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| Asparagus started in a trench from seed and on drip irrigation at The Orchard |
Q. I planted asparagus crowns in March at at
depth of 12 inches. They are in a pit and my plan was to cover the shoots with
soil, an inch at a time, as they grew. Well, they grew rather sporadically so I
didn’t want to inadvertently bury a new shoot…so I never backfilled the pit to
the level of the surrounding soil. Currently, I have about five shoots (out of
12 crowns) that have ferned. The crowns are about two inches underground and
about 10 inches below the level of the surrounding soil. Is it OK to backfill
the remaining 10 inches at this point? Or would that damage the plants? On the
watering, there’s no set schedule. Just keep the ground moist, but not too
damp, at a certain soil depth, correct?
level. The problem you have now is that the crowns have adjusted to this soil
level and I would be worried that completely covering the crowns might damage
what you have already. When you begin to backfill, mix in plenty of compost
with the soil you are using for backfill.
+compressed.jpg) |
| Asparagus started from seed and the trench is all filled in. The asparagus spears are not harvested the first year from seed. Spears are allowed to grow and fern out to help get the crowns established. |
Dont just use desert soil. Make sure
the soil is loose and can drain easily. Remove any large rocks so that these
rocks do not cause the spears to emerge damaged or interfere with their
emergence. Part of the sporadic emergence, I would guess, would have been your
watering or how the soil drained. Asparagus loves to grow along streambanks or
irrigation canals. It is an oasis plant so to speak and loves the same
environment as palms, grapes, figs and even pomegranates. I hope this helps.