Growing asparagus is a long-term investment. It takes between two and three years for the plants to reach full maturity. You may have some plants in the 2nd year, but the first full crop will be in the third year from the date of planting.  In the early spring of the 2nd year, cut the old ferns down to ground level. Then watch and control weeds all season and maintain good soil moisture. Watch carefully for the asparagus beetle.

If you crop is not too large, you may also consider planting tomatoes among the rows. You might want to read our article that Tomatoes and asparagus are natural companion plants.

Research has shown that you can begin to harvest asparagus the year after it is established. You can cut all of the first spears that appear for the first 7-10 days. Then, when the spears begin to get thinner, you need to stop harvesting. During the 3rd year, you can follow the same pattern, but you should be able to harvest for a full 4 weeds.  By the fourth year after planting, you should be able to harvest a full 8 weeks. To cut this a little shorter, you can buy 1-year-old spears from reputable dealers.

Once established, however, asparagus will yield abundantly for 15 to 20 years if given the proper care.

Asparagus grows best in sandy, well drained soil. But the soil is best maintained with lots of organic material to maintain moisture levels more consistently without allowing the soil to be waterlogged.

Because early crops bring the highest price, you may consider using row covers such as “reemay” to warm the soil for earlier growth. Average commerical yeilds are 2000 pounds per acre, with intensive yields of up to 6000 pounds per acre.

A couple of  final tips. During the harvest, you need to make sure that you give the roots adequate water. Make sure that the asparagus roots receive 2″ to 3″ of water per week. Be careful not to cut too deep an damage the emerging spears by cutting below the surface.

And, here let me add, I’m not only speaking to everyone who plants seed, but to those who grow from seed and plants, as many of us do. Many of us grow herbs from seeds. Growing tomatoes from seed is probably the easiest way to diversify your garden.  Knowing what qualities to look for when choosing either is very important.

If you plan on ordering seed, it won’t take long to realize there’s no way to limit yourself to one seed catalog. Once they begin to arrive, others will soon follow. Quite contrary from being annoying, this is a most pleasurable experience. Many of those catalogs contain a wealth of information. Having the chance to compare all the different varieties, as well as comparing price, makes for a pleasant way to spend a few spare moments.
As you browse through a seed catalog, look for a section of catalog product descriptions, sometimes called “terminology”. This is like a “key” to decoding what the various numerals and characters mean when they’re included in plant descriptions, which usually accompany a photo. Some catalogs even go so far as to use “graphics” and/or symbols. All of these can help influence your choice of plant variety. If you want to increase your own herb production, look for special catalogs with herb seeds for sale, like Nichols Garden Nursery.

The next thing you need to know is information concerning your hardiness zones. These are often called “growing zones” and they’re very important when it comes to choosing seeds or plants. Someone on the southern tip of Florida will have a drastically different climate than someone from Minnesota. Each gardener will have certain circumstances to take into consideration. Proper seed selection is key to success.

For example, should a Florida gardener consider planting cabbage, they may need to be concerned with providing shade or even a cooling mist for their cabbages or other cool weather vegetables. Their gardening situation will mean choosing seed for a cabbage variety that’s slow to “bolt” as the weather warms. As far as growing cool weather crops, their growing season is a short one. They may want to choose  fast growing seeds that matures earlier, so it will be out of the garden before hotter weather arrives.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota gardener needs to be more concerned with choosing seed for cabbage varieties that will survive an unexpected cold snap. They need the seed from a hardier variety. Their growing season is going to be longer than one experienced in Florida, so a cabbage that matures slower may yield greater benefits. It may grow larger, or be sweeter in flavor or crisper in texture. Seed savers select for these characteristics.

So, how do you choose seed for a plant variety that does well in your area? One of the very best ways is to visit with a local grower. Get to know them well enough to ask about their gardening experiences. Chances are, they’ll be glad to answer your questions. They may be able to direct you to the best seed bank for your area.
Another way is to search the internet. For instance, you might try typing in “Florida Vegetable Production”. This may give you a wealth of information concerning what grows in Florida. The same holds true of any other State. “Minnesota Vegetable Production” may yield clues as to what grows best there. Select seed for those varieties.
Seeds are an important consideration. Serious gardening requires serious seeds.

Crop Rotation Chart

Welcome to my Living in the Garden Blog

I’m Aaron Mackley. I’ve gardened for a lot of years, not because I needed to, but because to me, gardening is pleasurable.

There is something serene about working in the garden. When the day is stressful, I can take refuge behind the handle of a shovel or spade. Sometimes I go out early in the morning, just after the dawn, or even just as the sun is raising its beams above the Teton mountains to the East of me. Rarely is there much sound other than the hoe. I’m generally undisturbed there.

The three exceptions to my gardening solitude actually make it even more pleasant. Sometimes, usually in the early evening, my daughter, now 13 might be encourage to come help me weed a row of corn or beans or carrots. When we two are there alone, I have a chance to hear her sing and talk to me, almost incessantly, as we work together. Like a typical man, I don’t say a whole lot when she comes, I just answer her questions and ask her a few more. She fills the rest of the time. But these are some of my favorite memories.

My son is much younger, but often he accompanies me in the many tasks that surround the yard and the garden. He has shown his diligence in work when he is set to a task that shows me that he will certainly be a contributor and not afraid of either having dirty hands or sweat on his back.

But my most precious blessing of the garden is spending time with my wife, Eliana. More often than not, we will work side by side weeding an our 10 80-foot rows of strawberries or covering tomatoes before a frost or planting and seeding the patches or rows of carrots or onions or lettuce or any other variety of produce. There is great, quiet joy in walking side-by-side as I roll in a loaded wheelbarrow of harvested potatoes in late Autumn.

The blessings of a garden go far beyond just the produce. The garden brings peace from the world and memories for the future.

My Living in the Garden Blog are my ramblings about my experiences, my pleasures, my successes, and my failures. I hope you enjoy them.

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We started this tradition years ago when we were just married. We would purchase two or three gallons of apple cider from the store. All through the fall and winter season, we would have apple cider simmering.

Then we learned to press apples ourselves. The taste is absolutely incomparable. Now we gather apples and use our juicer to make 20 gallons or so each year.

This year, we decided to use our new Omega VERT juicer. We were very impressed by how the juicer performed. It would keep the apple juice flowing faster than we could cut and drop them in the chute.

We did have one variety that we were using that did not juice as well. It is called a cherry crab apple. The flavor is very sweet, but it is a very soft apple, so we found that it produced much more pulp in the juice. We had to use cheesecloth to strain the juice. Otherwise the cherry crab apples would be about half way to apple sauce. But once we strained the juice through the cheesecloth, we had delicious apple juice.

• We found that juicing apples in our Omega VERT juicer was very fast, but here are some things to make the job a lot easier.
• The crisper the apple, the easier it is to juice.
• It’s easier to have several people cutting all the apples first; then put them through the juicer.
• If you need to strain the juice, have the juicer flow directly into a pan, but put the cheesecloth over the top of the pan. The straining is done by the time the apples have been juiced.

We also started about 2 gallons of apple cider vinegar. I’ll write about that a little more in about a month or so when the vinegar has had time to age.

My neighbor actually had more success with tomatoes this year than I did. This year I was not able to spend the time to care for my tomato plants and they got pretty crowded. So I have to admit that I very much enjoyed receiving a box of Mortgage Lifter tomatoes and Black Krim Tomatoes.

The Mortgage Lifter on the left in the photo are a wonderful variety. They produce large, solid fruit and are easy to grow.

But I still love the Black Krim tomato, seen on the right side of the photo. The Black Krim grows very well. Their flavor is much sweeter and the texture much softer than most common red tomatoes. It makes a very nice slicing tomato.

Acutally, I introduced the Black Krim tomato to my neighbor just a couple of years ago. We saved seeds from a good crop that year,  and we took some of those seeds to my neighbor.

Well, it’s good that I did. His plants out produced my tomato plants by 5 to 1.

Lesson learned. Don’t let your trellises get to crowded. Tomatoes don’t like crowded.

Photo Credit: Niina ♥ C on Flickr.com

Tomatoes and Asparagus have three distinct characteristics that make them more than just good companion plants. Tomatoes and Asparagus are beneficial and natural companion plants.

Continuity (or lack of crop rotation)
Chemistry
Offsetting Cultivation and Harvest Season

Continuity-asparagus is perennial; tomatoes don’t rotate

You may have read my article “Garden Crop Rotation for Abundant Harvests.” This article outlines important and simple crop rotation concepts that can increase your vegetable garden yield. Tomatoes as having a unique property among plants in general. Most crops need to be rotated to either take advantage of nutrients generated by other plants or to use it natural chemistry to combat pests or diseases left by a former crop. Review the article “Garden Crop Rotation for Abundant Harvests” for more detail. However, tomatoes seem to defy that general rule. Many farmers insist that tomatoes do better year after year in the same soil.

Chemistry-Solanine from tomatoes is a natural insecticide

Offsetting Cultivation and Harvest Seasons

You might say Eliana is a Strong Woman how helps to build a more gentle world. Actually, I take that phrase from another individual whom I met.

I had the opportunity to speak with Dorian Rogers Winslow, who is Owner & President of a rapidly growing company called Womanswork: Strong Women Building a Gentle World. As I spoke with her, I could see the strength and gentleness in her demeanor. She is one of those women who are not afraid of the dirt, and she get’s things done. However, she also spoke with friendliness and laughter.

Dorian started her company design gloves specifically for women’s hands.

She says, “A lot of people claim to know “what women want.” For us it’s not about guess work. That’s because we are women– designing garden gloves and garden supplies for other women. We test our products rigorously and every item on this website is used by owner Dorian Winslow and her panel of women friends and family.”

But her company has grown, and so has their efforts.

Womanswork, in partnership with two caring citizens, sent gloves to the Houma Nation in Louisiana in October to help with hurricane cleanup and planting.

We do encourage you to check out Womanswork.com. Their gloves, hats, garden supplies, and specialty pots might make your gardening more efficient and your woman’s work more enjoyable.