lettuce. The plowed area in the foreground is where the 2x2 boxes will go for the tomatoes. Tomatoes are my project this year. Teresa's was asparagus last year.

http://jimwwhite.smugmug.com/Other/Our-Chickens/PICT7823/1246553630_KDgz7-L.jpg
Here's the cold frame I built from hay bales and a large sliding glass door on top of it. Worked great. We're about to move our tomatoes into it this coming week.

Nice looking garden!

 

[littlelemon]

I just wanted to comment on how neat and gorgeous your garden beds look! I am also enjoying garden asparagus now, and it is so delicious! This it our 3rd year, and the first I have let myself pick any. It was well worth the wait!

 

[trunkman]

Greetings from Rock Hill South Carolina, Great looking raised beds! Did you use pressure treated lumber? I was hesitant on using it but did anyway. Raised beds are so much better but I still couldn't help myself and made a 45 foot lasagna garden this year, at least I won't have weeds till next year.

 

[Carol Dee]

That is one mighty fine garden you have there! We have been enjoying asparagus for a week or two. Yummy. We feel spring is really here when the 1st shoots appear.

 

[JimWWhite]

We've been taking asparagus for the past 3 weeks now and I have a feeling we will probably for most of the rest of May. This is the second year we've had it and the experts say to harvest only 1/2 of the spears. Well what seems to be happening is that half the spears are nice and thick like you'd buy in the store and the other half are thin like a pencil. The thin ones we're letting fern out and only taking the thicker ones. Hopefully next year all we'll get will be the larger ones.

Yes, our boxes are made with PT lumber. I used PT 2x6's and they're the newer version of PT lumber which has the designation ACQ. I understand that doesn't use arsenic compounds in the production process. But everything I've been able to read about the older PT lumber is that it contains the same amount of arsenic as natural soil does which is not enough to be a concern to the EPA or FDA. For whatever that's worth...

We're real proud of the garden and the way it looks, especially once I run the push mower through it to knock down the grass and weeds which is something we do every couple of weeks. I also use my Red Dragon flame thrower around the boxes instead of using herbicides to control up close weeds around them.

 

[vfem]

I am so jealous, my asparagus never made it... the voles got it first.

We're going to start a new bed for some in the fall, must be patient awhile I suppose. :/