Down On The Urban Farm

I love to try new things in the yard. In fact that is how I came up with one of the most fun edible delicacies in my yard. Asparagus.

So a few years ago a friend of mine called me and said that she had about 100 extra asparagus roots I was game. It was also time to figure out just how to grow it. Often the way that I learn what something looks like growing is that I plant the seeds or in this case the root and see what happens.

As I alluded above asparagus is a root, one that is a perennial (comes back each year) and produces for many years. So what to do with 100 plants? I visited the local gardening expert Jim Baker who owns Baker Nursery. He shared this with me on how to plant them.

1. Dig a trench one foot deep.
2. Add a good organic fertilizer to the bottom of the hole and work it in.
3. Per the spacing instructions lay the asparagus roots in the bottom of the trench.
4. As asparagus likes organic rich soil add organic material into the trench along with the dirt that was dug.
5. Let the asparagus grow for a year.
6. In year after the asparagus has grown out finish filling the trench with a good organic mix.
7. Eat asparagus

Well I have to tell you it works. Smile. For more specifics on exactly what it takes to grow asparagus see http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/mg/vegetable/asparagus.html

One of my favorite things about asparagus is that it comes back year after year. I just plant it once and each spring I get to reap the bounty of nature. The way that it grows out is also interesting. Along about March 15th (in Phoenix – it will be later in colder climates) asparagus shoots just like you see in the store stick their heads up through last years layer of mulch. THESE are the ones you want to eat – don’t let them get too tall as they get tough. I find that they will produce edible shoots for about a month. Then tall wispy stalks shoot up – strangely looking just like asparagus fern. These will grow through till it gets cold in the fall AND play an important role in the long-term success of your plants. They are collecting sunlight to photosynthesize and build the roots to they are strong for the next years crop. Then in the fall I cut down the asparagus tops and lay them on the ground and add a little organic fertilizer as next years mulch.

My fertilizing regime consists of the fall fertilizing and adding a nice layer of mulch every year. Watering is easy I give them a nice deep watering every two weeks and in the summer I watch them to make sure they don’t dry out more often. All in all asparagus is one of the easier plants that I grow and one of the more rewarding.

12 Degrees of Freedom asks an important question:

In this day of when $130/barrel oil, is it better to buy organically grown carrots from a multi-hundred acre farm 2,000 miles away or a bunch grown nearby using a limited amount of chemicals as part of a responsibly administered pesticide management plan?

My vote is for the local stuff.

1. You know here it comes from. Maybe you even know the farmer himself.

2. You are supporting the local economy. Farmer Joe down the road needs my money a lot more than the big corporate farm and he appreciates my business.

I found a great article on the Ventnor Permaculture blog about growing lettuce in hanging pots. It is a prettyggod, highly detailed, 'how-to' article.

Check it out!

No, Really. Growing Mushrooms. To eat.

Here is a great article about growing them.

There are kits available that make the job easier

There is an interesting study from Cornell University:

Eating less, eating local and eating better could slash U.S. energy use, CU study finds

"We could reduce the fossil energy used in the U.S. food system by about 50 percent with relatively simple changes in how we produce, process, package, transport and consume our food," said David Pimentel, professor emeritus of ecology and agriculture in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell.

Click Here to read the article.

An interesting article about mushroom compost in the Daily Herald expounded upon the benefits of mushroom compost, but is failed to tell the whole story.

What is mushroom compost?

No, it's not compost made from mushrooms. It is the specially-prepared medium in which mushrooms - typically those white button mushrooms you see in the supermarket - are grown.

It starts with a mixture of straw, manure, gypsum, peat moss, and almost any organic material. The bacterial activity causes the material to heat up - just as with normal compost - to about 160 degrees, killing any weed seeds or pathogens that might have been present.

Now, unlike your home garden pile, they don't let the compost sit and age at this point. They take the compost, load it into planting beds and then they steam pasteurize at about 140F. This pasteurization is vital to mushroom growing process because it kills any surface disease-causing organisms and pests. The downside however is that it also kills off all those wonderful micro-organisms that are so important to your garden.

Mushroom compost is normally used to grow three crops of mushrooms and is then considered 'used up' by the mushroom-grower.

It is typically steam-pasteurized once again and then sold off to nurseries, landscape supply firms and general contractors

Mushroom Compost Is Not Like Regular Compost

Adding microbiology to your soil is one of the primary advantages to compost, and that microbiology is vital to the disease prevention and and supplying nutrients to your plants. Spent mushroom compost simply does not provide these benefits.

Even though the mushroom compost does not come with the biology present, it is still provides a good substrate and food source for that biology. One tactic is to let it sit and 'age' for a season before using it. Other ways are to mix in a batch of compost tea made from regular compost, or simply mixing the mushroom compost with regular soil.

Here are some additional links about mushroom compost:

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/story.php?S_No=28&storyType=garde

http://squtch.quiet-like-a-panther.org/story/mushroom_compost-34

http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/how-to/qa/mushroom-compost.aspx

Farm Fountain is a system for growing edible and ornamental fish and plants in a constructed, indoor ecosystem. Based on the concept of aquaponics, this hanging garden fountain uses a simple pond pump, along with gravity to flow the nutrients from fish waste through the plant roots. The plants and bacteria in the system serve to cleanse and purify the water for the fish.

This project is an experiment in local, sustainable agriculture and recycling. It utilizes 2-liter plastic soda bottles as planters and continuously recycles the water in the system to create a symbiotic relationship between edible plants, fish and humans.

Click Here to read more

Courtesy of Posted by Dave - Chief Blogging Officer on September 23, 2008 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)