"Chookie" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"0tterbot" wrote:

i have some asparagus plants i grew from seed over summer. having finally
decided where to put them, does anyone have any thoughts whether it would
be
better to do it now, or to wait until spring? (i have heard both). i was
going to wait until spring.

Generally, you plant perennials in autumn -- at least, you do in Sydney,
because our spring turns into summer very fast. Planting in autumn gives
the
plant time to develop a good root system before hot, dry weather comes. I
think spring planting is done to avoid frost damage to young plants. What
applies to you?

avoiding frost certainly applies :-) however, they will die back naturally
soon i expect(?!) and even if they forget to do that, i'd need to cover them
with straw anyway to protect them (if they're planted outside, or if i move
them out of the greenhouse.)

and i _could_ plant them in spring if i wanted, because i wouldn't harvest
any the first year at all anyway (too small) so that wouldn't matter from
that pov.

however, i tend to be inclined to go with autumn for this sort of thing for
the precise reason you mention - they could settle in better if they went in
now. i've been moving various things around & they're all going very well,
so it would be a good time.

however, their bed is actually occupied atm - i'd need to very quickly get
it sorted (tear out tomatoes that aren't going anywhere, etc), whereas i'd
rather put in lots of manure & then give it all winter to get all festy &
nice, & put the plants in then, but then....

i'm babbling. i seem to have an equal number of pros & cons either way. i've
been thinking about it for weeks, couldn't decide what to do, & hence asked
here g

(etc etc). with all that in mind, if you had anything else to add, i'd
appreciate hearing it. failing that, i'll just dither away quietly by myself
g. we have a cool climate. winter is cold and frosty. summer is not so hot
as a rule. the bed's not ready. so that's pretty much why i thought i could
wait till spring even though, by nature, i'd rather do it now (if the bed
was ready, which it isn't).

pardon me for my babbling: i am entirely discombobulated and exhausted by my
new little chickens who arrived late this afternoon. i am worried they're
Special Needs chickens. :-) admittedly they didn't have much time to settle
in this arvo before it got dark - they were too busy trying to reach my
other chooks on the other side of the netting (and getting their heads
doinked through the netting for their trouble!), so when it got dark all of
a sudden they panicked - not having located their house yet - and burst into
a cacophony of panic-stricken cheeping and tried to go to bed under each
other, under a potted plant, up my trouser leg (that WAS cute ;-) etc etc &
in the end i had to pick them up & pop them into their house one at a time,
while they were popping right back out again like little yoyos. this went on
for some time until they were all simultaneously in the house so i could
shut the door on them. tee hee!! it was quite hilarious really but i just
needed my dinner & now i've got a headache & i'm not making any sense.
kylie