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Wednesday, September 24, 2014

The end of the asparagus dream...

... or only the beginning?

Last weekend I finished the asparagus moving project I started a month ago. I'd been simultaneously dreading and looking forward to it. Basically the only information I found about planting asparagus talked about planting new crowns, not transplanting almost three year old plants. I decided to just treat them like I would any other perennial and cross my fingers.

When I last showed the new asparagus bed, it looked like this:


I was actually surprised at what it looked like when I removed the tarp.


I thought the grass would've broken down more. There were even some little weeds growing.


I turned over the sod somewhat,


threw in the six bags of manure I had on hand,


and had to call it a day at that point. Sunday morning I went to the garden center and bought twelve more bags of manure and compost, and filled it up.


One by one, I dug the asparagus plants out of the garden and carried them to the new bed, worrying the whole time. After planting them, I gave them haircuts.


The bed is four by eight, so the plants have a lot more room. After planting, I mulched them with a mixture of straw and grass clippings.


I've been watering them daily, and I'll add more mulch before winter.

I won't really know until next spring if this was a big mistake or a brilliant move. One thing gardening teaches you is patience.

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