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Asparagus grows wild here. I see it on the road sides in late summer often. It's 5ft tall by then.

Here it is behind my tractor shed, been growing in this spot for 20 years. The pics are early summer, late summer and late fall.

Asparagus a (1)a.jpg
Asparagus a (5)a.jpg
Asparagus a (8)a.jpg
 
I have some that is ten years old & it is in shade now.
I will be prune up the shade, so more sun will get to the asparagus.
But it produces well, even in the shade.
 
We are had a mini heatwave the past four days. My potatoes in the dog food and feed bags started growing.

Today, a hailstorm was in the cards. I pulled up the sides of the folded down bags and used bale twine to tie them shut at the top. The potatoes did not get shredded. If I actually succeed in getting potatoes this way, I will continue planting them in bags.
 
This morning I woke up early, planted the last planned starter tray of okra, started another 3 cups of lettuces, and a few squash. I hate this in-between time of the year, I can see the pole beans flowering, the peas are nearing the end of production, the beets are now the only thing producing on a regular basis. The first plantings of my okra are about 6" high and I have 2 more trays of starter plants that will soon be ready to join them. I direct sowed my 3rd crop of lettuce, but it is really slow to sprout... Like I said, I hate this waiting for stuff to grow and this in-between time where I have to be patient....

My roma tomatoes are now 6' high and yesterday I saw some tomatoes that were over 2"s long, so I am excited but waiting. My little indoor tomatoes are are each producing 2 or 3 tomatoes a week. I had a lot of stuff planned for my long 4th of July weekend, but I am starting to hear that I may need to do some work work over the weekend because someone else missed their deadlines....
 
joel said:
The folks at UC Davis experimented with their asparagus crops and came up with this happy conclusion: you can successfully get a spring and a summer/fall crop from your asparagus garden...if you are willing to plant twice as much. Here's how:

In early winter, when asparagus crowns are available from your favorite nursery, plant double the amount of asparagus needed for your household; start with 24 crowns, at a minimum. Divide your plantings into two areas. Remember, it may take two or three years before the emerging spears are big enough for dinner, about the thickness of a pencil.


In spring, harvest half of the plants as you normally would; then, allow the foliage to grow for the rest of the season.

In the second half of your asparagus bed, allow the uncut spears to develop into ferns throughout the late spring and early summer.

Then, cut the ferns back to two inch stubs in July or August. This causes the crowns to send up new spears, which can be harvested in late summer and early fall. A light mulch will help keep the soil surface from becoming too hard, allowing the shoots to break through easily. Be sure to keep separate the harvest time for these two areas of asparagus. Otherwise, next year's plants may be too small to harvest.

Although a lot of work initially, these green taste treats are guaranteed to feed your family for a long time. A healthy asparagus plant can produce spears for more than 20 years.
http://farmerfredrant.blogspot.com/2009/08/fresh-garden-asparagus-in-september.html
Click to expand...

I forgot to mention my asparagus is from seed. I'm wondering what I should do. I mean I know it'll take longer, but can I start them indoors or should I go ahead and sow them outdoors?
 
Neb said:
They look great!

Are they allowed to live outside ?

Have you figured out their sex yet ?

Ben
Click to expand...

No, they have to stay in a locked room I would love to have them outside! All of my plants have been female I have two smaller plants that are yet to show their sex. I bought feminized seeds and they have been correct so far.
 
hashbrown said:
No, they have to stay in a locked room I would love to have them outside! All of my plants have been female I have two smaller plants that are yet to show their sex. I bought feminized seeds and they have been correct so far.
Click to expand...
Food for thought...

A locked room with a glass ceiling.

Ben
 
planted a patch of silver king sweet corn and a patch of silver queen sweet corn last night at dark. we shall see how they compare. silver king is from hoss tool. silver queen is from terrestrial seeds. way more seed in silver queen seed packet and it was on sale while i was ordering pea seed so i added to my cart.i am glad i did.it was only $2.77 at the time.

i have one more type of sweet corn to plant so it will be in about 3 weeks to get it in ground. the best patch of sweet corn i ever seen was a clump planted on pile of horsemanure pushed from a horse barn.it was planted in a giant clump/circle and might have had a 2 inch spacing.it was like a big clump pf reeds. you couldnt see through it and was 8 or 10 ft across.

i may plant a clump even tighter than i been planting just to see how it would do.
 
When is that corn going to be ready, Elkhound? It seems late to start corn in three weeks. I'm not surprised about the corn spacing, it's planted so close here, you would not be able to go through it. We have a big manure pile at our place, and just saw a tomato plant growing just fine in it.
 
Amish Heart said:
When is that corn going to be ready, Elkhound? It seems late to start corn in three weeks. I'm not surprised about the corn spacing, it's planted so close here, you would not be able to go through it. We have a big manure pile at our place, and just saw a tomato plant growing just fine in it.
Click to expand...

its a 70 day corn...i have till oct 8-10th for my first frost. it can be in September but no usually.only once i recall it in recent memory and it was last year.

a guy out in cally i seen planted a dent corn in fall. i asked if it wasnt to late even for them. he said as long as its not a hard freeze or frost corn will still make. said he seen it make with enough frost to knock leaves off it and still made ears.

if i can dodge a few frosts often i can get stuff right on till end of year. i have picked buckets full of peppers on thanksgiving...i grabbed last maters with snow on them even.

i have 102 days from tomorrow till oct 10th
 
I just discovered a frugal but useful garden tip:
I got some plane jane tea bags for iced tea for work. They still come in these handy little envelopes. I plan on using them for saving seed. Might be nice to write on the full side and seal with a piece of tape. If SHTF situation, might be a good way to trade - certain number of seeds per envelope. Anyhoo, I'm taking them home to use 😊
IMG_4702.jpg
 
elkhound said:
planted a patch of silver king sweet corn and a patch of silver queen sweet corn last night at dark. we shall see how they compare. silver king is from hoss tool. silver queen is from terrestrial seeds. way more seed in silver queen seed packet and it was on sale while i was ordering pea seed so i added to my cart.i am glad i did.it was only $2.77 at the time.

i have one more type of sweet corn to plant so it will be in about 3 weeks to get it in ground. the best patch of sweet corn i ever seen was a clump planted on pile of horsemanure pushed from a horse barn.it was planted in a giant clump/circle and might have had a 2 inch spacing.it was like a big clump pf reeds. you couldnt see through it and was 8 or 10 ft across.

i may plant a clump even tighter than i been planting just to see how it would do.
Click to expand...
Re : corn in clumps

I grew country gentleman in a 4'x4' raised bed in 5x5 matrix with 6" between plants. When I thinned the plants I stuck all of the extra in a corner in a clump to see how they would do. They grew but were stunted and only produced small ears.

Please share your findings.

Ben
 
Neb said:
Re : corn in clumps

I grew country gentleman in a 4'x4' raised bed in 5x5 matrix with 6" between plants. When I thinned the plants I stuck all of the extra in a corner in a clump to see how they would do. They grew but were stunted and only produced small ears.

Please share your findings.

Ben
Click to expand...
I had a high organic raised bed with sloping sides.
I put manure, coffee chaff, Fall leaves & grass clippings in the soil.
I did a three sisters with corn six inches apart.
The only problem I had was smut fungi, on the ears, which I did not eat the fungi, even thro many do.
 
joel said:
The folks at UC Davis experimented with their asparagus crops and came up with this happy conclusion: you can successfully get a spring and a summer/fall crop from your asparagus garden...if you are willing to plant twice as much. Here's how:

In early winter, when asparagus crowns are available from your favorite nursery, plant double the amount of asparagus needed for your household; start with 24 crowns, at a minimum. Divide your plantings into two areas. Remember, it may take two or three years before the emerging spears are big enough for dinner, about the thickness of a pencil.


In spring, harvest half of the plants as you normally would; then, allow the foliage to grow for the rest of the season.

In the second half of your asparagus bed, allow the uncut spears to develop into ferns throughout the late spring and early summer.

Then, cut the ferns back to two inch stubs in July or August. This causes the crowns to send up new spears, which can be harvested in late summer and early fall. A light mulch will help keep the soil surface from becoming too hard, allowing the shoots to break through easily. Be sure to keep separate the harvest time for these two areas of asparagus. Otherwise, next year's plants may be too small to harvest.

Although a lot of work initially, these green taste treats are guaranteed to feed your family for a long time. A healthy asparagus plant can produce spears for more than 20 years.
http://farmerfredrant.blogspot.com/2009/08/fresh-garden-asparagus-in-september.html
Click to expand...


Does this apply to seed? I don't have crowns. I'm sorry I did not clarify that.
 
Mel said:
Does this apply to seed? I don't have crowns. I'm sorry I did not clarify that.
Click to expand...
Yes, because seeds become crowns, it just takes longer till you can harvest spears. Here are seedling be planted, the grown plants.
 
elkhound said:
its a 70 day corn...i have till oct 8-10th for my first frost. it can be in September but no usually.only once i recall it in recent memory and it was last year.

a guy out in cally i seen planted a dent corn in fall. i asked if it wasnt to late even for them. he said as long as its not a hard freeze or frost corn will still make. said he seen it make with enough frost to knock leaves off it and still made ears.

if i can dodge a few frosts often i can get stuff right on till end of year. i have picked buckets full of peppers on thanksgiving...i grabbed last maters with snow on them even.

i have 102 days from tomorrow till oct 10th
Click to expand...
My last planting of corn will be week after next, will harvest in early Oct. A light frost on corn is fine, I tend to think it sweetens the ears a bit.
 
I look out the kitchen window into the back yard, three young deer grazing on my lawn. City people say that cute.
All I can say is they will eat my garden!
 
Last edited:
joel said:
I look out the kitchen window into the back yard, three young deer grazing on my lawn. City people people say that cute.
All I can say is they will eat my garden!
Click to expand...
Four foot tall rats with horns!

They do a lot of harm to my garden and will girdle young fruit trees rubbing the felt off their antlers.

Ben
 
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