Communal Asparagus Field
Our communal asparagus patch was planted in May 2012 when Sasha arrived at the garden with 200 plants donated from her parents asparagus farm in Canarvon. What a wonderful addition to the garden! We allocated some space, weeded, sorted retic, bought in some compost and got planting. The patch did amazingly well for the first couple of years. We didn't harvest any spears to allow the crowns to grow stronger. We had to move the patch to the current position in May 2014 because of our new boundary fence - but the asparagus continues to thrive!
We had the first official harvest in December 2015 and celebrated with a communal brunch of boiled eggs from the chooks, pesto from the Buds n Blooms bed and delicious, tender asparagus!. A huge thank you to Sasha Wray who manages the asparagus patch and her family who donated the seedlings and provide invaluable advice and support. Please keen an eye on our facebook page to find out when our community harvest time is. It's important to follow Sasha's instructions on when to harvest, slash and compost so we can make the most of our fantastic asparagus patch! Asparagus plants are perennial and grow from an underground crown. We cut the ferns back in spring and then a couple of weeks later the spears grow and we harvest them. Over summer we allow the ferns to grow and strengthen the crown for the next harvest. |