Minnesota!

[Minniechickmama]

Rehabing well established crowns will definitely be a better option. If you do go with BRs suggestion of boiling water and vinegar i suspect you would want to do that early before the asparagus starts coming up. Also, chicken bedding compost would be a good top dressing as asparagus loves nitrogen!

I am excited to add more asparagus this year. I have several different stands around the farm but want to increase patch in my garden. It also grows all over in the ditches around here. The canning company used to grow it in the area many many years ago and it spread naturally. we see fern all over when walking the dogs and during the summer I see people out hunting for it everywhere! maybe if i get ambitious i may try and dig a crown or two if i can find it at the right time. That is an old non hybridized kind so it can spread itself unlike most crowns you buy now that are sterile.

There was an woman in our town who would drive along Hwy 14 and cut asparagus and then to around selling it at farmer's markets. She hasn't been around for a couple of years now, sort of got to loony to be out on her own. I think everyone in town has a story or two about that one. She kept things interesting at least.
That is how I had heard about the canning factory over your way that grew it. I notice it here and there in ditches all over the area, must be birds spread seeds about.

 

[KlopKlop]

Wet paper feed bags work as mulch too.  There is more than one way to skin a cat

Our feed bags are all plastic. Good and sturdy for many uses but not that unfortunately

 

[lalaland]

somehow I missed the bit about asparagus being sterile. I didn't understand why my patch at tis place wasn't getting any bigger after 8 years, my last patch must have been the old fashioned kind.

gonna have to do some research and find some old variety and restock the bare spots in this patch if I rennovate it, or to put in a new patch.

It occurs to me that if I dig out under the coop to get rid fo the dirt, full of chicken droppings, feathers, hay and leaves, and also dig out a new patch, I can take the garden dirt from the new patch to put under the coop, and then replace it with the coop dirt which should be great for the asparagus.

I'm also going to seed part of the run with a forage blend and fence it off until it is established.

Looks like I will take some vacation time to work on the garden and coop this spring.

 

[KlopKlop]

somehow I missed the bit about asparagus being sterile.  I didn't understand why my patch at tis place wasn't getting any bigger after 8 years, my last patch must have been the old fashioned kind.  

gonna have to do some research and  find some old variety and restock the bare spots in this patch if I rennovate it, or to put in a new patch.  

It occurs to me that if I dig out under the coop to get rid fo the dirt, full of chicken droppings, feathers, hay and leaves, and also dig out a new patch, I can take the garden dirt from the new patch to put under the coop, and then replace it with the coop dirt which should be great for the asparagus.

I'm also going to seed part of the run with a forage blend and fence it off until it is established.   

Looks like I will take some vacation time to work on the garden and coop this spring.

That sounds like a good use of vacation days to me!

The sterile part comes from them crossing them to get larger stalks and more production (aka they are hybrids).
That said you could dig and divide the crowns to propagate but that would be a lot of work.

 

[MinnesotaNice]

For us who need to/will need to use water heaters, do you just keep the heated water dishes outside and avoid any wind, or do you put the water inside where the birds can access it (and increase risk of humidity, fire, dirtied water etc.?

So late at answering this....been working overtime. I have a heated water fount inside the coop. The floor of my run is all dirt and leaves, so the water is mucked up within an hour. In the summer, I put a water fount in the run and coop. Mine eat a lot of snow, too.

And that Chinese Chicken Song video seriously freaks me out.

 

[MinnesotaNice]

Check it out! i tripled my grow bench area (not couting my fodder system. 8 feet x 2ft on top and 4 ft x 2ft on bottom

I think i may enclose the back and sides on half of the top and add doors to make a sort of greenhouse but we will see.
my herbs are coming up nicely, lettuce and kale are growing quickly, my onion starts are about 2 inches tall and my strawberries are looking dandy, ready for transplant this spring.

Wow, Klop! You did an amazing job! I need to get some stuff started myself.

 

[Cluckies]

somehow I missed the bit about asparagus being sterile. I didn't understand why my patch at tis place wasn't getting any bigger after 8 years, my last patch must have been the old fashioned kind.

gonna have to do some research and find some old variety and restock the bare spots in this patch if I rennovate it, or to put in a new patch.

It occurs to me that if I dig out under the coop to get rid fo the dirt, full of chicken droppings, feathers, hay and leaves, and also dig out a new patch, I can take the garden dirt from the new patch to put under the coop, and then replace it with the coop dirt which should be great for the asparagus.

I'm also going to seed part of the run with a forage blend and fence it off until it is established.

Looks like I will take some vacation time to work on the garden and coop this spring.

I didn't know this either, i've been letting mine go to fern for years and never got anymore, thought i was doing something wrong. dang it! lol so i've found some online that i'm thinking of ordering now: Mary Washington Asparagus, anyone have this variety?

Quote: I raised mine up, it doesn't usually get too dirty in their water. i'll try and get a photo of the base I had DH make. I didn't want it to tip over, especially in the winter. I'll go take a photo in a few minutes when I lock the girls away for the night. I have the two heated waterers, this one, and the pail with horizontal nipples.

 

[KlopKlop]

I didn't know this either, i've been letting mine go to fern for years and never got anymore, thought i was doing something wrong. dang it! lol so i've found some online that i'm thinking of ordering now: Mary Washington Asparagus, anyone have this variety?

I raised mine up, it doesn't usually get too dirty in their water. i'll try and get a photo of the base I had DH make. I didn't want it to tip over, especially in the winter. I'll go take a photo in a few minutes when I lock the girls away for the night. I have the two heated waterers, this one, and the pail with horizontal nipples.

I am fairly certain that is just an improved cultivar of the 'ditch' asparagus that grows around here (Heirloom variety may be a better name for it ), i don't think you would be disappointed in it. Jersey varieties are another common kind that produces thicker spears.

 

[Cluckies]

Here it is, I had him put a lip on it so the bowl doesn't slip off. underneath, you can't see it, but I have a square that comes to a point at the leg corners (in the middle) so it is very sturdy, I have a hole underneath for the cord. on the plus side, because it is raised, my girls with big wattles do not get frostbite from them dipping in the water, as their wattles go up against the side of the bowl, but not in it, when they drink.

 

[Minniechickmama]

We have Jersey Knight and I think another "Jersey" cultivar. We have raised the Purple and it is a fatter stalk and they are not nearly as productive, just as tasty though and turn green when you cook them. We have just given up on the purple and added more green this last year.