Last spring we planted some asparagus and strawberries in a new Ruth Stout bed. And since then, we’ve posted a few mini updates, tacked on to the end of other videos. But, since a number of you have asked for it, we figured it was about time we posted a quick standalone video as well.
So, this update will be fairly short, because there’s still not a whole lot to say. And what we do have to say, we’ve mostly already mentioned. So think of this as more of a compilation of those previous updates, all pulled together into one concise video.
Our original video (Companion Planting Asparagus and Strawberries):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc92S7UQD5k
Charles Dowding’s NO-DIG asparagus:
Asparagus needs some time. In another year or so it will grow like crazy. You're gonna love it.
I just stumbled on your site and love your explanations. Thanks for all the time you put into your videos!
Derek, I should think a good compost tea would soak to the asparagus roots, and they should be fine. Yes?
I have planted asparagus at every home I have ever owned. I have read that asparagus can change genders, it's not completely rare and occurs when only one gender is planted. My last asparagus bed was Jersey males because they are supposed to have the biggest spears.For some reason I had females too but by the third season my female plants seemed to die out and the males I had became super producers.My next bed is just being started from seed and is Connovers Colossal. I am sure there will be both males and females but I'm okay with that. Even the females are supposed to have big stalks for female plants. I could not obtain the plants anywhere. It would take a trip to Canada and smuggling but my motto has always been if you don't want to do the time don't do the crime.So I obtained seeds from certified shippers in the UK and Ukraine to get them. I want seeds because these super robust healthier disease resistant heirlooms are worth sharing. When you planted the strawberries in video 1 I thought perhaps you may have planted some of them just a little too deep, but if not the thick mulch covering is no different than planting too deep. The crown must be exposed. Your daughter plants will have a very difficult time penetrating the mulch to sink their baby roots into the soil. Momma plants provided all the nutrients at this embronic stage of the new plant but if the roots don't get establish they won't survive well as the umbilical degenerates between it and mom.I always parted straw or hay or whatever mulch I was using where I wanted a new plant and left those that would overwhelm the area and starve off the nutrient supplies to one another on top of the mulch. Either that or snip them off. I can understand your desire to go completely natural but doing those organic things which enhances your food production really isn't unnatural, that is exactly how farming got it's start for millennia. I add back to my soils portions of the things I have taken out of it and more. My food removes minerals and nutrients from the soils; therefore when I add back peels and leftover plant matter I feel I am adding back a little something of that which was taken taken from it. I have hard thick clay which is very nutritious for most plants but it's acidic. I have to add lime to the soil if I want anything to grow because on it's own it won't even grow weeds.I also need to add extra organic matter because trying to get a root to grow into something of an edible size, it's got to have ground that will yield to the expanding roots. This is true for carrots and onions. Parsnips wonderfully are so endurant they make a way regardless. I love a no-till method especially since I am quickly approaching 70 years, but layering down compost every year for a few years as a modified no-till method is what I have to do if I want to eat organic! I foresee eventually I won't need compost at all in the future but it'll always need mulching.
I've always suspected the overly complicated traditional advise on how to plant asparagus crowns was not a must-do. I planted my crowns in deep large tubs, just like any other plant would be set in soil (but at least 3 inches of soil on top of the crown), with good results. I did this because I wanted to start my asparagus bed but I knew I might want to move the plants a few years later. Taking them out of the tubs is a lot easier on my back and the crowns than digging them up out of the ground.
And YES, I have gotten Jersey asparagus female plants. If you look at the fine print of seed packets and website pages that sell seeds and crowns, it usually says they send up "mostly" or "predominately" male plants.
Good to see this update. Thanks.
This method is also called double digging…just a friendly FYI
Hey guys, love your channel.
Thought I'd drop a quick little comment for you on no work asparagus.
We are in the Okanagan in Western Canada and have tons of wild Asparagus.
One year, I harvested the berries… thousands of them probably, and threw them where I wanted them to grow.
Not in a bed… in a waist high grass (weeds one might say) area…
Year 1, I had 200 spears come up… though, you have to really know what they look like, and no one could really understand my obsession or thrill with them.
Only work… I chop down some of the grass to favour the asparagus to outcompete.
After experimenting successfully with mulching a few of the wild patches, I now cover the asparagus beds in the fall with grass..
Oh, and they now get water because they are downhill from a veggie garden.
So… we are going into year 4 (2021) I believe my first harvest will be this season… and last year I counted a total of just over 500 spears.
I've also just started throwing asparagus seeds into my strawberry beds and other random places…
They all germinate well, and grow much quicker with water.
Those berries are seed pods. Let dry fully then open
Excited to see yalls ups for this year! Happy gardening!
I’m late to the party, but I’d say you killed your strawberry plants with the mulch. They could have been dead when you got them, that’s a possibility too.
Wow …
I am waiting on some purple asparagus crowns, Purple asparagus is supposed to be more flavorful and more tender. and 75 strawberry crowns. Three different types to get fruit all year.
Male asparagus doesn't produce berries. I have a bed full of male crowns and none of the flowers have turned to berries
I threw a crown of asparagus at the end of my stone driveway and covered it with around 2" grass clippings in spring. I have never watered it or fed it anything and the soil below is a mixture of compact clay and debris from the driveway. Onto 4th year with it now and hoping it will beat the 9 harvested spears that it produced last year.
I don't know how others made out this year, but I have been finding a lot of dead dry root stock. The plant you showed in your video I'm pretty sure was dead already. I have been able to get about 50-70 strawberries to live I've seen almost as many dead and I've managed to kill another 5-10 in the blistering Florida sun. Oops. Here's hoping the final 50 for this year at least arrive alive. Good luck & keep healthy.
Yayyyyyyyyyy!
seven minutes and twenty seconds I can almost hear Jeff Goldblum say "life finds a way"
do you cut the plants down in the fall?
I got crowns and planted them 3 years ago. I was very excited to harvest them last year. I also enjoy letting some of them go and those produce ferns and red berries… which I figured may seed. I didn’t know that the berries were anything other than red. Interesting video. I’m putting in an asparagus and strawberry bed in another area. 20 x 30. Cardboard smothering like Charles Dowding, adding stumps and small logs and then soil. We will see. Fresh Air and Iodine Farms
From the few second clip, those strawberries were dead. When all the roots are that dark they're dead. At least a few should be light to white colored. I would plant the crown slightly higher than you did. If living they would come up in about a week. Your mulch layer was way too thick for the top, but would have been great around them. Hence the name strawberries.
How are they looking this spring?
Yup had some seed pods from our asparagus last year. Going to plant them THIS year ( 2021 ) and see what happens with them 🙂 Love your video's … please keep up the good work !!!
male asparagus don't grow berries they grow balls!
My asparagus berries were green for at least 2 months. They did finally turn red and left them on the plant for another month. Birds didn't disturb them. They obviously knew when the time was ripe for harvest. I decided to pick the berries one day after checking them the day before and not one berry was left – in a matter of one day…lesson learned…
What about the Charles Dowding method of laying cardboard and compost on top and then planting immediately?
You just bought transgender asparagus
Started a huge Asparagus garden myself earlier this year, planted 51 crowns. 37 sprouted and have one too several ferns between 12"~30" each. Many of my crowns looked kinda dead like your strawberries, so I imagine they were probably dead, but gives the others plenty of room to expand. Have many large raised rows between the asparagus and may as well plant some strawberries there this fall if I can find some or next Spring. Thx for the tips, didn't know they were companion plants.
Thank you for update
Gender fluid plants my friend… get with the times… Let’s Go Brandon!!!