All about the Asparagus

Asparagus has taken over our lives. Sad but true. Yesterday we spent five hours up at the allotment preparing and planting our asparagus. Trust us to start our allotment career with the most difficult thing to put in the ground!

Having read a variety of books and watched Monty Don do it on Gardener's World, we thought we were prepared for what lay ahead. How wrong we were. Monty was very helpful but didn't truly show how much work was involved, particularly for novice gardeners! Still, we did persevere and by the end of it all we do now have something growing our North London soil!

To begin with, a huge trench about ten inches deep had to be dug out of our chosen bed. After that, both compost and gravel was liberally scattered over the trench. Then our asparagus plants were evenly spread out over the three trails we had dug out for them. We have chosen three different types of asparagus, eighteen plants in all. We have "Asparagus Millennium", "Asparagus Pacific 2000" and "Asparagus Ariane". Fancy. Let's hope we actually get to taste some!

Once in place, the fronds of the asparagus roots were spread out in the soil and then the earth that had been dug out had to be put back. By this time we were both exhausted on what turned out to be the hottest day of the year so far. Still, on we went until the job was completed.

Unfortunately we will not be able to enjoy the fruits of our labour until next year as asparagus takes a long time to bed in. Even then, we will only be able to harvest a very little amount. On the plus side it will produce a sizeable crop for the next twenty years, so hopefully we'll be quids in! Time will tell.

Following a few days off to recover, we'll be back at the allotment on Sunday to plant our next crop - Rhubarb!

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