In this episode, we talk with Michaelle Scanlon and Deborah Lessne,
co-owners of Garden sPOTS, about container gardening basic. The plant
profile is on Asparagus and we share our upcoming events and local gardening
news!
Google Podcasts at this link (note that currently, this link will only work on Android devices.)
We welcome your questions and comments! You can leave a voice mail message for us at: https://anchor.fm/kathy-jentz/message Note that we may use these messages on a future episode.
Note: this post may contain Amazon affiliate links.
This week was mostly cool with some passing showers and a few windy days -- a typical spring.
I added three types of lettuce ('Asian Baby Leaf', ''Mesclun Provens Style', and 'Garden Blend') on Monday and can you believe the seeds have already sprouted?!?
The 'Garden Party' radishes and 'White Egg' turnips are also all up.
Also making an appearance are the fingerling potato plants!
No sign of the 'Ultimate Hybrid' carrots seedlings yet, but that is as expected
I picked a few more stalks of the asparagus. The fava beans are still growing nicely, while the peas seem to be slowing down for some reason. I added in some 'Oregon Giant' snow pea seeds, just in case the others were duds.
I also sprinkled Sluggo everywhere. Those slugs are not feasting on my seedlings!
The strawberries are flowering profusely and the garlic keeps growing by leaps and bounds.
The 'Navaho' thornless blackberry plants are leafing out nicely too.
How is your edible garden growing?
About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 8th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above.
It is GardenBlogger's Bloom Dayagain! On the 15th of each month, we gardeners with blogs share a few bloom photos from our gardens.
Here in the Mid-Atlantic USA (USDA zone 7) on the DC-MD border, spring has finally sprung! It feels like EVERYTHING is blooming at once now, so I decided this month just to focus on the tulips. I made the collage graphic shown above. The main frame shows 'Purple Prince' and the side panel are a few others that caught my eye. See my article here on several other of my favorite tulip varieties.
In the rest of the garden today, I have blooming: Heather, Hellebores, mid/late-season Daffodils, Grape Hyacinths, Lilacs, Leucojum, Epimedium, Primrose, Redbud tree, Weeping 'Higan' Cherry tree, Confederate Jasmine vine, Corydalis, Pansies, Viola, African Daisy, Alyssum, Brunnera, Phlox, Trillium, Euphorbia, Pushkinia, Golden Ragwort, PJM Rhodidendron, Azalea, Vinca, and much more!
Be sure to follow @WDCgardener on Instagram for daily pics of what is blooming in our garden and area gardens that we visit.
Nothing says, "SPRING!" like fresh asparagus.
With no real work on my part, I am able to get a decent harvest of asparagus
from my community garden plot. The only thing this perennial vegetable really
requires is patience.
Having to hold off on harvesting for three years from the initial planting date
was a real test of my will power, but the wait is worth it. They are so tender
fresh from the garden that they only need a quick blanching to prepare them.
To plant them, buy asparagus crowns (roots) via mail-order or from your local
garden center. Plant them in a trench about 6 to 12 inches deep and a foot wide
in a sunny spot in your garden. Add in some organic compost when re-filling the
hole and then keep the area well-mulched.
Let the plants go through their growth cycle for two
years without picking any so they gain strength and get well-established. In
the third year, you can finally selectively harvest some spears by grasping
them near the ground to bend them and they will naturally snap off at their
weakest point.
At the beginning of May, stop harvesting and let the
asparagus spears grow. They need the tall foliage and recovery time to send
energy back down to the developing roots. You will need to tie-up the long asparagus
fronds in the summer with a bungee cord or string as they like to flop over.
In the fall, the plant forms little red seed pods or
"berries," The asparagus seeds can be collected, dried, and planted
the next spring. Towards the end of autumn, the foliage starts to turn brown
--cut it back and compost it. Then mulch the bed with an organic material like
straw.
I let strawberries encroach in my asparagus bed as their
surface-runners don't really interfere much with the asparagus roots, but you
really should keep it weeded and free of other interloping plants.
By the way, “white” asparagus is the same plant as the
regular green one. It is just deprived of sunshine so it can’t produce
chlorophyll and turn green. To grow white asparagus, bury the spears in mounds
-- adding a few inches of soil a little at time, leaving the very tips showing.
Harvest by digging them out and cutting off the top growth.
Asparagus - You Can Grow That!
The video was produced
by Washington Gardener Magazine.
Visuals by Khloe Quill
Audio by Kathy Jentz
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Spring is here, so I thought I'd share again the garden products I use almost every day. These are the tried-and-true work tools that make my garden grow, save my back from breaking, and generally make life a little easier. Treat yourself!
BTW, the gift ideas are linked to an Amazon affiliate account, so if you click on them and order any, Washington Gardener Magazine gets a few pennies added to the account for the referral. Our full Amazon storefront is at:
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This episode we talk with Lisa Mason Ziegler of The Gardener's Workshop about her flower farm business. The plant profile is on Wild Violets and we share our upcoming events and local gardening news!
Lisa's own podcast is called Field & Garden and you can listen to it here.
Google Podcasts at this link (note that currently, this link will only work on Android devices.)
We welcome your questions and comments! You can leave a voice mail message for us at: https://anchor.fm/kathy-jentz/message Note that we may use these messages on a future episode.
