Saturday, March 29, 2014

asparagus unmulch

i went out to campus this morning to open the asparagus beds at the pgp...the weather is supposed to moderate later this coming week and it's time...after i removed the fabric and straw i pushed the layer of compost underneath aside to allow the plants to sprout...asparagus isn't the strongest plant in the world and too much soil over the crowns makes it difficult for the stems to break th esurface...while i was there i took out a stand of intermediate wheat grass that has been there since the beginning...this would be it its fifth season and it is beginning to encroach on far too much of the garden...there are still intermediate wheat grass plants from the land institute there so the grasses will be well represented ( i planted annual tesointe last thursday and , with luck, the zea diploperennis will put in another appearance this year )...that tangle of intermediate wheat grass roots in the third photo gives an idea of why perennial roots hold the soil so well and why breaking sod on the great plains for framing had to wait for steel plows...this was only the first round of my argument with the wheat grass...it will be persistent and i will be pulling grass out of that bed all season...there hasn't been a plant/replant perennial in the garden since the jerusalem artichokes in 2012 and no potatoes since 2010 so i'm thinking potato patch this season...the season has started...more as the asparagus come up and the potatoes go in.

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