22nd April 2019 - Planting Asparagus

This weekend I finally got around to planting my asparagus crowns.  I had earmarked the bed in 86 closest to the shed for them.  In preparation I mulched with manure and made sure that the bed was as weeded as possible.  I should note that this plot has been covered for over a year now.  I added cardboard and 9" soil into the beds to try and suppress the weeds that will inevitably pop up.

I marked out the bed before starting to dig; I needed a trench that was 12" wide and 6" deep with a 4" ridge along the length.  I soaked the crowns in a bucket of water while I was preparing the trench; they were delivered to me in February as dried crowns and it's important to make sure that any bare root plant is prepared before planting.

Once the trench was dug and the ridge in place I evenly spaced 9 crowns in each trench (approx 15" apart); I spread the roots as evenly as I could across the trench and then backfilled.  The RHS planting guide said to leave the crown tips exposed but other advice was to bury them.  As I had ended up with the crowns 2" below soil level they were not exposed and I'm hoping they'll be ok.  I watered them well and there was already a thick layer of manure on the surface so I didn't add any more.  I won't be able to harvest any spears until mid-April 2021 and then I'll be able to harvest for 6 weeks.  The following year I'll be able to harvest for the full 8 weeks.  In the mean time I'll have to enjoy the spears growing into ferns and hand weed the bed.  

In other news I'm delighted to find that I have peaches growing on the tree.  I hand pollinated because the tree is in the polytunnel and so there aren't as may pollinators in there to do it for me.  Last year I didn't get any fruit and I thought this might have been the reason so I'm really happy to find fruit on it this year.  I will be moving it outside very soon because the threat of peach leaf curl has passed now.  I also have a good crop of figs and this year I'm going to be braver about thinning them out so that I get a better crop.  The olive tree is also flowering and so I got my paintbrush out again and hopefully I'll get fruit from that too.

I was also busy painting some of my metal items; I bought some One Coat black paint from QVC, it is designed specifically for items that are a bit rusty; all you need to do it use a wire brush to take off any dirt or loose bits of rust and then paint it.  It covered really well and did only need one coat.

I am still battling mice in the polytunnel eating my sunflower, pea and sweetpea seeds.  I got some fleece cloche's from Aldi.  They are designed to be put over plants out in the plot but I have tucked it under the tray that I have the seeds in.  It does seem to be helping; I had also used a poly version over the peas but it became too hot for them and they wilted.  On reflection it did get up to 40oC in the polytunnel during the day and because I wasn't able to get up to the plot until the afternoon it was too much.  I also can't get up during the week and so I'm keeping everything crossed that they'll be ok now that they've germinated!

The weather was glorious over the Easter weekend, it was actually too hot to do much and so I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the newt swimming across the pond.  I know that I go on about my pond quite a bit but it really is very relaxing to sit beside it and watch the fountain or, at this time of year, the tadpoles.  

I'm struggling with hardening off my seedlings because I can't get to the plot in the mornings.  I normally put them closer and closer to the door and eventually leave the door open before putting them outside.  The problem with that is that because the weather has been so peculiar (it's fluctuated from -3oC to almost 40oC from night to day) I can't leave the door open because it's too cold at night and leaving the door closed during the day is too hot!  At the moment I'm tending to leave the door closed to protect the tender crops and hope that it doesn't get too hot for everything else.

Overall it was a very happy and productive weekend, I got a number of jobs crossed off my list and I was able to enjoy the weather and my plot to it's fullest.

Until next time...
Happy Gardening x