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.

thanking you,
kylie

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?

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue

"0tterbot" wrote in message
...
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.

Since they crop in Spring, you need to move them between now and about mid
winter. I don't imagine you'd get much from them next Spring at such a
young age - perhaps enough to taste fresh very young tips - then don't
harvest any more till they have had a chace to grow on for another year.

"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

"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...
"0tterbot" wrote in message
...
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.

Since they crop in Spring, you need to move them between now and about mid
winter. I don't imagine you'd get much from them next Spring

see above - wasn't going to pick any, actually, so that is quite all right.

at such a
young age - perhaps enough to taste fresh very young tips - then don't
harvest any more till they have had a chace to grow on for another year.

would mid-winter be all right?! that would solve the problem - getting the
bed ready without having to rush. atm they're in my greenhouse but i might
need to toughen them up if they'll be moving later when the frosts have
started. they haven't started dying off for winter or anything. i thought i
could keep them on the verandah outdoors for a while.(?)
kliye

"0tterbot" wrote in message

avoiding frost certainly applies :-)

Mine have never seened to mind the cold (it can get down to -9C here) but
then I bought them as 2 year old crowns and that was years ago.

however, they will die back naturally
soon i expect(?!)

Yep.

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

Why don't you rip out the toms, put in the asparagus and then pile a lot of
poop on top of the bed? The idea is to get them to produce long asparagus
stems so if they are buried deep, they'll have to do that. the way to
harvest them is to push a knife down into the soil and cut them well down
under the soil so you want good depth of soil.

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.

No you aren't, but I enjoyed the rave anyway :-))

"0tterbot" wrote in message
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
Since they crop in Spring, you need to move them between now and about
mid winter. I don't imagine you'd get much from them next Spring

see above - wasn't going to pick any, actually, so that is quite all
right.

at such a
young age - perhaps enough to taste fresh very young tips - then don't
harvest any more till they have had a chace to grow on for another year.

would mid-winter be all right?!

Yes, that's about the time you see the poor dry crowns for sale in
nurseries. I've found you can't kill them with a stick. I have one trying
to come up near my clothes line where the asparagus bed used to be about 5
years ago. It's suffered from not bein gwatered at all for all those years
and being walked over all the time but it's still alive. I have 3 more
plants around the garden form other asparagus bed encarnations too. Must
move them this year to the new bed.

that would solve the problem - getting the
bed ready without having to rush. atm they're in my greenhouse but i might
need to toughen them up if they'll be moving later when the frosts have
started. they haven't started dying off for winter or anything. i thought
i could keep them on the verandah outdoors for a while.(?)

Sounds OK to me
kliye
Really?

"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...
"0tterbot" wrote in message
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
Since they crop in Spring, you need to move them between now and about
mid winter. I don't imagine you'd get much from them next Spring

see above - wasn't going to pick any, actually, so that is quite all
right.

at such a
young age - perhaps enough to taste fresh very young tips - then don't
harvest any more till they have had a chace to grow on for another year.

would mid-winter be all right?!

Yes, that's about the time you see the poor dry crowns for sale in
nurseries. I've found you can't kill them with a stick. I have one
trying to come up near my clothes line where the asparagus bed used to be
about 5 years ago. It's suffered from not bein gwatered at all for all
those years and being walked over all the time but it's still alive. I
have 3 more plants around the garden form other asparagus bed encarnations
too. Must move them this year to the new bed.

that would solve the problem - getting the
bed ready without having to rush. atm they're in my greenhouse but i
might need to toughen them up if they'll be moving later when the frosts
have started. they haven't started dying off for winter or anything. i
thought i could keep them on the verandah outdoors for a while.(?)

Sounds OK to me
kliye
Really?

no! i lie!!!!! :-)

ta for the tips. i'll get myself (and my asparagus bed) sorted out shortly,
and we'll see how we go! i am reassured to know nothing is likely to go too
badly wrong. they're still fairly small (as you can imagine) so putting htem
in deeply with straw over the top shouldn't be a problem at all for winter,
& they can organise themselves thereafter!
kylie -- i've kicked kliye out and resumed control of the body