Time is against me. I have to pack all of July’s gardening chores into two weeks. And there is a surprising amount to do when you aren’t ambling your way through the month, dodging raindrops. When you are up against it, you work through the raindrops.
I think I work best with a deadline. There is absolutely no room for procrastination which is my biggest nemesis and thief of my time. Unfortunately sustained high activity isn’t actually sustainable or I’ll burn out and collapse in a heap on the ground, unable to get up for days and days. Although I have given myself a bit of a shock with how much I have managed to do so far this July. This also makes me think I didn’t make the best use of June. I took the attitude “It’ll be fine, I have all winter…” But that winter is slipping away quickly and it doesn’t help that we lose two weeks, for an exciting getaway, a working holiday. I’m not complaining, it’s just…
Check out my latest update of life in my garden.
Come again soon – you’d be surprised just how much there is to do July.
Sarah the Gardener : o )
Awesome update and thank you for sharing and have a blessed day
Thanks Linda. Have a fab week.
Cheers Sarah : o )
What a great tip for using the re-bar and bamboo sticks. I just love your handy dandy mind in the garden, makes me feel as if we’re gardening friends.. Lots of bamboo sticks popping out of my garden as well.. Enjoy your working holiday, and look forward to next weeks video..
Take care from Laura..
Oh and p.s. I just love the wire helpful tip for the newly planted asparagus.. I have to make a few of those for my garden.. thanks so much for the tip.. But, it’s going to be hard not to eat them for a few years.. So, its lovely to hear you can nibble a few in the 2nd year.. woo hoo.. I can’t wait..
awah shucks Laura. I normally just try things and tweak each season until something works. They say necessity is the mother of invention… Have a fab week.
Cheers Sarah : o )
Oh and it is so worth the wait with the asparagus, they taste so very good fresh!
Sarah, thank you for your return comments. I’m looking forward to our first dish of steamed asparagus. yummmy
I think I may have to find some space for asparagus!!
Oh I have to tell you that minutes old asparagus is one of the sweetest, most delicious things I have ever eaten. You’ll never want to eat store bought again. Go on – pop some in somewhere.
Cheers Sarah : o )
I will have to keep my eyes open at the garden centres!! Thanks!
It can be overwhelming at times with the garden! I am impressed with how much you take on.
Thanks Virginia. The rewards are definitely in the eating. It is so lovely to able to eat fresh veggies, so it is worth it in the end.
Cheers : o )
Definitely. Though we’re struggling with our garden this year. Good thing we’re not reliant on it!
We were thinking of planting asparagus for years but the commitment for a specific space kinda scared us……thank you, this post gave me the boost I needed! bring on the spring!!!! I am looking on Kings seeds website, there are 3 green asparagus not sure which one to choose. what asparagus did you plant? or if many which did the best? cheers
🙂 Dina
Hi Dina. That is so exciting that you are going to try asparagus. You won’t regret it. My original aparagus came from crowns from the ‘red shed’ and some were boys and some were girls. You don’t get to choose – but boys do fatter stems and girls have seeds. I filled my gaps with seeds from the girl plant.
Crowns are better than seeds because it saves you a year of waiting.
I think mine were Mary Washingtons and they are yummy! Have a look at garden centres as they have crowns in July/Aug.
If you have any other questions let me know, I’d be happy to help you out.
Cheers Sarah : o )
Thank you so much. so excited. bring on the spring 🙂
Hi Sarah,
we almost there, found the spot we will dedicate to the asparagus, found some crowns and seeds but we cannot get our head around an important question. weed control especially since we have lots of Kikuyu, strawberry weed etc.
keep the garden without weed for a season is a mission but years???
we’ll appreciate your advice
cheers
Dina
Hi Dina
Sorry I have taken a few days to get back to you – but I am currently away from the garden and not able to check my emails every day.
It must be such a pain to have kikuyu grass in your garden. I would suggest for your asparagus maybe a raised bed and maybe some kind of weed barrier that goes down into the soil attached to the inside. I would go for something solid as kikuyu roots can go through weed mat – I’ve seen it! Then make sure there are no roots within your bed before you plant your asparagus. This should keep it out.
However you will get weeds coming in over the top from the wind and bird poop, but what I do is once a year I put a new layer of compost on the top of the bed once I cut the fronds down and I have found it is best to keep this fluffy and not let it get compacted. Compacted soil is realty hard to weed. So every so often I go over it with my hand fork and rake it up a bit. This makes it easy to remove the weeds when they are little. Don’t let them establish as once they put roots down they are so difficult to dig out without harming the asparagus. Mulch is also a great solution.
So fluffy soil, a good mulch and weed often while the weeds are little. I am finding by doing this I am actually getting less weeds appearing, but they will never be completely gone.
All the best with your asparagus.
Cheers Sarah : o )
Hi Sarah,
thank you for your encouragement. kikuyu is a pain…..before having any tomato plants in sight we will spray between the raised beds and maybe even put some metal. it is the winter period, that I don’t really get to do much in the garden, worry me, but I am going to stop worrying and just do it :). got 10 crowns the other days, lots to do in the garden now. exciting times 🙂
thank you
Dina 🙂
Hi Sarah,
The crowns in the garden bed, doing well, spears turning into ferns.
Got seed that germinated, cute little seedlings.
I was asking around if I should transplant them to the garden bed? The cells they growing in are pretty small…..everywhere I look there is mention of planting crowns no mention of seedlings.
so today i got some potting mix and bigger pots to transplant the seedlings into. they will be enough room until next spring, protected from those birds.
But…. not convinced, what do you do with the seedling? wait until they form a crown or……?
I might experiment since I have 13 seedlings….since it is an investment for years to come I is quiet stressing 🙂 testing my patient and confidence.
appreciate your help
cheers
Dina
Hi Dina. When I grew asparagus from seed I started them in a deep pot, because I was told the roots go down first before the tops pop up. Then once they were at the stage it seems yours are at, I transplanted them into some deep 10 cm diameter pots and left them in there for until they were about a year old, feeding and watering them regularly. Take care when transplanting them as the tender wee roots are actually quite fragile. You could probably transplant them into an even bigger pot between this transplant and planting them in the garden, but I didn’t get around to it and so come time to plant them (in July – mid winter) they were the same size as the 1 year crowns for sale in the stores. Using this method I now have some asparagus grown from seed in my garden that has now passed the 3 year threshold and I can eat as much as I want! It worked just fine. I’m sure you will be fine too. As I live in a damp swamp (and I can’t help but grow things from seed) I sowed some each year for a couple of years in case any didn’t make it. Next year will be the first year they all are ‘mature.’ You will be fine.
Cheers Sarah : o )
thank you so much for your support, Sarah. First job tomorrow morning, I prepared 15cm+ diameter pots, looking forward to it, now that I have an answer from experience 🙂
I’ll upload some exciting photos of the garden after mission completed.
thank you =D
I look forward to seeing your progress, before you know it you’ll have more than you know what to do with. I have a great recipe for pickled asparagus I can share with you.
Cheers Sarah : o)
I’ve uploaded asparagus post (with a little surprise for you) and the rest of the garden as a gallery.
my husband can eat half a kilo of asparagus to one meal……so I doubt if I will need to pickle them but good to know you have a recipe, hope I’ll have to many one day =D