Asparagus

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23333, 29 April 1939, Page 10 (Supplement)

Asparagus

One groat advantage of catting down asparagus at, tfois time is that the beds can be mulched! before they become too weedy. Moreover!, it is easier now to control asparagus beetle and rust. With rust, the foliage/ should be cut down before any needles fall and the infected material must be t burned at once. It is advisable to cut tine stems below ground level, so that no/snag is left to serve as a source of irafection the following season. As the asparagus beetle spends the winter among 1 , rubbish it is well to destroy the foliagie before the insects have an opportunity to escape. The female planus may be recognised by tho crops of berries. These berries should not be allowed to ripen and drop on to the soil for unprofitable seedlings will appear. leaving removed the old foliage, the bedfs shquld be cleared of weeds and be Covered to a depth of three inches witty some half decayed manure. In the case of heavy soils, "omo earthing up may bije done as well, so that frost may act <jbn the ground and make it friable. As', the crowns grcv larger, they naturalWy require more soil to cover them and jBo the ridges along the rows become hjigher. These need be no source of wojrry. Owing to tho growth of the planfts in summer, the soil often falls aware, so that by the time the foliage is 'fut down the ridge may have practicality disappeared.