Asparagus is great; burdock is troubling
Question: We bought a house three years ago that came with a 15-year-old asparagus patch that is spreading.
How do we keep it going? Do we need to be planting baby plants? Unfortunately, the burdock has found a home in our asparagus patch and it is spreading. I tried digging it out this year but was not very successful.
Any suggestions? We do not want to use herbicide because it would hurt the asparagus. And about six weeks ago, my husband mowed the asparagus patch because everything had gone to seed. Then two weeks ago we found new asparagus growing! Wow, asparagus in September! Yum. Will it hurt the growth in the spring?
Answer: How wonderful, a new home and an asparagus patch. Asparagus is a long-lived, droughttolerant perennial vegetable. As long as your patch produces enough to feed your family, there is no need to add more plants.
You can fertilize asparagus in the spring before the spears appear with a low-nitrogen, slow-release fertilizer.
Digging is the only non-chemical way to manage existing weeds. You can paint a total vegetation killer on the leaves of the burdock, being careful the chemical does not contact the asparagus plants. Be especially mindful when treating plantings when the spears are just breaking through the soil. The spears can be overlooked and accidentally come in contact with the weedkiller. As always, read and follow label directions carefully.
To further suppress weeds, spread a layer of shredded leaves, evergreen needles or other organic mulch over the soil surface in the asparagus patch. This also will help conserve moisture and improve the soil as the mulch breaks down.
Finally, it is best to leave your asparagus greens intact throughout the growing season even when they have gone to seed. The greens produce energy needed for productivity and longevity. Cutting them back late in the season, as you discovered, also encourages new growth. This is the time the plants should be focusing energy on root development, not producing new spears.
Leaving the yellowed greens stand for winter also helps capture snow and insulate the roots over winter. An established planting, like yours, should be fine and a spring application of fertilizer may help compensate for the extra fall harvest.
Q: I grew a hardy hibiscus with dinner-platesize blooms for the first time. It is supposed to be hardy here. Any suggestions for making sure it makes it through the winter?
A: Winter protection of any plant starts with proper care throughout the season. If plants are healthy at the start of winter, they are better able to survive. Leaving your plant standing throughout the winter increases hardiness and marks its location.
Hardy hibiscus plants are late to emerge in spring and can accidentally be damaged or removed. Cut your plants back in early spring, leaving about six inches of the stem intact. The stubble marks its location, so you do not accidentally dig it out. Some gardeners plant spring flowering bulbs around these and other late-emerging plants to mark their location, which is a much prettier option.
Email questions to Melinda Myers through melindamyers.com, or write her at P.O. Box 798, Mukwonago, WI 53149. http://melindamyers.com/