I took the old growth off my asparagus today and found quite a few shoots sticking up. Finger sized. We’ll be dining fine by the end of the week. How’s your bed doing?
On another note: at about 3 this afternoon I was taking a break from yard work and sat down with a beer on the steps looking out over the park behind us. Be darned if a BAT, yes, a brown-haired, fuzzy bat, flew overhead and a couple minutes later did another pass. I don’t think I have ever seen a bat during daylight.
I’m up beyond the land of rocks and cows, but before I left I took a look at mine. Nuttin my winter onions are a week out at least 
and there always ahead of the asparagus.
I had a bat do a couple fly by’s at my head last summer in the middle of the day. Later I went on the deck to sit at the patio table. Went to extend the patio table umbrella and he came flying out of there and scared the living crap out of me! He was nesting in the pleats of the umbrella. I got a bat house and put it up but nothing moved in by the end of the season. I have heard it can take bats a couple years before they will use a house that’s been put up for them. By the way where do they go in the winter time?
I had a bat do a couple fly by’s at my head last summer in the middle of the day. Later I went on the deck to sit at the patio table. Went to extend the patio table umbrella and he came flying out of there and scared the living crap out of me! He was nesting in the pleats of the umbrella. I got a bat house and put it up but nothing moved in by the end of the season. I have heard it can take bats a couple years before they will use a house that’s been put up for them. By the way where do they go in the winter time?
Florida
By the way where do they go in the winter time?
Some varieties migrate, some varieties hibernate over winter.
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mammals/bats.html
No asparagus yet but if it rains it will be a few days, I see some sticking out of the ground 
.
Butbi did get these!
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I’m cutting asparagus tomorrow.
I’m cutting asparagus tomorrow.
You guys are so lucky. We love eating asparagus and I can only imagine the home grown stuff is 100 times better than the stuff from the store. I don’t know much about it though. We were just talking about it the other day actually. Is it something you can cut and it grows back like chives or something or is a one and done deal?
I had a bat do a couple fly by’s at my head last summer in the middle of the day. Later I went on the deck to sit at the patio table. Went to extend the patio table umbrella and he came flying out of there and scared the living crap out of me! He was nesting in the pleats of the umbrella. I got a bat house and put it up but nothing moved in by the end of the season. I have heard it can take bats a couple years before they will use a house that’s been put up for them. By the way where do they go in the winter time?
I put a homemade bat house up on the stucco(bad placement, admittedly ) years back. Well not long after, we had the house painted and they sprayed white/tan paint right over that sucker. It was and is supposed to be black… Still need to repaint and move it.
On a similar note, cleaned out the bluebird boxes a couple weeks ago and have had bluebirds and chickadees checking them out for the last week or so. Think the bluebirds have moved in now. Also had a pileated on the suet yesterday. Suppose this should be on another thread.
You guys are so lucky. We love eating asparagus and I can only imagine the home grown stuff is 100 times better than the stuff from the store. I don’t know much about it though. We were just talking about it the other day actually. Is it something you can cut and it grows back like chives or something or is a one and done deal?
Find an out of the way area in your yard and plant some roots. I have about twenty feet of fence line with twenty plants that are well established after about 15 years. The roots will grow and expand each year a little. For the first three years and not yield much other than a few thin stalks. As the plants mature the stalks get thicker and taller and some will bear seed on the ferns. In the fall I pluck those seeds and plant them in shallow holes between the established plants, so the bed is much fuller now. I planted the seed along another garden border and have a nice bed there as well.
Cool wet springs like this will see it shoot up like crazy. Once cut the first time of the year the plants will shoot up more shoots. I have asparagus until late June when I stop cutting to let the plants grow. On average, I’ll need to cut about every four days if we have average rainfall.
If you are going to plant it, go to a greenhouse and get the roots, not those sold in plastic bags at Menards. Martha Washington is about the best variety to plant and is the easiest to find. Work the soil up by digging/tilling at least a foot deep. Plant the roots about 18″ apart and down about ten inches. It won’t take too long to see the toothpick thin stalks emerge. Just let them grow. Same for the following year. Keep the newly bedded plants damp if the weather turns dry, but not soaking wet. Asparagus likes at least 2/3 of the day’s full sun. Asparagus will tolerate some rougher soil where other things may not grow too well so it doesn’t really have to be rich black dirt.
I leave the fern standing until early spring, at which time I spread a couple handfuls of 10-10-10 fertilizer on the beds. If the spring is unusually dry I will put a sprinkler on the beds to help get the fertilizer into the ground and to give the plants some extra juice to get going. Other than the little time I put into the beds in the spring I do nothing be eat the goodies the plant put out. Pretty easy to have right in the yard and the spears are a very healthy food.
yep pretty much what Jimmy said. the Martha Washington plants are what i got. pretty sure i ordered the roots from Jungs.
i pretty much laugh outload when i walk through a place like Menards or FF and see the price of those. same with horseradish starter roots.
Awesome! I might have to give that a try. Thanks guys.
I started a packet of 100 Mary Washington seeds indoors 3yrs ago. This will be their 4th Spring outside. Planted all the seedlings in clusters of about 10 in a 3′ x 8′ patch. The following year, I planted a dozen Jersey Knight crowns spaced evenly a in 2′ x 20′ row. I believe the crowns were already 2-3yrs old when I bought them. The Jersey Knight spears are larger, but fewer in number than the small patch. That may switch as the smaller plot starts to crowd each other. I’ve heard a good plot can keep going for 20+ years.
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