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growing asparagus in the Southwest?
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Posted by frdnicholas Albuquerque NM (My Page) on Sat, Apr 15, 06 at 15:02
| I am thinking about growing asparagus here in Albuquerque. Do they do well here? I have a brick/cement wall that is on the east side of my yard, so it gets sun all day. Would the bed be okay next to that wall? I didn't know if the heat that the wall retains would be too much for the asparagus. I would dig into the soil about a foot deep and add aged manure and compost as I can. Is there anything else that would be good to add before I put them in? How late into the season can I plant them, with the kind of heat we have during the summer? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: growing asparagus in the Southwest?
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| I am in Albuquerque. i planted asparagus, this is their third year and they have started to yield although I am told that they come into full production in year four. We worked lots of compost into the soil before, and added more each spring. They probably did not get as much water as is optimum last summer but we flooded them this year in February. Best, -stu |
RE: growing asparagus in the Southwest?
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| Stu, Where did you get your asparagus? On another post, someone said that the Walmart kind may not produce well. Do you know when the plant does produce, where the edible part comes from on the plant? |
RE: growing asparagus in the Southwest?
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| Sorry I never answered your post, did not get emailed to me for some reason. We got ours from Cook's Garden but they are available from multiple sources. It's the Purple Passion variety, a variant of the standard New Jersey strain. You get most of the spears coming up in early/mid-spring, I harvested about the last of it just this morning. The spears emerge from the bottom, you can't miss 'em! Followed by emergence of the feathery foliage and the seed berries, the latter feeds the root mass so keep em intact till they dry up in the fall when you can trim them. It can be done here in Drought Land; I had em on a soaker system starting in spring. Best, -stu Stu, Where did you get your asparagus? On another post, someone said that the Walmart kind may not produce well. Do you know when the plant does produce, where the edible part comes from on the plant? |
RE: growing asparagus in the Southwest?
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| I am guessing that it's too late in the season to plant now. Would it be best to plant in Sept-Oct? If so, can I prepare the area now with compost and manure, or wait until I'm ready to plant? What kind of sun exposure and how many hours a day do your asparagus receive? I am very grateful for your help. I would love to have this be successful. What kind of pest problems, disease do I need to watch for? |
RE: growing asparagus in the Southwest?
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| I don't know that it's too late to plant now as long as you can keep the bed moist. However it might be hard to obtain the plants now; I notice that Johnny's stops shipping after April. As to fall planting I would say you are better off waiting till the spring. My Asparagus bed receives about 8 hours sun a day, it's shaded by a plum tree in late afternoon which I think is a good thing in view of the hellish late afternoon sun here. I have had no pest problems at all. I have quite an extensive garden in town and, if you wish to you can email me directly at: ironcloudz@hotmail.com. -stu |
RE: growing asparagus in the Southwest?
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| When we lived in the Four Corners area, zone 5 or 6, asparagus grew very well. Once it's established it speads to all corners of the garden. Nothing wrong with that! |
RE: growing asparagus in the Southwest?
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| Hi, I have always wanted an asparagus bed. I have a place in the backyard that I have said for years would be a perfect spot. But I am not sure if anyone has any suggestions about which variety(ies) would be best. Actually, I was wondering if asparagus is asparagus is asparagus. Are all the various varieties about the same in quality of taste or are some sweeter or nuttier or whatever? I was also interested to know if the heirloom varieties (like tomatoes) produce better tasting shoots. I just love asparagus and I am sure as long as you get good crowns from a relliable nursery you shold be happy with what you get. But what is the difference between the various Jersy varieties and the others? I live in SoCal z8b and did not know if one variety was more suited for my area. I live fairly close to the ocean so it is usually very cool in the spring here (low 50's at night and 70sh during the day) until June. It cools off in October and we usually get frost at some point during the winter. Thank you in advance for any assistnance you might be able to provide me. Tom |
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