Asparagus Soil Structure Bed
Even though I have been organic gardening for more than 35 years, I have never grown asparagus. I always thought that the ground had to freeze in order to grow it. Well, this is not always the case, so here goes my Hawaiian asparagus bed.
Let’s talk about asparagus for a minute. No one really know where its origins are (some surmise from Western Asia or Northern Africa and a few other places) but all agree that it has been around for thousands of years and tastes great. The Egyptians offered asparagus to the Gods. It is rumored to increase the libido in both male and females! It is low in calories (1/2 cup = 15 kcal) and high in both vitamins A and C. In fact, asparagus has 6 times more vitamin C than citrus fruit! It is also high in Folic acid or folate (an essential nutrient for the production of new red blood cells) and is an antioxidant which gets rid of free radicals from the body. It is a good source for potassium and has trace amounts of copper and zinc. It is a diuretic, is used in the treatment of high blood pressure, enhances fertility (Chinese medicine) and can also increase the amount of breast milk produced by lactating mothers. There is plenty more reasons to eat asparagus but I like the taste.
Asparagus is a perennial and will produce for about 20 years. The bed must all go to seed the first year and only a small sampling can be taken from the bed the second year. About a 25% increase in yield will result if you eliminate all of the female plants from the bed.
Choose a spot where you have some space. Asparagus likes to roam so I suggest that you box it in with diamond lathe. I transformed the corner of my flower bed for this location and am able to access the bed from all sides. My bed is about 60″ long and 48″ wide and I want the finished product to be about 30″ deep plus the 6″ finished raised bed.
I felt like a grave digger as I worked more than 12 hours removing the soil. I have pretty good soil in this location but nothing like my organic garden where I have been amending the soil with compost for more than 14 years. So, there was a lot of digging to be done! And of course, there no one around to help me! There was a surprise along the way as I found more than 150 pounds of 1-2″ gravel that had been dumped there by the construction crew while building my house. Bless their hearts… Since this bed is going to produce for many, many years, I wanted to basically build it from scratch. I put the soil I was digging into an area to be composted later. When I hit sand I kept digging until I saw South Africa then I figured that was deep enough.
Now to fill the bed. I wanted a lot of organic material throughout the bed so I basically built it like a compost pile but below ground. I started with a 4″ layer of dried leaves and twigs. The next was a thin layer of horse manure, followed by 4″ of green material, 2″ of composted soil, a thin layer of horse manure, 4″ of dried leaves, 2″ of composted soil, a thin layer of horse manure, 4″ of green material, etc. I added organic oyster shells to add calcium in several places and also organic blood and bone meal near the surface. Since the bed will shrink quite a bit, I built it to a height of 12″ above grade. But the last 24 ” of the bed I added only composted soil. That made the finished bed about 12″ above grade which allows for about 6″ shrinkage as the bed starts to decompose. I will have to add more composted soil for the next few weeks to get back to the optimum 6″ raised bed. While buillding the bed, I watered after every layer as well. As a side note, I sifted every layer of composted soil before it went into the bed. This is because asparagus likes a loamy, well draining soil where it can grow unobstructed. This results in long, straight, beautiful spears!
Now I am ready to plant the seeds. Well, not so fast. I will have to wait about until the bed settles which will take about 2-3 weeks. I will soak the seeds in water overnight to help germination and then plant.
You may think that this is a lot of work. Well it is, but it is worth it. As you can probably tell, I am a perfectionist. Any job that I do, I do to the best of my ability. I enjoy the hard labor, but believe me I would rather be surfing, running, mountain biking, etc. But, I cannot do a half-assed job in anything that I do, it’s just not right. Mediocrity is everywhere and it is sad that nobody gives a shit anymore. Well, maybe that’s a little harsh but that’s the way I feel. Being an employer for more than 22 years has soured me on the “normal” guy. It’s all about getting the right people for the job, but I can tell you that those people are very hard to find…
So, the asparagus bed is built, and I will start enjoying the fruits of my labor in about 2 years! Best of luck to all of you out there! Keep organic gardening and find a passion for something then do it with all of you heart and soul.
Jamie
