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Regarding my April 14 post on the topic of Farmer Daddy Brand (TM) asparagus, old pal Anonymous asks the eternal question: "Are you sure those roots aren't upside down?"There are a number of fairly plausible reasons why one might plant asparagus ass-up in the rich Illinois soil. But I'm going to have to go with "gut ignorance" on this one. See, they give you a set of occult details on how to prepare an asparagus bed --- how deep the trench, how much manure at bottom, how much soil over the "crowns," etc. But they never fucking tell you that the "crowns" point downward into the dirt, unlike any other crown devised by man or god. So I double-checked with the friendly girl at the nursery and she said I could just pluck them up and capsize them back down. Which I did. But now I've probably got them too deep in the pure manure so they may not like that.
If I have to start over, at least this time I'll only have to dig 6 inches out of the trench to re-prepare the bed, and there won't be any major root-busting or rubble excavation to put up with.
No the crowns don't point down into the dirt. They point up. But it looks like you're confusing the roots with the crown. The roots are octopus like and should drape down over the mound. The crown would be a small nub-like thing that would be barely visible in its dormant state, if at all. Your picture looks like the roots are pointing up. As the spears emerge, you will gradually fill in the trench.
ReplyDeleteYou have made a lovely bed and if you have enough sun you will be enjoying all the asparagus you can eat for years and years to come. Don't harvest any this year. You need the foliage to feed the roots.
Anon: thanks for the encouragement. The problem in this case is partially due to calling the things "crowns" and the influence of my most recent reading matter. In symbology, a crown represents the sun, and in particular the "rays" of the sun. That's why kings wear crowns. So I'm thinking of the rays of the sun in symbolic art and thinking how swell the "rays" of these crowns look. I think The Asparagus Guild needs to include a diagram along with their occult soil preparation instructions. Now, in the past 2 days I've learned of a neighbor who has made the same mistake planting asparagus --- twice --- and also that Uncle Buddy has tried the roots-up method as well. Lesson learned. Stop by in 2 years and we can share a few stalks.
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