The 'okay' invasive asparagus
Good Evening, Morning, or Afternoon Steemit crowd.
All photos - probably too many of them - are mine. Took em this afternoon.
I've learned and noticed a couple few things about asparagus over the past several weeks, and figured I had better leave an update. I wish I could double the amount of hours in a day, I might be closer to caught up in the garden, and would likely have the ability to write to you more often!
Today our goal was to finish planting the seedlings. Before getting started I went outside to harvest the days asparagus. I noticed as I made the rounds that we have an asparagus, the one in the photo above, that has migrated outside of the assigned garden area. Some may call this type of behavior invasive. I say it's "okay" cause we're loving the abundance of food that the asparagus patches are providing us.
The shoots that are too skinny (smaller than a pencil is the recommendation) are left to shoot up, and they get these branches out to the side, where seeds come out, drop, and propagate for years later. They're not just left for that reason, but also because then next year when that shoot comes out, it will be larger in diameter.
You see that little red bastard there? The asparagus beetle. They chew on the asparagus and makes them grow in weird shapes. The first time I noticed something was up, I saw an asparagus shoot that was growing in the shape of a candy cane. As my darling wife commented when we discovered what was up "well there's always something that's trying to kill our garden, isn't there?".
I'm glad to say that this is one of only four that I spotted today, whereas there must have been near a hundred of them days earlier. We don't use poisons, or pesticides, or anything like that. So this is the solution that I found worked really well for us:
Another thing that I saw out there, that I intended to ask you about: "what on earth is doing this?" - just leaving asparagus clipped laying on the ground uneaten:
A bit of, only a little bit of, investigation showed me what it was:
This is the first evidence of any deer in this part of the yard since we put up the branch/brush fence around the garden.
I'm going to need to take @thebigsweed 's advice and try the egg/milk combo he suggests HERE
That's it for my asparagus update Steemit folks. I'll keep sayin' it till I have a banner that does it for me:
As always, I welcome comments, questions and insight!
I'll send out a post later to talk about some of the other bits of our day.
Cheers big ears.
The growing season has barely started where I live, but we have had a lot of requests already for our library's foraging and wild edibles books this past week. There was even a request for info on wild asparagus. It is rather easier to find if you grow your own though, as you have. It doesn't wander far, even if it does like to push its boundaries.
For deer and other pesky species, your fencing needs to be stout. Try woven wire field fencing around the perimeter, and then barbed or electric wire above that extending to a height of at least 8 feet. If the gate isn't left open, it'll keep the deer out. Beetles, gophers, and cutworms are another matter.
Yeah, we intend to do woven fencing and rose bushes as our long term deer both attractant and deterant(sp). The rose buds will be food for them, but like gnr states: every rose has it's thorn. So we are hoping the combo of fence and thorns will be enough to keep them out. Of course when they think they need to, or with the right encouragement they'll still come in.
Are you further north, or that far south that your season is not started yet?
A stone's throw from Canada. Also, in a mountainous microclimate.
My mother in law, and her boyfriend (both from Sweden) want to live there so very badly! I have never been. Being that reindeer are so common, and a part of culture in Scandinavia, she would like to do a caribou hunt some time. I haven't looked into the details at all, but I suspect it would make greater sense to do it in our own country.
Alaska would be better for caribou. There are various benefits to living in the inland northwest or mountain west through.
We wondered though what the rules are for foreigners hunting on your land, and also bringing the meat home with us... We hunt for the food as our primary excuse - If the animals I killed didn't feed me, I wouldn't be hunting.
Legality only matters if you can't avoid the government goons. Morality and legality rarely coincide.
Here here!