Christy's Journal

here's the children (sort of) helping with bed preparation. not visible in photo is M who manfully wheelbarrowed up quite a few more loads of topsoil up the steep slippery slope (with no swearing).

here's how the asparagus comes from the garden centre, bundled up in a bag with sawdust to keep it moist. i thinkit is only available for a short time like this. i did actually grow some from seed last year with the intention of planting it out, but when it came to it it just didn't look that healthy.
here they are all laid out where they are going to be planted. there is loads of different advice/methods for doing this. even conflicting directions on the back of the asparagus packet. the range seems to be from about 20cm to 1m apart. i settled on about 50cm. i've put in ten plants. the bed is 1.2m wide by 3.5m long.

here's a planting hole, with the asparagus 'crown' spread out. it's not so clear in pic, but i put a little mound under the centre to support the head. then of course i covered it up. the packet that the crowns came in said you could harvest for 2 weeks in the first year, but i think we will leave them all this year, and start harvesting next year for a limited time. the theory is that you need to leave them to build up a good root system that will sustain a longer harvest for all the years to come. looking forward to having my own organic asparagus!