[AT] OT Redbud/asparagus

[H. L. Staples]

Hi Cecil good to see your post again.  We always cut the asparagus with a
sharp knife just below the soil surface.  

The ferns are left over the winter. This helps to keep the soil from warming
up on warm late winter days exciting the plants to start emerging only to be
bitten off by frost.  We wait until just before the sprigs start to come up
then lightly drag the old plants to bend them over then burn the old
material in place.   No added mulch is used for any of the over wintering
plants.

H. L.  
 
-------Original Message-------
 
From: Cecil Monson
Date: 04/20/05 08:50:48
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] OT Redbud/asparagus
 
>
>
>--- Cecil E Monson <cmonson at hvc.rr.com> wrote:
>
>
>>> George, my daughter has quite a large asparagus
>>> patch
>>> and hers is almost ready to get the first cutting.
>>
>>
>
>
>
>>> That first
>>> cutting is always a real treat.
>>>
>>
>>
>Cecil and all, a question.  Everyone is talking about
>"cutting" asparagus, around Michigan we "pick" it,
>literally.  Just grab hold and snap it off.
>
 
    It must be a regional thing. I've never known anyone who broke
asparagus
off to pick it. Every place I've ever had asparagus or been where it was
picked
a knife was always used to cut it. I guess the first one to teach me
that was my
mother in sourthern Minnesota when I was a kid. I had my own patch years
later and never thought about using any other method. I guess as long as
breaking
the stalks to pick it doesn't do any damage to the roots or the plant,
it wouldn't
matter. I see a low of asparagus in the local supermarkets starting
pretty soon
this time of the year and it seems to me that it is always cut and not
broken off
to pick it.
 
    Same thing with clearing the old growth away from the patch. Most people
seem to leave their old stalks all winter and clean them up in the
spring. I prefer
to clean them up in the fall and spread a straw mulch over the bed for
the winter
with the belief it will start growing quicker and is better off not
being disturbed
in the spring as it is getting ready to grow. Same with my garlic, it is
better to
cover with a good 6 inch deep bed of straw in the fall to protect it in
the winter
and leave it right there in the spring. The new shoots will quickly warm
up and
come right up thru the straw in the spring. Leaving the straw there
keeps the
moisture around the plants too in the summer and is a good thing to have.
 
Cecil
 
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