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)