Planting Asparagus

We love Asparagus and probably eat it every week.

It only makes sense that we just grow our own...... It makes even more sense because I love purple so much that the Asparagus should be purple. 

So that's what I bought!
(The real story is that is what came into the nursery first... but I'm not complaining!)

I have heard it is sweeter and I am stoked to find out.

So here is "How to Plant Asparagus" Ember's Version

Asparagus generally takes 3 years to produce for the first time so I did the smart thing and got them from a nursery as roots and crowns. That way I hope to have them produce on the first year. When I picked them up from the nursery this is how the little guys looked. There is 8 plants in there.....

Some of the advice I read online said that you should soak the roots for 15 minutes or so in warm water or a compost tea. The tea sounded pretty advanced for me but I know how to heat water pretty well so we went with that method.

Here is Trigger posing with the bucket of soaking roots. 

Bo was also super nice and dug my trenches for me which you can also see in the pic

My nursery is amazing and the lady that helps me there is amazing too.... I go to Western Gardens  and love how they try to buy only local and stick to organic as much as possible. I'm not a stickler on organic (yet) but will always by local I can. Anyways, my lady (I should really learn her name - I'm horrible) hand drew me planting instructions.  

Here is my rendition that looks pretty close and pretty horrible.

Basically you dig a hole or a trench then place a mound of compost in the hole. The asparagus is then placed on top of that mound with its crown on top and little spider legs draping down. 

This is how the asparagus looked when it was done with its bath.

Spacing for these guys should be 6 inches deep x 16 inches spaced. 

Remember how I said should? 

Well I may or may not have crammed more into that space than that.......

We had planned on only having 8 plants in that bundle, but there was actually 10! Score!\

Here is a little better representation of the mound and spider legs

And Trigger helping.......

Once these little guys are in the ground you cover the roots with dirt/compost and make sure the little crown is still peeking out of the soil a bit. The instructions I read said that after a few days the ground will settle in and you can add more dirt. 

After a quick water (using the bucket water from earlier - I'm green like that yo!) I put in the fence to keep the little monkeys out. Since these veggies will be permanent I decided to splurge a little and buy a pretty fence. I absolutely LOVE wrought iron fences, but I wasn't going to splurge that much. I found the perfect thing at Home Depot that gave me that look and it was the perfect length. It couldn't have worked out better!

Here is the finished product!

It somewhat looks like I have a little cemetery in my back yard now.

If you know me at all or follow me on Pinterest you know that I am pretty much OK with that. :)

(P.S. You should totally follow me on Pinterest)

Building the Potato Box

I have wanted to try a potato box for a couple years now. The promise of 100 lbs of potatoes in such a small space sounds amazing!!

And....  way to good to be true.

From the information I have read its hit and miss on the success rate of these things, but I am going to give it a go just the same. If I take some of the best practices such as using the correct type of potato,planting in a ring, and covering just the stems I am hoping for tons of potato come fall.

Cross your fingers with me!!

This is the basic plans we decided to follow:

The supplies were a bit more than I would have liked to spend, but that's what I get for taking Bo with me. The 2x6x8 were like $6.00 each but they are really nice boards. I almost feel bad using them to throw dirt and water on but if it gets me tons of potatoes its worth it. Ultimately all of the materials were really good quality and the box turned out awesome.... that's also what I get for taking Bo with me. :)

Ok, lets get to the good stuff!

This post will probably be picture heavy, but after all that's way better than reading my nonsense so here we go.....

Raw Materials

Boards cut to 21" and 24"

I got to do most of the cuts today with the "Saw of Death".

I have always been terrified of cutting my head off with that thing.

In hind-site it was a completely irrational fear.

(Side note: see that blue stuff? That is homemade Windex my friends! 

It works fabulously and that whole gallon cost me less than $1.00 ~ Let me know and I would be happy to share the recipe)

Holes Pre-drilled

Predrilled Holes

Notice how the pre-drilled holes are staggered? 21" on the outside and 24" on the inside.
That was one of my many lessons today.

I totally would have not thought about that myself.  Now I know. :)

Side one .... Check
(Face War begins)

Starting to look like a box
('Face Wars' continue in the background)

According to all of the instructions this is where you stop building and start the potatoes. As the potatoes grow you add more boards, dirt and hay. Since our box is going to go in a corner we have to pre-build two of the sides.

One side complete!
(The monkeys approve)

Trigger congratulating his Dad 

Checking out the hard work

(Another side note - Do you see that hammer by Bo's foot? It got used slightly on a second project. I am starting to hate the $20 hammer less now.)

Second side complete and relocated.

Final Product!

I am pretty stoked to get the potatoes started. 

In the research we have done we will need to order them in. One of the common mistakes is that people use a short or mid season potato. We have read that a long season potato is really the only one that works and unfortunately I cant find it in any of the nurseries. 

Honestly I am not that heart broken that I didn't have them today. That kicked my butt!!

One more project off the list!

Fence complete

The fence is complete and the peas are in!

I'm feeling a little guilty because the  "Old Farmer's Almanac"  technically says that I should have waited until the 7th to put the peas in.

I got too excited and they were calling to me.

This little package was filled with tons of little pea babies saying:

"put me in the ground" 

"put me in the ground"

I am sure spring fever has absolutely nothing to do with it.

So here is the finished product with both of  my monkeys on their best behavior. 

And a couple more pics with them being foiled by the mighty twine.....

Kya

Trigger

All in all it was a very inexpensive build and I will be reusing the fence for Cucumbers, Zucchini and Mini Watermelons later in the season. Provided the twine makes it.

What was expensive that Bo made me by was this damn hammer to put the stakes in.......

(he was right.... don't tell him)

Its going to make a great zombie killer one day so I'm not counting it in the total cost for the fence. 

And now begins the most difficult part. 

Waiting. 

I am a bit concerned that the seeds will get enough sun. As you can see by the pics, the fence conveniently casts a shadow just to the line of the garden. Hopefully the sun will move itself quickly to the North.

 After all, the seeds are in so therefore it is officially spring!

Starting the Fence

We started the fence today!!!

So the intention was we were going to head on outside and get the whole fence complete, twine on the posts and peas in the ground all in like the 2 & 1/2 hours I allotted before having to go take care of the grandparents. What can I say? I'm optimistic!

What actually happened was we got completely distracted by poop clean up, weeding the opposite end of the garden, and these little guys......

I spent way to long gathering and relocating these cute little guys to a nice cushie spot in the front yard.

I was convinced (and still deep down wish) they were going to turn into beautiful butterflies. Thanks to the input from some FB friends and a google image search I now know I am the proud owner of Grubs. :(

Well lesson learned and hopefully I don't have to many more.
(Note to self - Google natural grub killers)
Update..... "Milky Spore" (Bacillus popilliae)


So after our many distractions we did get going on our fence.
Here are a couple before pics and Kya demonstrating the reason why we need a fence in the first place.

Here is what it looks like with just the posts in.
We discovered that the back fence has about 8 inches of grout that is buried so we had to bring the posts out a bit. Sorta stinks because we loose a bit of land, but it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

I also was able to get the twine up along the back. I doubled up to give the vines something strong to climb on. At each post I used the hooks in the posts and wrapped it around once as I went by.

Its not exactly how I pictured it but I think its going to work!
I hope to get the front completed this week and the peas in the ground.
The inside seeds are next too!!! Can't wait to see some green!!