The passing of Asparagus Exasperation

Last night as the sun was setting, I got closer to getting caught up in the rush of our first spring planting at Chicken Thistle Farm. Not caught up mind you - just closer. I got in 2 - 20' rows of about 30 total asparagus crowns... 20 of which came from my folks and 10 from Tractor Supply. The challenge here was the fact that I didn't really have anywhere prepared as bed space so I had to resort to some grassy yard and field locations. If asparagus were a "normal" veggie - this would be an ongoing maintenance challenge... but asparagus is not an "normal" veggie.
See, asparagus, although not officially classified as a halophile, does tolerate a lot more salt than other plants. As a matter of fact there's a fair amount of research that suggests salting your asparagus beds may actually help reduce the native pathogens that impact crown growth and sustainability. Furthermore, salt concentrations that make asparagus happy without destroying the soil viability are toxic to most grasses and plants. What's all that mean?
Short version - I backhoe-ed my rows into field where lots of field grass-weed-stuff will want to grow because the soil had not been prepared - so - I will be spreading several handfuls of rock salt over the beds as soon as I see the tips emerge as a 100% natural week killer. Simple and safe...
Now with 30 crowns in the ground and a bucket of rock salt in the wings - the only really difficult part of this project is going to be NOT harvesting any shoots this year! They need some time to grow, store starch in their crowns and get ready for the table, freezer and farm market next year.

Comments

[Jeph]

Hey! I've got 40 crowns (20 green, 20 purple) that came in a bundle order, and I'm also not prepared... I hadn't heard about the salt trick... I need to get the tiller out and put in my asparagus patch, probably sharing some of the crowns with coworkers since that's probably way more asparagus than I'll eat in a season (Brett doesn't touch the stuff).

Did you plow in any compost or anything else?

[Andy & Kelli]

I'm finding the soil out here is VERY rich and DEEP too.

So - no - I didn't augment the bed with anything... I did layer a lot of old straw on top of most of it... and will continue to keep that up each fall.

I also read somewhere that in addition to salting - burning the stalks down in the fall keeps any of the nasty beetles from getting a stable population in the patch. I don't know that I'll practice the "flame on" concept - but it is an option I guess.

Don't salt until the shoots have emerged.

[How does your garden grow? | C]

[...] asparagus patch here is also very happy – mulched with the wood shavings from the chicken brooder… very [...]