Asparagus Will Repay You For Attention Now

Press, Volume C, Issue 29679, 24 November 1961, Page 10

Asparagus Will Repay You For Attention Now

At this season ot year there’s no doubt that asparagus is appreciated. The gap in continuity ot vegetables is a feature which must be planned for. And in a dry season, such’ as we are having, the absence of spring vegetables seems even more marked than usual. Asparagus really comes into crop at just the right time! Asparagus tends to grow itself, but there is such a thing as leaving it to look after itself too much. A little encouragement always pays dividends, whether you are dealing with children or asparagus.

Perhaps the most important job to be attended to in the near future is a dressing of artificial fertiliser. Applied after cutting it will improve this season’s growth and so improve the prospects for next year's crop. Asparagus works hard for you, and all those succulent shoots represent minerals extracted from the soil. This is where you have to come in, replacing them.

There is a good deal of discussion amongst growers about the correct time to apply fertilisers. Some claim before cutting, others claim after cutting. But get it on! Experimental work shows that the fertiliser analysis which gives best results consists of about 1:2:1 of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash. This analysis is given by the following mixture: lib of blood and bone; ¥.lb of sulphate of ammonia; %lb of superphosphate; and ¥4lb of sulphate of potash. Mix it all together, and apply it at ¥ilb per square yard of bed. It will be well worth while. Asparagus is a very longlived crop—if you let it And one of the commonest causes of a short life for an asparagus bed is invasion by perennial weeds. Groundsel and shepherds purse don't really matter, for they can be quickly removed, but once weeds such as twitch or Californian thistle get a hold, it’s serious. Part of your maintenance should be almost automatic —remove all bits of perennial weed which you notice when cutting. Weedkillers are all very well for the commercial man, but on a home-garden scale their use on the asparagus bed is usually an admission of neglect. Five minutes spent with a fork, carefully lifting the perennial weeds which do start, are repaid manyfold in future years.

Cutting should not continue too long if your bed is a new one. An established bed has a cutting season of from six to 10 weeks, but a new or two-year-old bed should have no cutting season at all! It is much more important to get a well-established root system that will produce good crops in future years than get a bit of early cutting. Those early shoots you cut are the future growth shoots whose activity decides the amount of growth a plant makes. So resist temptation this season, and reap the benefits next year!