Marsha Arnold
21.07.2023 - 23:08 / awaytogarden.com
IT’S A DEFINING MOMENT: the first asparagus spear of a new garden year. To make asparagus season all the more productive and delicious, from garden to table to freezer, I gathered my list of a dozen no-no’s to avoid with this long-lived but short-season crop. It’s my contribution to the kickoff of Spring Fling, a cross-blog recipe and tip swap with some foodie friends that will happen twice-monthly into June:Planting1. Don’t skip the part about digging the trench, which one Cornell University bulletin describes as a W-furrow (illustrated below). Some people simply dig an 18-inch-wide by 12-inch-deep trench and spread the roots out flat in the bottom. In a W-furrow, a ridge of soil hoed into place down the middle (in this case of a shallower trench, just 6-8 inches deep) supports the spider-like roots.
2. Don’t bury the crowns all at once, but rather fill the trench in gradually as the topgrowth develops through the first season.3. Don’t forget to water as the crowns make their way to establishing a deep root system. Details on planting and careare here.
Picking4. Don’t pick too soon from a new planting. Some sources say you can pick a little starting one year after planting; I’d wait until the season after, when the crowns have been in the ground two years.
6. Don’t snap off spears above-ground; cut at the soil surface or better yet, just below. Use an asparagus knife–which you might think is a dandelion weeder but isn’t, as Red Pig Garden Tools’ Bob Denman, an Oregon-based blacksmith and purveyor of garden tools, explains (that’s his handmade beauty, above).7. Don’t pick too long in any single season. About two weeks is all you get if you pick the year after planting if you dare pick that soon at all; perhaps a monthlong
Marsha Arnold
Join us for an exclusive conversation with the nation’s head gardener, Monty Don, recorded at BBC Gardeners’ World Live. Hosted by presenter and broadcaster, Nicki Chapman, the live audience listened in as Monty gives behind-the-scenes insight into filming Gardeners’ World TV. You can buy tickets for the next live show, BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair here.
Homalomenas are also popular for their compact size, making them ideal for indoor or outdoor spaces with limited room. They are a great choice for beginners, as they are relatively low maintenance and can adapt well to a variety of growing conditions. Read on to know about the Best Types of Homalomena Varieties.
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Tested by Marti Neely, FAPLD
I SAID IT A FEW WEEKS AGO, when I saw a change of the guard at my feeders a couple of weeks ahead of “normal”–do the birds know something I don’t yet? Seemed to me then that winter’s first teases must be close at hand. And now the National Weather Service says it may drop to 33 one night this week, slightly higher the others (not as scary as parts of Wisconsin, the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa, where I see–egads!–winter weather advisories and freeze watches and warnings).
AS I PLANT MY PARSLEY, PICK ASPARAGUS and get ready for tomato transplant time, it gets me thinking about tomorrow (as in “the offseason”) when my Northern garden doesn’t offer up so much food as it will the next few months. No worry, because I am a hoarder—of fresh garden and farmer’s-market produce (though not on sagging shelves like that 1940 Farm Security Administration slide, above!).