YOUR GARDEN AND MINE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 44, 26 April 1940, Page 41

YOUR GARDEN AND MINE

By

Ann Earncliff

Brown

(No. 29)

asked by two friends to tell them how to prepare an asparagus bed -just a small one for supplying household requirements. Actually the process for large or small beds is the same, but the practice of sowing seed in rows, spacing the seed as one would the plants, instead of buying the rather expensive one, two, or three-year-old asparagus roots, is a less costly manner of establishing large areas. Now is the time to prepare your asparagus bed for planting in the spring. By leaving the plot to consolidate all winter you make it less likely that your plants will suffer from "air pockets" which retard the roots in their search for nourishment, Asparagus, being naturally a seaside plant, does best in light sandy well drained soil, However, even in heavy clayey soil asparagus beds can be very successful if particular care is given to the initial preparation. For damp heavy soils it is best to excavate to a depth of three feet. In the bottom of the excavation spread a layer of clinkers, broken crockery, bricks, and rubble to a depth of 6 inches. Follow this by a liberal dressing of well rotted B: chance this week I have been ae

stable manure or stack bottom, and if possible well-seasoned seaweed, too. Then fill up with a good sandy loam of which one-third should be leaf mould, Have your bed raised above garden level by about six to nine inches. Leave all this till spring, when the plants are set out in rows about 1 foot apart with roots spaced at intervals of 18 inches in these rows. A bed of 3 feet wide with two rows, or 5 feet wide with three rows, is a handy size-the length depending on garden space and roots available. The price of asparagus roots rises with the age, but naturally the high-priced three-year-olds give quicker returns for the outlay. For well drained soils the above pro cedure is followed, without the 6 inches of drainage layer. The trenching up to three feet is advisable, but in sandy soil the rotted manure and seaweed may be thoroughly mixed all through. The rather fleshy roots should be well spread out, firmly pressed in and covered with fine sandy soil. In established beds the well browned fern may now be cut back and the bed well. weeded, dressed with salt, or with seaweed and farmyard manure,