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There’s a gourmet vegetable that you can plant once and harvest for decades to come. Not only that, but it’s absolutely delicious and very low maintenance. In this week’s video, Ben demonstrates how to start off you very own asparagus patch. Perennial vegetable keep on giving… if you only know these few simple tricks.
28 Comments
James Prigioni says the best way to eat homegrown asparagus is raw. Never had it but if the homegrown stuff really is that sweet and tender, I think it sounds like a great idea.
I won't be having any asparagus this year 😭 But apparently the young shoots of fireweed are a lot like asparagus, and I'll definitely be having those.
This video is the inspiration I didn't know I needed! I bought 30 crowns that were on sale at the garden center about 4 weeks ago. They've just been sitting in my shed. Today's the day I will get them out. Question: Do you need to soak the crowns first before planting, like for other bare root crops? Thanks as always, Ben.
Mine are now in their third season so will begin picking shortly, except the first spears seem to be extremely thick. Should I pick those off anyway to encourage smaller shoots, or let that one flourish while picking new ones?
And you’ll probably want more than four of these plants cause I got 4 and mine only produce enough for a little snack when they come up and they get tall fast
03:25 asparagus crowns/roots look like aliens from a sci-fi movie 👽🤣
Picked my first spears today 29th March just in open garden.
Absolutely love asparagus, probably our favourite garden crop. It took a while to find a variety that wanted to grow for us but once we got plants growing they have gone from strength to strength. Just a shame the season is so short. Last year we decided to double our asparagus bed and I decided to try growing from seed. I was amazed how quickly the plants got growing, we soon had a mini asparagus forest growing in pots. Checking the bed daily at the moment, 2 of the baby plants have already put shoots above the soil. Can’t wait for the established plants to show themselves!
I did plant my asparagus 4 years ago and I am happy I did. they taste great too raw! but I love it steamed for just about 2 minutes and sprnkle some olive oil or butter and little bit of salt, so good!
I have 30 year old plants that produce fantastically. I collect the seeds in the fall, plant in pots in the greenhouse & they pop up in the spring. Hubby rototilled them one year and spread them through the whole garden 😂. Two years ago I put them back in their own dedicated spot.
The plants have trained this man to do their bidding.
my last attempt at planting expensive crowns failed so i bought a pack of seed a year ago.
Fast forward to today I now have 30 small plants in 9 cm pots, which I’m planting up in 2ltr deep pots to grown on for another year.
Now to remove the bindweed and horsetails from a bed in my allotment, I think this will be the hard part
I am indeed starting my first asparagus bed this season, but from watching this video I think I have already failed. I planted them just like you did, but my soil isn't the least bit sandy. It doesn't get waterlogged after rain, but I wouldn't call it "well draining"
While i don't like asparagus, i will try and grow Bath asparagus soon.
im a little worried this year, im in the NW of england and have already sown my carrots, beets, lettuce and kale. along with other flowers. now these have been done under a horti fleece tunnel in my raised beds or my coldframe. very recently we have had temps drop to 0c and we have had horrible weather, fast winds with hail a lot of rain and even snow. will these still sprout or will i have to resow the beds ? also my tomatos and cucumbers have only just got their first real leaves ( indoors) are they behind schedule?
Would it be possible to plant Garlic or Onions between the asparagus crowns?
can you re-locate established crowns I wonder?
I have a sneaky suspicion you listen to hip-hop while gardening, anyway this is for you😂
100 Miles and Gardening
The Seasonal Cycle
(Verse 1: Spring Forward)
I spring forward, it's been cold but lately,
I make thee, soil fertile she may be,
Ready for me to sow seed, but low key,
I'm dreaming of weeding, I won't beat around her bush,
I'm succeeding at growing, I'm moaning from all this plowing,
Allowing the ground I'm working, it will be drowning,
Abounding in seedlings and before I know it they are grown,
Ready to summer in their home.
(Verse 2: Summer Heat)
In the summer I love the look of bone, meal,
It gives me the feel for anything but her oh no,
Bare foot on the sticks and twigs,
She wants compost so I flip the lids,
And grab more to fertilise her, that's how I fertilised her,
Now the fruit is popping, my feet are stomping,
I'm getting her wet every single morning.
(Verse 3: Autumn Falling)
I'm falling, into autumn I'm stalling,
She wants the comfrey, to dump thee,
Nutrients into her mound, pound for pound I pull out,
Till my sack is empty, hence she,
Is now getting colder, 1 season away from another year over.
No more fruit to bare is there?
She's giving the cold shoulder. Dang I think it's all over.
(Verse 4: Winter Struggle)
There’s runners and veg, I'm picking the kale,
Damn it’s winter, I’m thinner, I'm hoping my crop won't fail,
Eating the food like it's gonna go stale.
Produce by Broken.
My Purple Passion asparagus is so tasty and survived a brother in law who mowed them down all year while we were away and it still came back and were movable to a dedicated bed.
I have them in rows and I burn the weeds every fall and early spring but have terrible weed pressure. They still come up.
I’ve bought in cubic yards of manure based compost this year to start heavy mulching to feed them and not the weeds.
It's also good raw; in salads.
My dad grew asparagus. I really want to try to grow them, it's so expensive to buy.
Growing in a raised bed, the soil always drops a couple inches every year. How do you add soil to a bed of asparagus?
I really appreciate this video 😊thank you so much! Perfect timing 👌
Mine are approaching their third year, this year (a couple didn't come up last year, so I plan to add some purple asparagus instead this year if they don't emerge). I've heard different accounts about how long you can harvest for in year 3 (after planting year old crowns) – the suggestion in the vid is just for 1 week, which I guess I can go with to be on the safe side but some people say you can harvest for 3-4 weeks in year 3. What do people recommend?
What is the base of your garden walkways? we’re redoing our garden, and I wanted to do river rock… but I wasn’t sure if it works with wheelbarrows.
Good video but asparagus is not something I’ll be growing. Can’t stand it. Sorry.
In fact when we moved to our house 20 years ago, we had an established asparagus bed which I dug out.
Thank you for this. I only wish the supplier I bought the crowns from were as clear as you, before I messed up. I will have another go, with confidence.
Well pooh, I'm not sure mine will grow where I planted it last year. I did none of this lol.