The asparagus has not been a rousing success this year. We had mostly skinny skinny stalks not worth eating. I don’t know what to think. At this point, it’s just moving into the frond phase.
Asparagus 2021
Category: asparagus
Spring babies
It’s so much fun to observe the new growth springing up. Here’s a gallery.
Asparagus remodeling
We dismantled the last asparagus raised bed and transplanted the roots into line with the others. Then conjoined the beds into one long raised bed using some slab wood.
Asparagus roots form a huge thick mass that is hard to deal with. We ended up chopping the mass into four quarters, which could then be lifted into place. Mostly in the new end bed, but a few in between the existing beds and a few babies into the existing beds.
The project required moving a lot of dirt to fill these new areas. Most of it came out of the built-up potato area. Also some goat manure and leaf mulch.
Not done, but at least the roots are covered. I hope they survive and settle into their new locations.
I also planted three lovely French lavender plants, two in the sandbox and one in the herb row.
And I dug the rest of the horseradish up, as much as possible. I’m sure there are lots of root pieces still underground waiting to flourish as a large patch again next year.
Asparagus
We’ve been eating some asparagus. Not a huge amount but a good steady harvest of spears.
Problems though. Asparagus beetle has shown up. We’re trying to control it by picking off the beetles and spraying water on the fronds that have larvae and eggs. We had these pests before, a few years ago. They seemed to be eliminated by cleaning up the beds after the fronds died completely during the winter. Maybe they’re a cyclical pest? Or maybe they’re living in the wood chips?
Also, the raised beds are deteriorating and the productive roots seem to be migrating toward the edges of the bed, sometimes even outside the bed. We’ll probably have to rejuvenate the plantings at some time in the future. Hard to do, as we’ve just come to rely on it.
winter cover
Spread seaweed on the front row of the garden and in the four asparagus beds. Harvested some potatoes and parsnips.