Asparagus is a perennial vegetable, the cultivation of which is not difficult for a beginner gardener. The unpretentious culture is so great that earlier it was often served to the table of monarchs, so the plant is still called the royal vegetable. Caring for it does not require special skills, which means that every summer resident can successfully grow a culture.
Agrotechnics Growing Asparagus
There are 100 varieties of plants known, each with differences in taste and appearance. The most popular is asparagus. It just grows and has a pleasant taste. One bush bears fruit up to 20 years and each root throws up to 50 shoots that can be eaten. In addition to them, the plant gives inedible fruits in the form of red berries.
Adult asparagus (also called asparagus) reaches a height of 1.5 meters and is absolutely not afraid of Russian frost, which adds to its popularity.
Edible parts contain a lot of useful substances, such as iron, calcium, ascorbic acid, copper, phosphorus, sodium, beta-carotene and other trace elements in small quantities. All of these vitamins are undeniably important for the life of the human body.
Like other crops, asparagus is grown in two ways: planting in the ground and sowing for seedlings. For those who first want to try to grow a royal vegetable, they recommend planting in the ground. This approach makes maintenance easier. It is important to use quality planting material, to purchase it from a trusted supplier. You can ask for advice from an experienced gardener.
Sowing seedlings is characterized by the complexity of the process and the complexity. They say that such vegetables have a stable immunity, they easily tolerate cold and other climatic adversities. Starting to grow asparagus, it should be remembered that the crop on the table for the first time appears only after 3-4 years. After adaptation, the vegetable does not require special care, so many gardeners are happy to plant it in their plots.
Growing Asparagus from Seeds
The process can be slightly accelerated by pre-preparing the seeds. They are soaked in warm water for 7 days. The fluid is replaced daily. Before planting, it is advisable to wash the seed with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
Processed and swollen seeds spread on a damp cloth and wait for the sprouts. With the appearance of greenery up to 1-3 mm high, the transfer of culture to a box or individual containers begins.
The plant rises for a long time after planting, do not worry prematurely. The first seedlings may appear 3-6 weeks after sowing.
Sowing seeds
Growing from seeds is considered difficult due to poor germination, but this is a misconception. With proper preparation, asparagus sprouts well and difficulties are extremely rare.
In the second half of April, they make a land mixture for sowing, mixing the following components: peat, manure, sand and earth in a ratio of 1: 1: 1: 2. At the same time, they begin to prepare seeds (the technology is described above).
Prepared material is placed in a box in rows. The distance between the wells is preferably 5-10 cm. Water is not poured into the pit, previously soaked and sprouted seeds are laid out and covered with soil. From above the area is sprayed with a spray gun and covered with film or glass, creating a greenhouse effect. This is not necessary, but helps plants hatch and strengthen faster. It is necessary to moisten the soil with crops regularly. The coating is removed with the advent of the first shoots. It is important that the air temperature is kept at +26 ° C.
How to dive
Asparagus pick is necessary in case of sowing in a box or other seedling capacity. When planting germinated seeds in the ground, the procedure is not needed.
If the plants have grown, they are often transferred to a bed or to a large container when they reach 10-15 cm in height. Each bush should be 10 cm from the other. When transplanted, the roots of the asparagus are slightly cut, as they grow strongly under the surface of the soil.
A few days after the picking, the vegetable is fed a universal mineral fertilizer. After a week, preparation for landing in the ground begins. Asparagus is quenched, taking out briefly on the street, gradually increasing the duration of stay in the air.
Growing at home
Asparagus is known to lovers of indoor plants as asparagus. This is the only form that can be kept in the apartment. A powerful branched root system does not allow the vegetable to fully develop in cramped conditions.
Potted plants do not give edible shoots and is used for decorative purposes.
Outdoor Asparagus Planting
To grow asparagus in the open field, you need to choose a suitable place. The vegetable is photophilous, therefore, sunny areas protected from wind and drafts will do just fine. It is important to take into account the sensitivity of plant roots to overflow, therefore, the culture is slightly raised above the bed, leaving grooves in the aisles. Asparagus feels good against walls or fences.
Landing in the open ground is associated with a number of preparatory work that needs to be done in advance.
Dig up the soil, clear of weeds, debris, small stones. The selected area is fertilized with organic matter at the rate of 50 kg of humus per square meter.
Landing time
Prepared seedlings or seeds are planted at the same time. Plantings are made in spring or autumn on a prepared fertilized area, well warmed up by the sun. Vegetable is planted in May or September, the choice of a gardener, there is no fundamental difference. The main thing is that the earth is warm enough.
Outdoor Landing Technology
Planting seeds or seedlings in the ground is practically the same. The only difference is that the already grown bushes will not need to be planted, dive and perform other work to care for young shoots described above. The method of cultivation has little effect on the growth and development of culture, in any case, the first crop will need to be expected for at least 3 years.
Regardless of the method, the distances between plants can withstand large. When planted with seeds, the material is not greatly buried (1-2 cm) and creates greenhouse conditions, covering the crops with a film and slightly spraying with water.
Seedlings are planted seasonally with slight differences.
Spring planting
When planting in May, preparatory work should be performed in advance and the plants should be transferred to the ground until the start of bud growth. Since the roots of the asparagus grow strongly, they dig a hole 30 cm deep, and the root system of plants is carefully laid in it. Between the bushes, the distance should be at least 0.5 meters. Aisles on average leave up to 30 cm, but if there is free space, you can slightly more so that the roots do not get confused. After planting, the culture is abundantly watered and sprinkled with dry earth on top so that a crust does not form.
Autumn landing
Differences from the spring are only in the choice of fertilizers for the soil and the depth of rooting. To feed the soil, a mixture of superphosphate, potassium sulfate and ammonium sulfate is used in a ratio of 1: 1/2: 1/3 per square meter of the landing site. Chemicals inject, carefully dig and loosen the earth.
Landing under the winter is more superficial. The distances between the rows and plants are identical, but it is not worth digging 30 cm, 10-15 cm will be enough. A hill will be created above the asparagus, which will protect it in cold weather.
Outdoor Asparagus Care
For any plant, care includes components such as suitable soil, proper watering and timely fertilizer. Knowing the preferences of a particular species, gardeners get a rich harvest with minimal effort. As for asparagus - this is an unpretentious vegetable, characterized by resistance to frost.
Priming
The culture is saturated with vitamins and substances useful for humans, so the soil for planting should be appropriate, nutritious sandy loam type.
A plot is being prepared for spring planting in the fall. Having cleared the area of dry plants and herbs, make a deep digging, immersing a shovel by 0.5 meters. At the same time, fertilizers and compost of 15-20 kg per square meter are introduced into the ground. Of chemicals, 70 g of superphosphate and 40 g of potassium sulfate are used, in the same area. As soon as the snow melts, the land is harrowed and 60 g of ash and 20 ammonium nitrate are added.
Watering
Immediately after planting, during the adaptation period, asparagus should be watered frequently. Over the course of 2 weeks, the plant is moisturized frequently and abundantly, gradually reducing the amount of moisture. After making sure that the asparagus has begun, watering is reduced to once a week. In dry periods, irrigation is performed daily. The soil in the area where the vegetable is planted should always be slightly moist. Neglecting this recommendation, you can get fibrous shoots with a bitter taste.
Fertilizer
If the asparagus was planted without preliminary preparation of the site, then after the first weeding, you need to add nutrients. To do this, mix slurry with water in a ratio of 1: 6. A little later, after about 3 weeks, they feed the bushes with a solution of bird droppings and water in a proportion of 1:10. Before preparing for wintering, the plant is fertilized for the last time using a ready-made mineral complex.
If the land was prepared in advance, then in the first year after planting, fertilizing is not needed.
Asparagus forcing in winter
In the cold, you really want vitamins and herbs. Such a healthy vegetable as asparagus will come in handy in early spring or winter. There is a method of growing plants in a greenhouse. To do this, in the autumn, dig up the roots of adult plants (5-6 years) and place them in a cool place, for example, in a cellar. The temperature should be kept at +2 ° C.
In the early days of winter, the roots are planted in a greenhouse, quite closely, up to 20 bushes per square meter. The bed is sprinkled with humus and covered with a film. The temperature is maintained to +10 ° C, and after about a week it is raised again to +18 ° C. The entire ripening period maintain the thermal regime unchanged.
Water the plants often, but little by little. Immediately after irrigation, the upper layer of soil around the trunk is loosened.
Diseases and Pests of Asparagus
Asparagus is a strong plant with good immunity. It is rarely exposed to disease, and with proper prevention, pests bypass it. Sometimes there are problems with novice gardeners, we will consider them in detail.
Problem | Manifestation | Remedial measures |
| Rust (fungal infection) | Stops the development of the plant, slows the appearance of shoots. | For treatment and prevention, drugs are used. Topsin M, Topaz, Fitosporin. |
| Fusarium (root rot) | The bush slowly withers and dies as a result of overflow. | |
| Rhizoctonia | The disease appears when growing carrots in the immediate vicinity. Asparagus rarely affects. | |
| Leaf beetle | A small beetle eating a plant. | As protection, sprayings are made with the vegetable-friendly drug Karbofos. |
| Fly | A species of insect eating holes in young shoots of asparagus. | |
| Slug | Danger to the whole bush. |
Mr. Summer resident informs: harvesting and storage of asparagus
The first crop is harvested for 3-4 years, if the conditions of feeding and care were correct, asparagus will give a good offspring. However, do not rush and cut a lot of shoots, for the first time it is recommended to take no more than 8 pieces from the rhizome. Harvesting little by little, several stems, from May to June. The remaining sprouts leave for the development of the bush. Adult asparagus give up to 30 shoots per season.
Categorically it is impossible to cut off all young seedlings, otherwise the bush will die.
Ready-to-eat sprouts reach 20 cm in height, the buds should not bloom on them, as soon as the first needles appear, the stem becomes hard.
Fresh asparagus can be eaten right away or home-made. Some freeze a vegetable, it loses a small part of vitamins and slightly loses its taste, but much remains.
Given that asparagus is almost completely composed of water, it is impossible to store it for more than 2 hours. It loses moisture and becomes hard. If further processing is planned, you can put the shoots in the refrigerator or freezer, where the product will retain freshness for a month.
