Why You Pick Asparagus Every Day, Chickens, + a Bear Update

Missed a few days of harvesting, and look what happens!

Asparagus is one of the most resilient permanent food crops you can grow. Harvest time begins in mid-spring, and asparagus produces reliably whatever the weather. 

But beware: don’t leave your garden when it’s ready! 

Recently, we were away for three days for a family commitment…and returned to our asparagus patch going bananas! 

Generally, you want to pick a spear when it’s the most tender and flavorful: about 6 or 7 inches high. 

You can even go maybe 10 inches…but any spear taller will lose flavor and texture. And as you see, going 3 days without picking, most of the spears in my patch were too mature to harvest. 

It’s not wasted food, however; the tall, unharvested spears will develop into a fern structure, which feeds the asparagus crowns below the surface of the soil—creating a robust crop for the next season. 

Asparagus is super easy to grow, you simply keep your patch weeded, mulch it over the winter, and watch for slug predation. Your spring reward is to enjoy 6 or so weeks of fresh asparagus! 

This past month has been unusually chilly and rainy—yesterday, about 50 degrees and at least a 1/2 inch of rain. And while the spears’ growth slows down, it’s still robust!

Yesterday’s harvest in a 50 degree downpour!

Asparagus does have one pest…Last May, I had a severe asparagus beetle infestation. While the bugs are only about a half-inch in length, they can do a lot of damage. Early in the season, I had a whole bunch of inedible spears. 

The simplest way to deal with asparagus beetles is to hand-pick the beetles (it’s not too bad, not like dealing with slugs!) and dispose of them in a container of vinegar. 

A few weeks ago, I found 5 beetles in my patch. Into the vinegar they went, and all I could think of was, oh, no, not another infestation!  

Credit: University of Minnesota Extension

But all my beetle management last year had paid off. All I found were those 5. And there you have another reason to pick your asparagus every single day…so you can check for beetles.

As I write this, we’ve had 3 days of solid rain and counting. Which means the Foothills’ weeds have gone as bananas as the asparagus. And now my patch is full of horsetail again. So as soon as the clouds break up, that’s where you’ll find me, yanking on that pesky horsetail…

In Other News:

Little Farm in the Henhouse, my new book, is now available in ebook and print! 

It’s full of practical tips and strategies for healthy, productive and content laying hens. Since the book’s release May 1, it hit Amazon’s Top 100 for several days in its ebook category, #66!

If you love chickens, and like “free,” you can request Little Farm in the Henhouse at your local library!

If you’re in the mood for a shorter read about laying hens, I’ve created a little bonus ebook featuring Miss Broody, my favorite hen—it’s in my Little Farm Writer Chicken Issue…where everything is free and open to the public to read. 

The May issue has an update about “our” neighborhood bear, though I don’t want to claim this destructive critter as “ours” in any way!

But back to chickens…you’ll find more about “Henhouse” at susancolleenbrowne.com !

Asparagus Beetles, Part 2 —Tips to Prevent an Infestation

Photo credit: U of M Extension Service

I recently discovered asparagus beetles in my garden…and a great website from the University of Minnesota Extension that shares what you can do about them.

If you do find these unmistakable spotted buggers in your home garden, you can hand-pick them. Since I’m an old hand at bug-picking, I had no problem with hand-to-hand asparagus beetle combat. 

(More in my April newsletter, the Little Farm Horror Movie, including my free mini-ebook about tent caterpillars.)

Keep in mind, however, that capturing the beetles is not a one-and-done operation. Like with tent caterpillars, you may need to pick the beetles all through the insects’ life cycle. 

For asparagus beetles, that could be the length of the growing season.

The U of M Extension people recommended tossing the beetles into soapy water, but I’m allergic to almost all soaps and detergents. So as soon as I went outside, I poured a small amount of apple cider vinegar into an empty yogurt container, added an equal amount of water.

Prepared for the long haul—i.e., all summer—I clambered over the rabbit fencing into the asparagus patch started in.

There were a LOT of beetles. Although they’re small, I wondered how could I have missed them before. And worse, these beetles can fly!

Which complicates your capture; you’d reach for a beetle and off they’d go. It reminded me of days of yore, when wily caterpillars would wiggle away just as you tried to grab them, and they’d fall into the grass where you couldn’t see them.

But on the plus side, these beetles aren’t in the least bit squishy, so a win.

The website said to pick in the afternoon, while the bugs are most active. So I spent about 20 minutes picking in the middle of the day, make another turn around the patch in the early evening, then one last pick shortly before sunset.

I probably got 30 or 40 bugs that first picking, and put a lid on the container before I quit for the night. The next day, upon fetching my container, I discovered the beetles were still swimming!

Okay. These guys were tough. Stronger measures were required. I got another container, poured in a measure of full strength white vinegar, and went at them.

Asparagus beetles chewing on my veggies!

With all the stalks they’d damaged, many shriveled and inedible, I found a strange satisfaction in picking these bugs. I felt even better when I got a two-fer: grabbing two beetles as a time when they’re engaged in…um, making beetle babies.

So for four days, I picked three times a day. Then the next four days, I picked twice a day. I think by now I’ve caught a couple hundred of them.

And you know what? It works! After my intensive picking, I've been finding only one or two in the patch, then after that, nothing!

However, I’m keeping in mind that I might have just picked the first generation of beetles, and their life cycle could be starting all over again. But here’s the beauty of keeping an organic garden:

Helpful pests!

I’m not crazy about all the ants we have everywhere--in the garden, in the  yard, and in the woods. But when I found lots of beetles on an asparagus stalk, I also would find loads of ants busily working over the stalk too! My guess is, the ants were feasting on the beetle eggs.

With the beetles gone (for now, and fingers crossed for the rest of the summer), the spears look healthy and robust again. New tips are pushing out of the soil every day, just as they should. Because of the earlier damage, I’ve only harvested about half or even a third of the number of spears I normally would. I want to make sure the crowns keep their vigor.

Healthy spears again!

So the asparagus patch will be thick with ferns this summer. It’ll be more difficult to weed, that that’s a trade-off I can live with!

I’ll keep inspecting the beds—as I indicated above, I wouldn’t put it past these beetles to create at least one or more generations over the summer. I didn’t exactly need yet one more garden job, but there you are.

I did learn one more crucial beetle management tip: Maintain your asparagus bed in the off season.

Over the winter, you must clear all the dead foliage and other debris. Leaving it in the bed provides shelter for overwintering pupa.

So as it turns out, my bad. This past winter, the foliage stayed vigorous, right up until the first of a series of severe Northeasters here in the Foothills. So I didn’t clear the asparagus bed until March.

Still, after all this bug-picking this summer, you can bet the entire area will be clean as a whistle next winter!

If you enjoyed this post, you can find more about homestead-style gardening and “homesteady” living in my monthly Susan Colleen Browne newsletter—it's free and open to all, so there's no need to subscribe to read it…

The latest issue: "Homestead Diary & A Tale of Two Irish Movies." I hope you’ll take a look!

~Susan

Trouble with Asparagus, Part 1

Asparagus is super easy to grow for the home gardener. Once the crowns are established, keep your bed weeded, give it lots of compost in the fall, and mulch it well for the winter. By mid-spring, you’ll be rewarded with a bountiful harvest!

But while very hardy, asparagus can be vulnerable to pests. In my garden, I just discovered a very destructive one. The good news is, the remedy can be simple! 

Read on for more about raising asparagus…

Ten days ago, my asparagus crop looked terrible. And it seemed to look worse with each passing day.

The first spears of the season are normally very robust. Starting around the first of May, the smooth asparagus tips are vigorously pushing out of the soil, greenish white and purple-pink around the edges, the spears a healthy dull green.

Not this year. The tips were curled over, and looked like they’d been chewed on, exposing the tiny buds that should turn into ferns. The stalks seemed to have tiny bites taken out of them. And whole spears were turning yellow and shriveling. 

Slugs?

Slugs are the usual culprit at our place when it comes to damaged asparagus. Only there were two problems with my slug theory: first, this month has been so dry I’ve seen exactly one slug in the yard instead of hundreds. And second, slug damage will affect individual spears, one at a time.

Slugs eating spears here and there doesn’t affect the vigor of new tips emerging. And at the beginning of a normal harvesting season, sometimes I’ll be picking 20 spears each day. And more on hot days.

What was odd about this May’s crop was that the entire crop seemed slowed down. There would be maybe seven or eight spears of harvestable size each day, all of them damaged.

It didn’t look like slugs, but I sprinkled some suitable-for-organic-gardens iron sulfate around the bed anyway, like a moat.

The next day, I was in the bed for more discouraging harvesting, when I saw two black and red spotted bugs about 1/8 of an inch long, parked on a small leaf next to a spear.

I’d read about pests that attack asparagus, but didn’t pay much attention. I’d never had a problem all our years raising asparagus. But now, I had to do something; my formerly vigorous crop was shriveling right before my eyes!

As soon as I was inside, I Googled asparagus beetles.

The first prompt was “Asparagus beetles in home gardens.” I clicked on it, and pulled up the University of Minnesota Extension site. I was raised in Minnesota, so this was my lucky link...

Photo: University of Minnesota Extension

Well, BINGO. The U of M Extension photo showed beetles that looked exactly like the pair I’d just seen.

On the site I discovered pretty much everything a home gardener would need to know about asparagus beetles. I’d already seen the beetles can wreak a lot of havoc. But I learned the damaged spears won’t develop properly into the fern stage, when the crown is rebuilding over the summer and fall months. As a result, your crowns can be permanently damaged.

Still, an organic remedy for an asparagus beetle infestation is simple...I'll be back next week for more about how to manage this pest!

Until then, have a wonderful week, and I hope you get to spend lots of time in your garden!

~Susan

Tips for your Spring Food Garden--Crop Cultivation

Asparagus tip just emerging

If you live in a cool, maritime climate like ours--the Foothills of the Cascade Mountains in the Pacific Northwest--spring gardening season is just getting into gear! 

I mentioned last week that the students in my homestead-style gardening class had lots interesting questions and comments. As promised, here's the second installment of class FAQ's about spring gardening.

It’s a temptation to buy veggie starts as soon as they show up at the garden center or local nursery and put them in the ground as soon as possible. Keep in mind that retailers often keep their starts in a protected area that’s usually warmer than the conditions in your garden.

As a result, your newly planted babies can have difficulties thriving in their new home. The lesson is, when your area is experiencing a very chilly, wet spring, try not to be in too big a hurry to plant!

Here at our house, it's showery and 45 degrees. So I'm in no rush to get more sensitive crops in the ground! Happily, crops like asparagus will grow even in cool weather--just more slowly than warmer years.

More on asparagus, specifically newly planted asparagus crowns: one student was concerned that none of her asparagus had broken ground yet. We planted 10 asparagus crowns last spring, and I noted that the stalks were much slower to show up than the established asparagus.

This second year, the tips of our new crowns didn’t appear until about 10 days after the established crowns showed up. However, the location of the new bed is probably slightly cooler—a little bit further away from the gravel paths that likely bring a bit more heat to nearby garden areas. Which could account for the slower start.

I also suggested that she watch for slugs: we had 4 or 5 new crowns that died the first season, because slugs were eating the tiny stalk heads as soon as they emerged.

Strawberries: It’s a bit late to plant new strawberry crowns—in early spring is more optimal. If you want to have a steady strawberry crop, you might consider planting a bed every year or two. I’ve found that new crowns do better in a fresh bed—not one where you’ve already been growing the berries.

The first summer of the new crowns, remove the flowers as they appear. This way, the plant can put more energy into root growth, rather than fruit production.

Also, keep in mind strawberry plants will bear high quality fruit for only about 3-5 years. They are susceptible to viruses that will deplete the plant over time—after several years, the foliage becomes sparse, and the berries shrink. At our place, our strawberries bear for only 3 years, tops.

Garlic: I’ve found it’s super easy to grow. I plant the cloves (what’s called seed garlic) in November, top dress with lots of leaves and compost, and the tops will emerge in mid-March the following spring.

Garlic in May--it likes lots of mulch!

In early summer, hardneck garlic will send up seed heads, called “scapes,” which can be harvested and eaten. If you don’t eat the scapes, cut them out anyway. They are taking energy away from the garlic heads below ground.

Keep in mind there’s a wait for the heads to fully develop before harvesting. Keep an eye on your garlic early to mid-summer as the lower leaves begin to die back. When 5 leaves are pretty much withered, your crop is probably ready to pick—at our place, that’s the 3^rd week in July.

Onions: You can plant sets, starts or seeds. I am not experienced with growing onions from seed, so I can’t speak to that. But if onion seeds take as long to sprout and get established as tomatoes, I’m guessing you’d need to start your onion seeds indoors, in late winter.

Years ago, John and I began growing onions from “sets.” Sets are small onions that are slightly larger than pearl onions, and are a little more resilient than starts. But a number of years ago, when I started buying my veggie starts locally, I found sets harder to source.

So I began buying onion starts—they’re slender little stalks with very little root mass, so they need cool, very damp soil to survive. Mulch them well, to keep the soil as moist as possible.

I used to plant my onion starts in May, when I sowed my other root crops. But despite deep mulching, these little starts really struggled in the warmer, drier soil of mid-spring. I would end up losing about ¼ of my crop. I changed my planting time to early-mid April, and have had much better success.

Permanent Plantings:

If you’re bringing new perennials, shrubs and trees into your garden, consider waiting to buy them until early fall. Given the extra watering new plants require, it’s harder to establish them in summertime. Plus, if you’re a city dweller, water can be expensive!

We lost 2 new elderberry shrubs that John planted just weeks before our region’s record-breaking heat wave. If waiting until fall to plant doesn't work, the next best option is early spring.

Rocks! If you’re digging garden beds for the first time, depending on your soil, you may also be forced to harvest an unwanted crop: rocks!

One couple in class was frustrated with the quantities of rocks they had to pull from their new planting beds. They already had piles and piles of rocks, and asked, “What do we do with them all?”

Our acreage is located in an area with very rocky, gravelly soil, so I totally sympathize. When we dug our new garden, we too unearthed vast numbers of rocks. I am lucky to have wild areas nearby: I tossed many wheelbarrow loads down the steep slope bordering our yard; I also piled many behind a huge log (a souvenir of the clear-cut) just outside our fence.

And true confessions: While digging new ground our first year, I also piled a single layer of rocks on the south side of our yard, because I didn’t have the energy to cart them off—and they are still there!

I suggested to the couple that if they had room in their yard, they could construct a dry stream bed as kind of landscape feature. Another possible remedy: if nothing else, you can leave the piles for wildlife habitat!

This was the silver lining behind the unsightly pile of rocks I created years ago. Good garden friends--like toads and salamanders that eat bugs--will enjoy the heat. Garter snakes will also live under the rocks and eat mice and voles that would otherwise devour your crops!