On 2010-04-27 19:06:19 +0100, echinosum
said:


~Brian~;885145 Wrote:
My wife who absolutely loves asparagus, has asked me could we grow some

ourselves (expensive to purchase from shops). I've had a look around and
see
that the crowns are quite reasonably priced (Dobbies £1.99 per Crown) so

that's not a problem.
My query is this - how many crowns would be suitable (only the two of
us),
and are there any obvious pitfalls that can be avoided by a newcomer to

growing this veg?
The issue with growing asparagus is that you need to give it quite a lot
of space. And since it provides very little ground cover it needs a lot
of weeding. Though maybe you can black plastic the outer areas, and all
of it during winter to keep down the weeds. Any standard book will tell
you the crown spacing so work out how much space you can give it and
then you can compute the number of crowns. I'd suggest that anything
less than a bed about 8ft by 2ft6 wouldn't be worth the bother unless
its just a novelty to give you a couple of snacks.

I really wouldn't put salt water on it as another poster suggested. It
is not a halophyte, and doesn't grow in marshes either, it grows in
well-drained places. I think this is a confusion with the custom of
using seaweed as a mulch for it. Either that or he is confusing it with
marsh samphire, which does grow in salt marshes, and has certian
asparagus-like qualities.

Here's a growing guide. No doubt you can find more for second opinions.
'Growing Asparagus - How to Grow Asparagus from Allotment Vegetable
Growing Advice and Guides' (http://tinyurl.com/326uxe9)

I have about 16 crowns in a 12 x 6ft raised bed and I still can't get
over my delight that these delicious things keep coming, year after
year without much work. And they are the most pest/disease resistant
plant in my garden - apparently having no appeal to rabbits, birds,
slugs, butterflies, aphids or anything else. This bed feeds three of us
three times a week for a couple of months. My only regret was mixing
three different varieties as I have to cut thick and thin spears at the
same time and they require different cooking times.

Need to stop picking in mid-June and let the plants grow away until the
autumn when they are cut back and mulched.

Stan The Man wrote:
I have about 16 crowns in a 12 x 6ft raised bed and I still can't get
over my delight that these delicious things keep coming, year after
year without much work. And they are the most pest/disease resistant
plant in my garden - apparently having no appeal to rabbits, birds,
slugs, butterflies, aphids or anything else. This bed feeds three of us
three times a week for a couple of months. My only regret was mixing
three different varieties as I have to cut thick and thin spears at the
same time and they require different cooking times.

We have a bed of 12 that we carefully dug out and prepared and planted last
year, but after 2 little disasters (firstly, we somehow 'forgot' to plant a
handful of them! Found them dried up in a pile a few days later! I was
absolutely heart broken, as I have no idea how it happened) and possibly
some flooding from the broken water butt next to it, only 3 plants have
actually produced anything this year that I noticed. And some of the plants
don't seem to be rooting down too well, they keep appearing too close to the
surface whenever it rains. It all didn't seem to go too well. :-(

We also get a lot of those long thistley weeds (not sure what they're
called, but we do get a lot of them on the allotment) which need careful
pulling out. Not too many other weeds appearing, with the occasional bit of
twitch or bindweed that can be yanked. But it's hard to weed it, with the
plants being virtually invisible most of the time.

Stan The Man wrote:
On 2010-04-27 19:06:19 +0100, echinosum
said:


~Brian~;885145 Wrote:
My wife who absolutely loves asparagus, has asked me could we grow
some ourselves (expensive to purchase from shops). I've had a look
around and see
that the crowns are quite reasonably priced (Dobbies £1.99 per
Crown) so that's not a problem.
My query is this - how many crowns would be suitable (only the two
of us),
and are there any obvious pitfalls that can be avoided by a
newcomer to growing this veg?
The issue with growing asparagus is that you need to give it quite a
lot of space. And since it provides very little ground cover it
needs a lot of weeding. Though maybe you can black plastic the outer
areas, and all of it during winter to keep down the weeds. Any
standard book will tell you the crown spacing so work out how much
space you can give it and then you can compute the number of crowns.
I'd suggest that anything less than a bed about 8ft by 2ft6 wouldn't
be worth the bother unless its just a novelty to give you a couple
of snacks. I really wouldn't put salt water on it as another poster
suggested.
It is not a halophyte, and doesn't grow in marshes either, it grows
in well-drained places. I think this is a confusion with the custom
of using seaweed as a mulch for it. Either that or he is confusing
it with marsh samphire, which does grow in salt marshes, and has
certian asparagus-like qualities.

Here's a growing guide. No doubt you can find more for second
opinions. 'Growing Asparagus - How to Grow Asparagus from Allotment
Vegetable Growing Advice and Guides' (http://tinyurl.com/326uxe9)

I have about 16 crowns in a 12 x 6ft raised bed and I still can't get
over my delight that these delicious things keep coming, year after
year without much work. And they are the most pest/disease resistant
plant in my garden - apparently having no appeal to rabbits, birds,
slugs, butterflies, aphids or anything else. This bed feeds three of
us three times a week for a couple of months. My only regret was
mixing three different varieties as I have to cut thick and thin
spears at the same time and they require different cooking times.

Need to stop picking in mid-June and let the plants grow away until
the autumn when they are cut back and mulched.

Thanks Stan! Methinks I will try some next year in a controlled raised bed.

Ramsons is broadleaved, and is what is generally known as wild garlic. But there are other wild onion/garlic family members which are narrow leaved.

On 2010-06-09 14:12:20 +0100, feenix1363
said:


kay;890430 Wrote:
That's because it's not a forum; like me, you are coming into a
newsgroup through a back door. If you were using newsgroup-reading
software, you'd find the layout of threads a lot easier, and you would
see that it's perfectly OK just to start a new thread and say 'hello'.
Or not - it's entirely optional, and you will be equally welcome without
a 'hello'.



I think you're right about scale insect. I'm amazed - I always
considered bramble to be totally robust and pest free. I usually remove
scale insect by hand on plants where it's proving a nuisance, but i
wouldn't advise that in this case!

Thanks Kay for the advise.

I'm more than a little familiar with Usenet I just saw the Vbulletin and
didn't look any deeper. Mind you the forum software makes it easier and
quicker to log-in whilst I'm at work.

Thanks also for the confirmation of the Scale Insect. Time to get a 'Bug
gun' on the way home from work I think

Bug guns are for the rich and/or foolish. Get a pressure sprayer and
mix your own.