Never did like the layout of that saying. I think "Best time to plant a fruit tree is ASAP. (20 years ago if possible)" sounds better. My 18 year old cherry and plum trees are bearing nicely now. I add to my orchard every year.
Raw is so delicious, right from my yard!!! It tastes like garden peas to me a little. I wish the growing season where I live was longer, so I could have it more.
Last summer I had my first home grown asparagus. I totally fell in love with it because it’s so so so sweet. Then after the season, I was still craving for asparagus so I bought one pack in the store. Cooked as usual then after one tried, I couldn’t it anymore. It ruined my meal 😢 taste terrible!
I uprooted my first year asparagus and forgot to plant it properly in my new garden. I left it exposed on the ground during winter and had inadvertently covered it with mulch/soil in the new bed. It came up on its own this spring to my surprise. I couldn’t even remember where I left it and thought it will just decompose. So there’s random asparagus in my new plot now and I didn’t even try hard to plant it, LOL.
I grow asparagus and strawberries together in a 4’ x 8’ raised bed. I mulched with hardwood chips. It works great because, as you stated, the asparagus sprouts first, the strawberries flower during and fruit after the asparagus is finished. We also inoculated with wine cap mushrooms. I had a nice harvest of berries and mushrooms after only 1 year and am letting the asparagus mature for another year before harvesting anything.
This Spring I was given 6 Asparagus crowns, not knowing where I should plant them in my garden I tossed them into a large pot. Next winter, I'll move them into my strawberry patch and see what happens. Today's modern farming Conventional Wisdom says you must till, amend and till some more then spray with chemical fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides until nothing grows but the desired GMO enhanced crop you desire. I'll take unconventional wisdom any day. Thanks for posting.
@@tiberiumnp8030 It might be easier to list all the perennials that one should avoid, because there are a *lot* of good ones. Even many types of flowering bulbs are good for your general soil health. And they're very low maintenance. Be careful with members of the mint family; they have a remarkable tendency to spread all over the place within a couple years. Which is fine in your garden area, but might really piss off your neighbors if they want a lawn that looks like a putting green and suddenly one spring their yard is full of mint. ;)
I planted Asparagus in compost and was able to harvest a bit in the 2nd season. I did none of the digging you outlined. I hope you enjoy your asparagus bed, they are a joy.
Did almost exactly the same thing this spring, also planting some asparagus from seed. I just did it the other way around, 2 rows of asparagus on the outside, spaced approximately 1.5 feet apart, strawberries in the center. I bought the asparagus plants in large pots, dug a deep hole, amended it it some horse manure compost and topped it off with a thin layer of straw. I also planted a few tomatoes in the middle as I didn’t have enough strawberry plants. Until now all is looking great! The tomatoes are shading out the asparagus somewhat, but the small plants from seed don’t seem to mind. The already 1 year old asparagus just send shoots up through the tomato plants that are growing „wild“, without staking or pruning. I think mother nature will take care of the rest. 😄
I have strawberries and asparagus growing together in my townhouse garden. It is small, but has been working fine. I bought some crowns and some seeds. Both have grown well. I don't harvest and eat as much as I could, but I really love the fronds when they open and been over the other plants. It helps like a mulch, but has lower risk of fungus. The berries don't produce lots, but they spread each year more and more. That's encouraging, but the few berries attract lots of slugs and snails.
Asparagus and strawberry, never thought about it. A beautiful investment with life long returns. U know these two are costly In the market. Thanks for the video. Your way of treating soil is great.
I miss my Asparagus plants! I planted some in my old property. They were in the beginning of year three, when I had to relocate for work. I never did go back to drive by the property to see if they have continued to grow or not. One of these days, I'll have a plot of land big enough that I can grow it again!
I have successfully grown asparagus in a no-till bed. I mulch with compost (wood chips, horse manure, green material and veggie scraps.) and companion with strawberries, which was just a happy coincidence.
Harvested my first batch of asparagus today. 2 yr crowns planted 2 yrs ago. Walking back to the house I was surprised about the strong smell and the amount of water that was coming out of them. Buying from the grocery they are always dry at the stem. Pretty cool.
My daughter bought asparagus plants last year (late spring) that were already started...she stuck them in a part of the garden we didn’t use or really maintain. They grew and she had a few to eat the first summer. Fast forward to yesterday...second spring...cold and still flurries....but I was thrilled to see lots of asparagus popping up an they are stronger and thicker this year. There is even a lot more! We didn’t do anything, except add some 99 cent a bag soil from Walmart to plant them! :) so thrilled! Want to buy more plants!
Even though you are the narrator of this channel, I love how you always use the word "We" when talking about what you and your wife have done in your garden. It's small, but very sweet and telling to your attention and care to your relationship. Power team garden!!! I hope I can own a house and land to garden/homestead with my partner one day
Great info here. The only thing that concerned me was planting the asparagus crown that deep. I build the mound on top of my trench above the flat ground this elevates the bed and provides better drainage. My process has been planting my asparagus crown around the same depth you planted the strawberries. Then I add a couple inches of mulch. Speaking of mulch I use mushroom compost for most beds hay doesn't have as many benefits or great water retention, the worms go crazy for mushroom compost. Cheers Marko
I have harvested loads of asparagus along back roads under fences planted and fertilized and deposited by bird droppings. By the time you see where the asparagus ferns is it beyond prime so remember for next year where it was .......... and tell nobody. 🌱🌿🌱
I planted asparagus seeds in mushroom mulch last year in the spring and my ferns this year were 5 feet tall. I sampled them this year and they were amazing.
Frank Katzenberger Mushroom compost is the best for tomatoes! Im just unlucky that here in Houston Tx, is not sold anymore,which sucks! but if you can keep using it in your gardening it awesome!
It will work fine. You can do it without digging! Lay strawberries and asparagus cover it works! Use the old asparagus ferns you don't use at the end of the season for your paths. Encourage you to add another Storey above can't remember where you are but may be grapes? Perennials, fruit cordons, ground cover canopy...shade mushrooms. Get excited for you! You got exiting day's a head! Need a fruit and nut hedge all around your growing area. Thanks for sharing good stuff!
I was only thinking about you the other day and checked out if I had missed out any postings. Glad to see you back. Hope everything is going well. Can't wait for the next posting
Fascinating! We had asparagus crowns a few years ago. They did great the first 2 years, but failed in the third. We moved them to a better part of the garden, but that sealed their fate. I've decided to invest in the future of my garden in a big way, part of which entails growing asparagus again...from seed! Wish me luck!
5hanks for the encouragement. Now I'm glad I planted asparagus, though it was a year ago already. Now I wish I would have tasted the scrumptious spear when it was only 4 inches tall.
I planted asparagus back in 2016 and by now have very nice yields every spring. But a word of caution, in a few years their foliage will be so dense in the summer that it completely shades out the strawberries. No ground cover survives past June in my asparagus patch. Once that happens, you can however plant tomato plants every year along the south facing side of the asparagus patch.They will happily climb through the dense jumble of asparagus ferns and lean onto them for support. Cucumber or squash should work too, but asparagus draws a lot of water from the soil.
We grew Asparagus for over 20 years and just replanted the bed 2 years ago. We should start getting some Asparagus again this year. I top dressed it with composted horse manure over the Winter and top dressed it w/ hot chicken manure this Spring.
You’re still alive !😂 Just had to tell you ! First crop of potatoes under hay. So easy! Cardboard--old horse pooh- seed--wait-- potatoes!!! Thanks for the inspiration guys. My 200 square feet of garden is now 700 square feet and expanding still. I’ve never worked so little for so much. Wish I could send you a picture
good video!! Three years ago, I bought maybe 5 crowns of asparagus...at $15-20 for those. I'm in growing zone 7. It's just the 2 of us and we're "older", and we were playing/hoping. Now, 3 years later (it actually might be 4?) we are seeing at least 25 plants and enough produce for us to enjoy for a meal, or a snack in the yard. And for us, that's fine. I don't want to can or freeze it...but this year, first time, we have had enough to make bacon-wrapped asparagus with enough for us to be full of it, not merely contented. We don't have room for strawberries with the asparagus, and that's fine. We're on a 1/4 acre lot just outside of town. Thank you for your videos! (and we too garden with deep old hay mulch. It's just the best)
The time, energy and talent you devote to visuals, as well as thorough explanations, is greatly appreciated. The typical format of talking in front a camera simply isn't helpful to novices like myself.
You always do such a great job explaining what you're doing and why! Both with the graphics and the commentary, plus shots of the actual plants -- makes it really easy to understand what's going on, even for those of us gardening newbies :-)
Homegrown asparagus is the best. I eat them all raw. This was my 3rd year and I got quite a nice harvest with plenty left to grow. It is the no 1 vegetable I have ever grown.
omg, we have a hell of a time keeping the wild strawberries in check here! And i have left some large vines that seeded themselves into my raised beds to see if we end up getting some good yields eventually.
In my 8th year of strawberries and asparagus companionship in a raised bed under black weed barrier. Phenomenal asparagus harvest every year with only 5 plants and a ton of strawberries too. Since the barrier keeps the strawberries from re-rooting to an extent, I have relocated many of the offshoots (daughters) around my blueberry bushes in a retaining wall, in pots, and in the neighbors yards as well. The only problem we have here in RI are the chipmunks eating the strawberries. I don't mind sharing a few, but they never really seem to finish one. They take a few bites and grab another. Gluttonous! So I (shhh!) relocate them to a nearby park, just a mile or so away. If they ever make it back, I guess they deserve a few berries. Would definitely do this again.
Very true you need to start today instead of regretting later why didn’t I do it. We have done same with cassavas which can take 3-4 years to be ready and enjoyed our first harvest last year and every year since with succession planting. We have to make most of every moment.
I planted some crowns in my Greenhouse raised bed last year, I found Cucumbers and other Vines grow well with them because they climb and can be trained easily not to crowd out the light for other plants. Gonna Do Melons and Cukes with the Asparagus this year.
Dude! This enjoy this video for so many reasons. -First of all, the way you say "sorry". Ha! -The fun animations! -The fun with words you had. -Plus the info. VERY creative! Thanks for sharing your talent.
I grew up in south east Kansas near an old cemetery. Every road leading to the cemetery had asparagus in the fence rows. Floral decorations taken to the cemetery used asparagus plants as part of the flower decorations. So we thought we would move a particular plant with really broad nice spears closer to home. It did not work well. They survived but were small spears like the rest on our property. There was something in that particular fence row that produced those amazing asparagus spears.
Another excellently produced interesting learning video. That's going to look like a beautiful ornamental garden when they come up. Your soil is so rich, your labors pay off. Looking forward to the next video. 😊👍
My asparagus shoots 4 inches or so high..my strawberries have blooms..my patch is 4 years old. Asparagus is very easy to start from seed..makes a nice hedge fern like..give it a special place in your garden and let it alone..I use pine needles for the top dressing of the entire bed.
Such a fuss to plant asparagus! Mine went I as you do. I did a shallow trench, planted the roots, covered it up, watered with fertilizer tea, covered the rest in compost and mulch. The asparagus is Very happily producing over a decent season. We have nasty, shallow clay and a rather lazy gardener.
Thank you. I did plant asparagus early this year. So -if everything works well- I'll only have to wait two more years. Coming spring I'll give them those nice companions, the wild strawberries. Plenty of them are growing in another part of the garden, I can take cuttings
For anyone interested in reading more about this digging technique, it's called Double Digging. Also, be sure to let the asparagus fern complete its life cycle without cutting any stalks for the first year or two. It uses all that energy to build up its roots which then allows the stalk to come back bigger the next year.
@@theoldstro So up to 6 feet to be considered double digging? No that is not what double digging is lol. Gran is correct and it would be double digging. Maybe even triple digging lol
In the early to mid 1930s asparagus was grown in dozens of acres in Cearfoss Maryland until about the early 1960s. The fields have never been tilled up that i know of just farmers bail hay from it. Still to this day certain times of the year you can fill a 5 gallon bucket up in under an hour with asparagus. If you get there before anyone else that is.
Last year I planted some asparagus basically the same way, and eventually most of them came up. This year, they came back up, but still only 1 spear/fern each. I also planted some more this spring and so far 2 of maybe 10 came up. I got them from canadian tire right when they got them in stock, picked the heaviest thickest packages... and they were still like dried up strings inside of paper tubes when I planted them.. Yours looked atleast a little lively.. My strawberrys, also from CT were also pretty lousy. I too have the wild ones though and am letting them send runners into the asparagus beds. I find when they grow in new beds the berries are larger.
I'm so jealous you live in such a rich area! I'm from the southwest, and it takes me years to MAKE soil out of dusty rock and sand. And rain..... well, sometimes. lol. You are blessed.
In Ohio we have the opposite problem. Clay! We could make dishes and bowls out of it. At least we can add gypsum and other amendments. What can you do make soil? Compost?
@@mosart7025 , we also suffer clay... It has dried and fossilized becoming caliche. Our clay makes good Adobe bricks though. Haha. But yes, I mark out our new section and start layering organic matter like the lasagne method.... Topped with wood chips. I wait a year or so to plant in it. But it really works!
I've just found your channel and started watching from where you moved onto your farm, good videos:) I remember reading Ruth Stout's gardening books back in the 70's. one of the things I remember her talking about was virgin soil. She started planting rye when that was ripe she would plow that in and plant barley. This was followed by alfalfa. I think she said this could be done in one season.
Asparagus is easy and pretty permanent. Get it started and walk away. My patch I started about 7 years ago starts shooting stalks out of the ground early April and if I keep it picked it produces all summer although when it gets hot it slows down.
I'm so glad I found this video. I did exactly this during the spring unknowingly and thought I'd made a terrible mistake later. Ha! Now I'm just going to leave it alone and see what happens.
I love your videos: I love how you explain the method and ideas behind the method in each video. I can't wait to find out if your strawberries came up!
I threw seeds on the ground behind some flowers a couple years ago and they came up skinny and small the first year and this past year cam up medium and tall. I am guessing next year I will be able to harvest some. Oh, and I covered the seeds with lots of mulch.
This is close to my plan for organic asparagus beds. I will till a 60inches wide X 324 inches long bed, adding lots of organic matter, then plant asparagus crowns 12 inches apart & 6 inches deep. The bed is 5 feet wide to give the crowns lots of room & 27 feet long for 25 crowns. The strawberris are a filler to shade the beds, because we will cover the beds with Hardwood chips to feed the Wine cap myceluim, which will compost the chips for us & all we have to do is shade the mycelium, feed more hardwood chips or wheat straw & water. Oh & eat the mushrooms that comse with the flush. Oh, asparagus only needs to be buried deep in the soil only if you want white spears, if you like green spears, 6 to 8 inches is fine. If the Wine Cap mycelium works as good, as I have read, then my crowns will be in 12 inches deep in less than 10 year.
I planted my asparagus basically the same way, dig, remove rocks, flip and plant. Of the 10 Mary Washington plants, I got 8 to survive and after ten years, they are amazing! I don't over pick, let them bush naturally, and every year now getting asparagus about as thick as my thumb. Great fresh from the garden, raw or cooked. Only use leaf and grass clippings to keep the weeds away.
Ha! 😀I use to flip the sod when I was a teenager using the same logic. Strawberry plants need light. Because of the mulch, check often. Then clear a space for them. The Asparagus spears can seek the light much easier than strawberry plant.
Just a tip from a guy who has been gardening for 40 years: If you want to turbo charge the growth of your patch cover it in two inches of horse manure (fresh is fine and often free from stables if you have a truck). Do this at planting and in the fall every 2 years and don’t bother digging in. Then cover with straw as normal. Thank me after you try it.
Your concept is so cool, I'm so glad to have ran into this channel. Very helpful and thorough, most of all very simple. All you need now are bees! Thank you for sharing all your knowledge, you both are doing humanity a great service. Keep up the great work!
Always enjoy it when there's a new video from you. I could imagine the strawberries probably don't like being covered by a thick mulch, the asparagus just grows through it.
I did this a few years ago. Strawberries needed constant help to keep up with the weeds and never really spread much for me. Eventually the weeds won out. Asparagus did fairly well for a number of years but didn't survive last winter as we had a colder one that usual. Not sure if I'm gonna try again next year or just go with another perennial. I should note that our "soil" is horrible. 100% clay. I did asparagus when I first got the property to farm on and didn't really know what I was doing. Domestic strawberries are nowhere near as prolific as their native counterparts in poor soil. If I try it again I will amend heavily and be relentless on the weeds. I did find growing chives with asparagus and strawberries helped fill a weed void, but alas I discovered this too late.
I don't have much asparagus, but what I do have is in the middle of a strawberry bed. My original asparagus planting, many years ago, mostly failed, but a few plants survived. When I decided to put strawberries in that location, I couldn't bear pulling out the asparagus. My experience is that they're not really very good companions, space-wise,, because the asparagus grows in a clump that eventually takes up a lot of room. The strawberry runners are not long enough to route the to the "other side" of a row of asparagus. However, the strawberries that are overhung by the feathery fronds of the asparagus seem less likely to be chewed on by rabbits and deer. But they also are somewhat shaded and not terribly productive. And oh, that fresh raw asparagus is heavenly to eat. I've never cooked any homegrown, just eaten it raw while standing in the garden.
I bought strawberries crowns once, soaked them and planted them. They never came up. Was disappointed. But on the other hand the strawberries I grew from seed had a great germination rate and thriving very well. Great video
Thanks so much to share your research and experience. We will be getting back to the country side in a year or two and will be definitely starting a garden again, but this time in a much better way, thanks to you two!😀
I have asparagus growing in the middle of my strawberries and it works very well but I keep the asparagus area clear. My very well established asparagus now continues to give me spears until the end of June. My strawberries best month is June and they also have a lot of foliage and do very well but I would not be able to see them well if they were mixed together and I also might step on the young spears and crowns which are very delicate. Also, I think you planted the strawberries too deep. Anyway, we only learn by doing, so good on yah!
hey guys i have grown 6 varieties of strawberry and i wanted to tell you i always start mine in a grow cup mostly just a solo cup with a drainage hole in the bottom most of the varieties need warm weather and a bit of sun . great videos love the ruth stout method i have been watching all your videos
I tried this in 1of my Hügelkultur bed last year, after I built them. Not 1 single plant took. Seriously didn't get anything. I replanted the asparagus crowns this spring, I got 1 plant that got an inch tall then died. I added a whole new section to my garden this year and build a new bed that's compost then top soil and compost mixed. I have tomatoes in it now but will be planning asparagus seeds in it next year. Hopefully they will take there. P.S. I did a quarter of my fence last year and a quarter of it so far this year, your not the only one procrastinating.
![The Wall Song ร้องข้ามกำแพง | EP.213 | กรีน อัษฎาพร | 3 ต.ค. 67 [1/5]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3KrlLbCsadI/mqdefault.jpg)
Chinese Gardener says "The best time to plant a fruit tree is 20 years ago, 2nd best time is today!"
This is great wisdom.
Never did like the layout of that saying. I think "Best time to plant a fruit tree is ASAP. (20 years ago if possible)" sounds better.
My 18 year old cherry and plum trees are bearing nicely now. I add to my orchard every year.
cute
Yeah I'm sure Confucius said it himself, in English
Soooo true!
3 years. And most of my asparagus never even makes it into the house. It is so tender and sweet that a lot of it is eaten raw in the garden.
Pamela Gerber if You eat raw asparagus from the store it tastes disgusting, but homegrown is so damn good Both raw and cooked
Raw is so delicious, right from my yard!!! It tastes like garden peas to me a little. I wish the growing season where I live was longer, so I could have it more.
Last summer I had my first home grown asparagus. I totally fell in love with it because it’s so so so sweet. Then after the season, I was still craving for asparagus so I bought one pack in the store. Cooked as usual then after one tried, I couldn’t it anymore. It ruined my meal 😢 taste terrible!
lol so true
Yum yum, I can imagine
I’m getting close to harvesting this year’s asparagus crop from a bed that I helped my dad plant 45+ years ago- so worth a three year wait!
I uprooted my first year asparagus and forgot to plant it properly in my new garden. I left it exposed on the ground during winter and had inadvertently covered it with mulch/soil in the new bed. It came up on its own this spring to my surprise. I couldn’t even remember where I left it and thought it will just decompose. So there’s random asparagus in my new plot now and I didn’t even try hard to plant it, LOL.
I grow asparagus and strawberries together in a 4’ x 8’ raised bed. I mulched with hardwood chips. It works great because, as you stated, the asparagus sprouts first, the strawberries flower during and fruit after the asparagus is finished. We also inoculated with wine cap mushrooms. I had a nice harvest of berries and mushrooms after only 1 year and am letting the asparagus mature for another year before harvesting anything.
This Spring I was given 6 Asparagus crowns, not knowing where I should plant them in my garden I tossed them into a large pot. Next winter, I'll move them into my strawberry patch and see what happens.
Today's modern farming Conventional Wisdom says you must till, amend and till some more then spray with chemical fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides until nothing grows but the desired GMO enhanced crop you desire. I'll take unconventional wisdom any day.
Thanks for posting.
This is why I try to get the long-term perennial parts of my garden in ASAP. Because the invest takes time to pay dividends.
What other plants where you thinking about adding? We're just starting our journey this year (two hugulkultur beds done so far).
Punky if nothing else, you're keeping live roots in the ground that attract beneficial microbes, and that is always a good thing.
@@tiberiumnp8030 It might be easier to list all the perennials that one should avoid, because there are a *lot* of good ones. Even many types of flowering bulbs are good for your general soil health. And they're very low maintenance.
Be careful with members of the mint family; they have a remarkable tendency to spread all over the place within a couple years. Which is fine in your garden area, but might really piss off your neighbors if they want a lawn that looks like a putting green and suddenly one spring their yard is full of mint. ;)
@@tiberiumnp8030 try stinging nettle
@@dystopiagear6999 Oh, I would love to have a yard full of mint!!
I remember collecting asparagus with my dad. It grew wild in the ditches. One of my favorite memories.
I planted Asparagus in compost and was able to harvest a bit in the 2nd season. I did none of the digging you outlined. I hope you enjoy your asparagus bed, they are a joy.
Did almost exactly the same thing this spring, also planting some asparagus from seed. I just did it the other way around, 2 rows of asparagus on the outside, spaced approximately 1.5 feet apart, strawberries in the center.
I bought the asparagus plants in large pots, dug a deep hole, amended it it some horse manure compost and topped it off with a thin layer of straw.
I also planted a few tomatoes in the middle as I didn’t have enough strawberry plants. Until now all is looking great! The tomatoes are shading out the asparagus somewhat, but the small plants from seed don’t seem to mind. The already 1 year old asparagus just send shoots up through the tomato plants that are growing „wild“, without staking or pruning.
I think mother nature will take care of the rest. 😄
I have strawberries and asparagus growing together in my townhouse garden. It is small, but has been working fine. I bought some crowns and some seeds. Both have grown well. I don't harvest and eat as much as I could, but I really love the fronds when they open and been over the other plants. It helps like a mulch, but has lower risk of fungus. The berries don't produce lots, but they spread each year more and more. That's encouraging, but the few berries attract lots of slugs and snails.
Asparagus and strawberry, never thought about it. A beautiful investment with life long returns. U know these two are costly In the market. Thanks for the video. Your way of treating soil is great.
I miss my Asparagus plants! I planted some in my old property. They were in the beginning of year three, when I had to relocate for work. I never did go back to drive by the property to see if they have continued to grow or not. One of these days, I'll have a plot of land big enough that I can grow it again!
I have successfully grown asparagus in a no-till bed. I mulch with compost (wood chips, horse manure, green material and veggie scraps.) and companion with strawberries, which was just a happy coincidence.
Harvested my first batch of asparagus today. 2 yr crowns planted 2 yrs ago. Walking back to the house I was surprised about the strong smell and the amount of water that was coming out of them. Buying from the grocery they are always dry at the stem. Pretty cool.
My daughter bought asparagus plants last year (late spring) that were already started...she stuck them in a part of the garden we didn’t use or really maintain. They grew and she had a few to eat the first summer.
Fast forward to yesterday...second spring...cold and still flurries....but I was thrilled to see lots of asparagus popping up an they are stronger and thicker this year. There is even a lot more! We didn’t do anything, except add some 99 cent a bag soil from Walmart to plant them! :) so thrilled! Want to buy more plants!
my patch of asparagus is about 30 years old (if not older), still spreading and still producing well.
Even though you are the narrator of this channel, I love how you always use the word "We" when talking about what you and your wife have done in your garden.
It's small, but very sweet and telling to your attention and care to your relationship. Power team garden!!! I hope I can own a house and land to garden/homestead with my partner one day
Great info here. The only thing that concerned me was planting the asparagus crown that deep. I build the mound on top of my trench above the flat ground this elevates the bed and provides better drainage. My process has been planting my asparagus crown around the same depth you planted the strawberries. Then I add a couple inches of mulch. Speaking of mulch I use mushroom compost for most beds hay doesn't have as many benefits or great water retention, the worms go crazy for mushroom compost.
Cheers Marko
I have harvested loads of asparagus along back roads under fences planted and fertilized and deposited by bird droppings. By the time you see where the asparagus ferns is it beyond prime so remember for next year where it was .......... and tell nobody. 🌱🌿🌱
I planted asparagus seeds in mushroom mulch last year in the spring and my ferns this year were 5 feet tall. I sampled them this year and they were amazing.
Frank Katzenberger
Mushroom compost is the best for tomatoes! Im just unlucky that here in Houston Tx, is not sold anymore,which sucks! but if you can keep using it in your gardening it awesome!
@@mezleona that is an understatement... My pink brandywine beefsteak plants are 7ft tall. We have a guy who sells 10 tons delivered for $180
@@mezleona I am near conroe and New Earth Compost sells mushroom compost. Landscaping supply places often have it too. Happy growing.
@@mezleona try Nature's Way they have pretty good stuff and are located in Houston
Frank Katzenberger are you in Texas?
It will work fine. You can do it without digging! Lay strawberries and asparagus cover it works! Use the old asparagus ferns you don't use at the end of the season for your paths. Encourage you to add another Storey above can't remember where you are but may be grapes?
Perennials, fruit cordons, ground cover canopy...shade mushrooms. Get excited for you! You got exiting day's a head! Need a fruit and nut hedge all around your growing area.
Thanks for sharing good stuff!
Ruth Stout rocks!
I have strawberries planted with asparagus And it's easy to grow! I only dug down a few feet and I have delicious asparagus. The purple is the best!!!
Two months waiting for the video and now will be two years waiting for the asparagus? Just kidding, you two are amazing, thank you for all the videos.
I was only thinking about you the other day and checked out if I had missed out any postings. Glad to see you back. Hope everything is going well. Can't wait for the next posting
Fascinating! We had asparagus crowns a few years ago. They did great the first 2 years, but failed in the third. We moved them to a better part of the garden, but that sealed their fate. I've decided to invest in the future of my garden in a big way, part of which entails growing asparagus again...from seed! Wish me luck!
5hanks for the encouragement. Now I'm glad I planted asparagus, though it was a year ago already. Now I wish I would have tasted the scrumptious spear when it was only 4 inches tall.
Just popped into say that your videos have really helped me with my own gardening and for first time ever...
I GREW MY OWN GARLIC!!!
I planted asparagus back in 2016 and by now have very nice yields every spring. But a word of caution, in a few years their foliage will be so dense in the summer that it completely shades out the strawberries. No ground cover survives past June in my asparagus patch. Once that happens, you can however plant tomato plants every year along the south facing side of the asparagus patch.They will happily climb through the dense jumble of asparagus ferns and lean onto them for support. Cucumber or squash should work too, but asparagus draws a lot of water from the soil.
We grew Asparagus for over 20 years and just replanted the bed 2 years ago. We should start getting some Asparagus again this year. I top dressed it with composted horse manure over the Winter and top dressed it w/ hot chicken manure this Spring.
What an educational and yet very funny video to watch. Thank you.
hi. great vid, I've tried this Companion Planting Asparagus and Strawberries and it's been working pretty well
You’re still alive !😂
Just had to tell you ! First crop of potatoes under hay. So easy! Cardboard--old horse pooh- seed--wait-- potatoes!!!
Thanks for the inspiration guys. My 200 square feet of garden is now 700 square feet and expanding still. I’ve never worked so little for so much. Wish I could send you a picture
good video!! Three years ago, I bought maybe 5 crowns of asparagus...at $15-20 for those. I'm in growing zone 7. It's just the 2 of us and we're "older", and we were playing/hoping. Now, 3 years later (it actually might be 4?) we are seeing at least 25 plants and enough produce for us to enjoy for a meal, or a snack in the yard. And for us, that's fine. I don't want to can or freeze it...but this year, first time, we have had enough to make bacon-wrapped asparagus with enough for us to be full of it, not merely contented. We don't have room for strawberries with the asparagus, and that's fine. We're on a 1/4 acre lot just outside of town. Thank you for your videos! (and we too garden with deep old hay mulch. It's just the best)
The time, energy and talent you devote to visuals, as well as thorough explanations, is greatly appreciated.
The typical format of talking in front a camera simply isn't helpful to novices like myself.
You always do such a great job explaining what you're doing and why! Both with the graphics and the commentary, plus shots of the actual plants -- makes it really easy to understand what's going on, even for those of us gardening newbies :-)
Homegrown asparagus is the best. I eat them all raw. This was my 3rd year and I got quite a nice harvest with plenty left to grow. It is the no 1 vegetable I have ever grown.
Thank you very much. I wish I could have seen your videos in my younger years; especially for asparagus.
I just decided to terrace my hillside and plant strawberries and asparagus... this video has just helped cement that decision
omg, we have a hell of a time keeping the wild strawberries in check here! And i have left some large vines that seeded themselves into my raised beds to see if we end up getting some good yields eventually.
In my 8th year of strawberries and asparagus companionship in a raised bed under black weed barrier. Phenomenal asparagus harvest every year with only 5 plants and a ton of strawberries too. Since the barrier keeps the strawberries from re-rooting to an extent, I have relocated many of the offshoots (daughters) around my blueberry bushes in a retaining wall, in pots, and in the neighbors yards as well. The only problem we have here in RI are the chipmunks eating the strawberries. I don't mind sharing a few, but they never really seem to finish one. They take a few bites and grab another. Gluttonous! So I (shhh!) relocate them to a nearby park, just a mile or so away. If they ever make it back, I guess they deserve a few berries. Would definitely do this again.
Very true you need to start today instead of regretting later why didn’t I do it. We have done same with cassavas which can take 3-4 years to be ready and enjoyed our first harvest last year and every year since with succession planting. We have to make most of every moment.
I planted some crowns in my Greenhouse raised bed last year, I found Cucumbers and other Vines grow well with them because they climb and can be trained easily not to crowd out the light for other plants. Gonna Do Melons and Cukes with the Asparagus this year.
Yeah you guys are missed awesome video as always 🇨🇦🇨🇦🛠🛠🛠
Dude! This enjoy this video for so many reasons.
-First of all, the way you say "sorry". Ha!
-The fun animations!
-The fun with words you had.
-Plus the info.
VERY creative! Thanks for sharing your talent.
I grew up in south east Kansas near an old cemetery. Every road leading to the cemetery had asparagus in the fence rows. Floral decorations taken to the cemetery used asparagus plants as part of the flower decorations. So we thought we would move a particular plant with really broad nice spears closer to home. It did not work well. They survived but were small spears like the rest on our property. There was something in that particular fence row that produced those amazing asparagus spears.
Dead bodies
Sooooooo glad to see you post again! I always learn so much.
And where were you and all this wonderful info 50 years ago when I began gardening . . . LOL God bless you, your family and pets.
Another excellently produced interesting learning video. That's going to look like a beautiful ornamental garden when they come up. Your soil is so rich, your labors pay off. Looking forward to the next video. 😊👍
My asparagus shoots 4 inches or so high..my strawberries have blooms..my patch is 4 years old. Asparagus is very easy to start from seed..makes a nice hedge fern like..give it a special place in your garden and let it alone..I use pine needles for the top dressing of the entire bed.
Such a fuss to plant asparagus! Mine went I as you do. I did a shallow trench, planted the roots, covered it up, watered with fertilizer tea, covered the rest in compost and mulch. The asparagus is Very happily producing over a decent season.
We have nasty, shallow clay and a rather lazy gardener.
Thank you. I did plant asparagus early this year. So -if everything works well- I'll only have to wait two more years. Coming spring I'll give them those nice companions, the wild strawberries. Plenty of them are growing in another part of the garden, I can take cuttings
For anyone interested in reading more about this digging technique, it's called Double Digging. Also, be sure to let the asparagus fern complete its life cycle without cutting any stalks for the first year or two. It uses all that energy to build up its roots which then allows the stalk to come back bigger the next year.
It would actually be called single digging. Double digging would go down one more level.
I'm all about the fern baby! 2nd year was nice 3rd year was much better!!
@@theoldstro So up to 6 feet to be considered double digging? No that is not what double digging is lol. Gran is correct and it would be double digging. Maybe even triple digging lol
In the early to mid 1930s asparagus was grown in dozens of acres in Cearfoss Maryland until about the early 1960s. The fields have never been tilled up that i know of just farmers bail hay from it. Still to this day certain times of the year you can fill a 5 gallon bucket up in under an hour with asparagus. If you get there before anyone else that is.
Last year I planted some asparagus basically the same way, and eventually most of them came up. This year, they came back up, but still only 1 spear/fern each. I also planted some more this spring and so far 2 of maybe 10 came up. I got them from canadian tire right when they got them in stock, picked the heaviest thickest packages... and they were still like dried up strings inside of paper tubes when I planted them.. Yours looked atleast a little lively.. My strawberrys, also from CT were also pretty lousy. I too have the wild ones though and am letting them send runners into the asparagus beds. I find when they grow in new beds the berries are larger.
So crazy. I just planted asparagus and strawberry in the same bed. How ironic to find this video a few hours later. Thanks for sharing. 😊
I'm so jealous you live in such a rich area! I'm from the southwest, and it takes me years to MAKE soil out of dusty rock and sand. And rain..... well, sometimes. lol. You are blessed.
In Ohio we have the opposite problem. Clay! We could make dishes and bowls out of it. At least we can add gypsum and other amendments. What can you do make soil? Compost?
@@mosart7025 , we also suffer clay... It has dried and fossilized becoming caliche. Our clay makes good Adobe bricks though. Haha. But yes, I mark out our new section and start layering organic matter like the lasagne method.... Topped with wood chips. I wait a year or so to plant in it. But it really works!
So much better than store bought.
I've just found your channel and started watching from where you moved onto your farm, good videos:) I remember reading Ruth Stout's gardening books back in the 70's. one of the things I remember her talking about was virgin soil. She started planting rye when that was ripe she would plow that in and plant barley. This was followed by alfalfa. I think she said this could be done in one season.
The crown is the node where all the roots meet. The crown is where the shoots will originate from.
This channel gives so much motivation to plant something, event if you don't even know if it will grow.
Asparagus is easy and pretty permanent. Get it started and walk away. My patch I started about 7 years ago starts shooting stalks out of the ground early April and if I keep it picked it produces all summer although when it gets hot it slows down.
Planted some last year, so this year I will be doing the first cuttings
I'm so glad I found this video. I did exactly this during the spring unknowingly and thought I'd made a terrible mistake later. Ha! Now I'm just going to leave it alone and see what happens.
I have used your tips and i learned alot from you, Going to harvest my crops this fall!! Love your channel!
I love your videos: I love how you explain the method and ideas behind the method in each video. I can't wait to find out if your strawberries came up!
Those strawberry crowns really needed some sun.
I threw seeds on the ground behind some flowers a couple years ago and they came up skinny and small the first year and this past year cam up medium and tall. I am guessing next year I will be able to harvest some. Oh, and I covered the seeds with lots of mulch.
This is close to my plan for organic asparagus beds. I will till a 60inches wide X 324 inches long bed, adding lots of organic matter, then plant asparagus crowns 12 inches apart & 6 inches deep. The bed is 5 feet wide to give the crowns lots of room & 27 feet long for 25 crowns. The strawberris are a filler to shade the beds, because we will cover the beds with Hardwood chips to feed the Wine cap myceluim, which will compost the chips for us & all we have to do is shade the mycelium, feed more hardwood chips or wheat straw & water. Oh & eat the mushrooms that comse with the flush. Oh, asparagus only needs to be buried deep in the soil only if you want white spears, if you like green spears, 6 to 8 inches is fine. If the Wine Cap mycelium works as good, as I have read, then my crowns will be in 12 inches deep in less than 10 year.
I planted my asparagus basically the same way, dig, remove rocks, flip and plant. Of the 10 Mary Washington plants, I got 8 to survive and after ten years, they are amazing! I don't over pick, let them bush naturally, and every year now getting asparagus about as thick as my thumb. Great fresh from the garden, raw or cooked. Only use leaf and grass clippings to keep the weeds away.
Ha! 😀I use to flip the sod when I was a teenager using the same logic.
Strawberry plants need light. Because of the mulch, check often. Then clear a space for them. The Asparagus spears can seek the light much easier than strawberry plant.
Just a tip from a guy who has been gardening for 40 years: If you want to turbo charge the growth of your patch cover it in two inches of horse manure (fresh is fine and often free from stables if you have a truck). Do this at planting and in the fall every 2 years and don’t bother digging in. Then cover with straw as normal. Thank me after you try it.
Just planted my asparagus this year. Can’t wait until the first harvest!
Tucking this one into the toolbelt. Thanks for another example of polyculture companion planting!
Thanks for an other inspiring video. We’ll be starting the stout method after harvesting.
Why do all canadians have infinite wholesome energy?
I dug up a male and two female asparagus plants I found in the wild and planted them in the fall 2 years ago. I have had asparagus every spring since.
Glad to see your content back Please keep it coming!
Love your videos! Love the animations, background information and detailed steps, simply amazing! Well done...
MAN, Your Soil looks great!
Your concept is so cool, I'm so glad to have ran into this channel.
Very helpful and thorough, most of all very simple.
All you need now are bees!
Thank you for sharing all your knowledge, you both are doing humanity a great service.
Keep up the great work!
Yay another video!! Sure miss you guys!!
It grows without any help in the weeds along fence lines. And is very productive.
Just ate my first homegrown asparagus this morning and it was literally the best asparagus I've ever tried
Always enjoy it when there's a new video from you. I could imagine the strawberries probably don't like being covered by a thick mulch, the asparagus just grows through it.
Ive eaten wild asparagus and wild strawberries. Holy Moly Delicious! Even gnawing on the thick stem of the asparagus to suck out the water. Yum!
It does turn out well, I did this 2 years ago and both asparagua and strawberries grow very well
Beautiful video man, with some even greater knowledge
Your natural soil looks great for gardening.
I did this a few years ago. Strawberries needed constant help to keep up with the weeds and never really spread much for me. Eventually the weeds won out. Asparagus did fairly well for a number of years but didn't survive last winter as we had a colder one that usual. Not sure if I'm gonna try again next year or just go with another perennial. I should note that our "soil" is horrible. 100% clay. I did asparagus when I first got the property to farm on and didn't really know what I was doing. Domestic strawberries are nowhere near as prolific as their native counterparts in poor soil. If I try it again I will amend heavily and be relentless on the weeds. I did find growing chives with asparagus and strawberries helped fill a weed void, but alas I discovered this too late.
I don't have much asparagus, but what I do have is in the middle of a strawberry bed. My original asparagus planting, many years ago, mostly failed, but a few plants survived. When I decided to put strawberries in that location, I couldn't bear pulling out the asparagus.
My experience is that they're not really very good companions, space-wise,, because the asparagus grows in a clump that eventually takes up a lot of room. The strawberry runners are not long enough to route the to the "other side" of a row of asparagus.
However, the strawberries that are overhung by the feathery fronds of the asparagus seem less likely to be chewed on by rabbits and deer. But they also are somewhat shaded and not terribly productive.
And oh, that fresh raw asparagus is heavenly to eat. I've never cooked any homegrown, just eaten it raw while standing in the garden.
I bought strawberries crowns once, soaked them and planted them. They never came up. Was disappointed. But on the other hand the strawberries I grew from seed had a great germination rate and thriving very well. Great video
I love how you speak. All the alliterations.
Honestly the best channel on TH-cam!
Thanks so much to share your research and experience. We will be getting back to the country side in a year or two and will be definitely starting a garden again, but this time in a much better way, thanks to you two!😀
I have asparagus growing in the middle of my strawberries and it works very well but I keep the asparagus area clear. My very well established asparagus now continues to give me spears until the end of June. My strawberries best month is June and they also have a lot of foliage and do very well but I would not be able to see them well if they were mixed together and I also might step on the young spears and crowns which are very delicate. Also, I think you planted the strawberries too deep. Anyway, we only learn by doing, so good on yah!
hey guys i have grown 6 varieties of strawberry and i wanted to tell you i always start mine in a grow cup mostly just a solo cup with a drainage hole in the bottom most of the varieties need warm weather and a bit of sun . great videos love the ruth stout method i have been watching all your videos
My asparagus love green beans planted with them.
That's good to know! Thanks💞
I tried this in 1of my Hügelkultur bed last year, after I built them. Not 1 single plant took. Seriously didn't get anything. I replanted the asparagus crowns this spring, I got 1 plant that got an inch tall then died. I added a whole new section to my garden this year and build a new bed that's compost then top soil and compost mixed. I have tomatoes in it now but will be planning asparagus seeds in it next year. Hopefully they will take there. P.S. I did a quarter of my fence last year and a quarter of it so far this year, your not the only one procrastinating.