Re: Asparagus

**llama momma** 4/10/2013, 7:00 am

Congratulations to everyone! Mine should be delivered within a week then I can join the fun. I was at Menards yesterday and was surprised to see the varieties offered: mary washington, jersey, and purple passion @ 1 dollar per crown.

bnoles 4/10/2013, 7:38 am

llama momma wrote:Congratulations to everyone! Mine should be delivered within a week then I can join the fun. I was at Menards yesterday and was surprised to see the varieties offered: mary washington, jersey, and purple passion @ 1 dollar per crown.

$1 per crown? OUCH! I paid $3.50 per crown for mine, but they were 2 years old in 1 Gallon pails. Can't wait to here how yours go for you.

**llama momma** 4/10/2013, 8:51 am

Bnoles!
I'm glad to hear yours are doing so well! I suppose with two year olds you paid more for longer care and storage. I ordered one year olds and like dealing directly with the farmer who grew them.

Unlike my strawberry experience with Big Lots. Last year I bought a few extra plants to fill in my strawberry box. No one could tell me what variety they were, surprisingly not even the distributor. Can't imagine I'd get useful help if there was a question or problem.

Weedless_ 4/10/2013, 3:06 pm

Glad to hear about everyone's asparagus. I bought mine on e-bay from http://stores.ebay.com/Ozark-Locally-Grown. They are selling organic Mary Washingtons, Jersey Knights, Purple Passions at about $1.75 per crown (2 year old ones). I know I took a gamble, but it all turned out very well (so far). If I get my asparagus come back next season in good quantities, will definitely buy from them again. They've got lots of things there.

GWN 4/10/2013, 4:55 pm

Well today is the day..... I have several tiny sprouts coming up, which is quite exciting for me since this is our third year and likely MANY of them will be ready to harvest this year.

Yahoo Smile

**llama momma** 4/10/2013, 7:37 pm

I am So Happy for You! How will you prepare Your lovely feast of home grown spears???? drooling

GWN 4/11/2013, 11:08 am

How will you prepare Your lovely feast

HMMM good question.
I went and checked this am and they are less than half an inch up so perhaps the feast will not be today. Sad

**llama momma** 4/11/2013, 11:34 am

Ha, I agree that feast won't be today. My first thought is fast and easy such as steamed with unsalted butter. You probably have your own favorite recipe websites, thought I'd share mine --
skinnytaste.com and allrecipes.com

GWN 4/11/2013, 11:38 am

my favourite has always been cookinglight.com It is where I always go for recipes. I have 20 years of their annual books. My second favourite is http://www.vegetariantimes.com

**llama momma** 4/11/2013, 11:47 am

Ooh yes, I'm very familiar with the first one, will have to check out the second, Thanks!

jmsieglaff 4/13/2013, 10:13 pm

So the never ending winter is really dragging on us in the upper Midwest--so maybe this thread will help. Today I top dressed my asparagus patch with composted manure getting ready for warmer temperatures. My lettuce and broccoli seedlings are patiently waiting in the cold frame for the soil to warm just a little bit to be planted out. For all you asparagus growers, when did your first spears emerge this year and what's your location? It will be comforting to see posts of emergence march north over the next couple weeks!

Weedless_ 4/13/2013, 11:38 pm

Here is what I would do with mine. Will have to wait til next year for this; for now, it's an organic vegetable co-op bought version:

Curried Asparagus & Turkey Salad | Eat Already!

Check our other asparagus related recipes, too. I have a nice asparagus soup recently posted in there...

kat51415 4/14/2013, 9:09 am

I just planted 8 M. Washington crowns (I guess they were crowns, kinda looked like octopus to me). They were from either WalMart or Lowe's, in a plastic bag with some sort of potting mix. I admit they were an afterthought, just a flash grab while passing by in the aisle on my way to grape vines LOL. I have an old flower bed that had some sort of bulb/rhizome flower in it that was planted before we bought the place. Dug those out, put the ol Mantis to work then planted the asparagus. Nothing else in there but a bunch of leaf compost. We'll see what pops up...

GWN 4/14/2013, 9:30 am

I am in zone 5a and mine emerged 4 days ago

jmsieglaff 4/14/2013, 9:36 am

GWN wrote:I am in zone 5a and mine emerged 4 days ago

Same zone here, but the spring has been very cold--last week was in the 30s and 40s with over 3.00" of rain. Our soil temperatures right now are in the upper 30s, actually got a 1/2" of snow overnight--but should be in the 50s by late this afternoon, first time in 6 days.

kat51415 4/14/2013, 10:05 am

jmsieglaff wrote:
Our soil temperatures right now are in the upper 30s, actually got a 1/2" of snow overnight--but should be in the 50s by late this afternoon, first time in 6 days

We are in Rogers, MN right now (just NW of Minneapolis). It's snowing off and on and about 30 degrees here now at 9 am central. I hope, for your sake, that you're right. I, for one, am sick of snow and ice this year. Trying to garden through it is one thing, but piloting 80,000 lbs through it is quite another. "I love my job, I love my job" tongue

jmsieglaff 4/16/2013, 8:52 pm

Anyone in IA or IL getting asparagus emergence yet?

Windsor.Parker 4/16/2013, 10:16 pm

jmsieglaff wrote:Anyone in IA or IL getting asparagus emergence yet?

Our 20 or so 1y/o crowns were planted late last fall, but no emergence a/o this morning. Sad

Weedless_ 4/16/2013, 10:47 pm

Almost done here. 24 out of 26 crowns sprouted, and most of them are already bushy.

**llama momma** 4/17/2013, 7:21 am

My 1 yr. old crowns should arrive this afternoon. It's a sloppy rainy day so I hope to tuck them into bed first thing tomorrow.

Thomas 4/18/2013, 11:08 am

I planted 20 2 yr. old crowns on 3/31. soaked them in worm tea and planted them under 6" of mel's mix. That day was beautiful, but since then we have had cold, floods, but some nice days. today is nice. So I checked my bed rock on

2 spears have popped up!!! Also the rhubarb that I planted that day is coming up. Good stuff.

**llama momma** 4/18/2013, 6:58 pm

I ordered 25 purple passion and today received 26, these babies are in the ground! wahoo! rahrah

I am soo wiped out from this morning. Turned over a fast composting Berkeley style heap, it's a heavy burning monster, 120 to 155 degrees. That alone wiped me out. sobbing

then the asparagus arrived. Planting was done in strong winds. Don't know how I'm still standing. Started master gardening classes and still have 40 pages to read tonight. Yeah I'm going to be a lotta fun in class tomorrow sawing logs

**camprn** 4/18/2013, 7:13 pm

All this hard work will be darned tasty in January.

bnoles 4/18/2013, 7:18 pm

llama momma wrote:I ordered 25 purple passion and today received 26, these babies are in the ground! wahoo!
I am soo wiped out from this morning. Turned over a fast composting Berkeley style heap, it's a heavy burning monster, 120 to 155 degrees. That alone wiped me out. then the asparagus arrived. Planting was done in strong winds. Don't know how I'm still standing. Started master gardening classes and still have 40 pages to read tonight. Yeah I'm going to be a lotta fun in class tomorrow

Congrats on getting the asparagus planted. All 12 of mine have made an appearance and seem to be doing well. Can't wait to see how they do. How is the compost looking? How many more days until finished? If you give a favorable report, I may try a batch just for kicks.

**llama momma** 4/19/2013, 4:24 am

Bnoles
All 12 of your babies have appeared and that's terrific! Looking forward to the same success here. I worry and will check on them more than once a day till I see shoots.. Night time temps are suppose to plunge briefly into the 30's for 2 nights so I'll throw a blanket over the mix to conserve heat. Think it'll be ok. My extension office says to plant them March through April when temperatures here are all over the place. Asparagus must be even tougher than strawberries I guess--or hope! Re: your compost question, sure, I'll share the hot heap style results. For now it's day 11, it's steamy, mostly black, and no loss of volume that I can tell. The soreness from turning so much so frequently is proof Smile

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