Update on Our New Asparagus Planting: Part II

Update on Our New Asparagus Planting: Part II 

May 2015,

From our last post you’ll recall that we planted a new bed of asparagus crowns at Johnny’s Research Farm in Albion on May 4th. Prior to planting, we dug an 8”-deep trench, but following planting did not fill the trench back up to the soil line. Now that the spears have started emerging from the soil, it’s time to add another layer of soil.

   

This is a fairly simple process. All you need to do is use some sort of gardening tool — a rake, a stirrup hoe, a small pitchfork — and gently add soil to the furrow. We used a collinear hoe (see image below). Do not cover the spears all of the way; leave the top of the bud still showing above the soil.

Do Not Totally Cover Spears

The furrow still won’t be completely filled in at this point; you are only adding one more layer of 2–3” of soil. In another week or so, after waiting for the spears to emerge again, you will need to add more soil back into the furrow. Repeat until the amount of soil in the furrow is even with the soil line. 

Collinear Hoe

Although you’ll be eager to begin harvesting, establishing an asparagus bed requires patience. It is not until a full year after planting that the spears will be of harvestable size. Even then, your first harvest will be short. The reward for waiting, if you maintain the asparagus bed properly, is it will continue to produce well for upwards of 15 years!

Video: Seed Processing

October at Johnny's Research Farm means it's time to finish the harvest and process seeds. This video shows how seed is extracted from pumpkins and peppers.

The process is fairly straightforward. Fruits, in this case pumpkins, are gathered and pulverized. The seed is separated from the pulp by use of machine called a vine harvester, which is essentially a giant food mill. The seed is then cleaned, rinsed off with water, and taken to the drier where it is heat-dried for about a day.

Pepper seed extraction is basically the same, but a much smaller machine is used. Johnny's farm employees previously extracted pepper seed by hand, but this new machine makes the job much easier and faster.

What's New at the Farm? Precautions Necessary for Outside Work

What's one of the best things about working at Johnny's Research Facility in Albion? Why working outside doing something you love! Everyone here is an outside person; we have hikers and bikers, hunters and fishermen, gardeners, horse riders, four wheeler and snowmobile buffs and just a lot of people that like getting outdoors. And most of these people don't mind the weather; that's just a  small part of the outdoor experience. I know I've had some of my most memorable experiences hunting and fishing in the worst weather. There are some precautions however that we all must take so that's what I'm going to talk about today.

The top three things farmers and gardeners need to look out for are Lyme disease, rabies and equine encephalitis. Lyme disease gets a lot of attention especially now that ticks are everywhere. As a kid we had never heard of ticks; as I got older they started migrating north and east and now they're pretty common. Not many days go by that we don't pick one off the dogs after they come in. I remember hearing horror stories about how ticks were everywhere in the mid-Atlantic states and how you had to check yourself every day after you were in the outdoors for any length of time. Now that we're used to them, this isn't a big deal. It's necessary, but not a big deal, taking all of 30 seconds at the end of the day.

Fortunately I haven't seen many deer ticks, most we have are common dog or wood ticks. They are larger and look like a bean seed when filled with blood. The dogs get them from laying in the grass and some years are better than others for their populations. Of course now is where I start preaching the benefits of guinea fowl, ducks and lots of chickens. Peggy will say we have too many birds but I am quick to point out that we don't have many ticks when everyone else says what a bad year it is for them. I'd much rather have birds then ticks; they have so much more personality!

Rabies is carried by warm blooded animals including dogs, foxes, raccoons and bats – animals we often interact with. Animals that don't look quite right; that appear not to be frightened by humans are the ones to watch. Growing up on the farm I remember my father telling of foxes that would come into the barns to steal cats or attack calves were often as not rabid and dispatched  quickly. A rabid animal may be confused with an animal that has mange. In either case, it is wise to stay away from the animal until it can be dealt with by someone who knows how to handle this situation; usually a game warden. Animals infected with rabies often bite domestic dogs and can infect cattle and horses, so keep an eye out when working around your animals. And, luckily, birds don't get rabies so that's one less concern with them.

Equine Encephalitis is a deadly disease transmitted by mosquitoes. Anyone working outside is at risk for being bitten by mosquitoes – no surprise there. No one enjoys being bit by mosquitoes so wearing bug spray or headnets and minimizing bare skin in areas where there are high mosquito populations will help minimize exposure to diseases they carry.

Horses used to be quite prone to EE and were used as a gauge of the disease in a given area. Now, most people vaccinated their horses for EE and other viruses as well. The single biggest way to prevent getting this and other mosquito borne diseases is prevention. Little things add up in mosquito breeding circles; old tires are notorious for being a haven for breeding them as are old buckets, pails – anything that'll hold water and not agitate it, will be a welcoming place for mosquitoes to breed. Animal watering pans and buckets should be dumped and refilled at least twice a week, gutters should be inspected to prevent pooling of water in them and anything that will hold water, even for a few days should be checked for mosquito larvae and dumped out and overturned if possible. Barrels, old bird baths, and piles of plastic all can hold usable amount of water that mosquitoes can breed in.

That said, I've off to look around my buildings and see what holds water that doesn't need to. Until next week, enjoy May.

Brian

What's new at the Farm? 9/29/10

We continue harvesting seed productions at a feverish pace. Since my last article we have picked and processed eight tomatoes and a pumpkin. Today finds us picking yet another batch of tomatoes; hopefully three or four varieties. I'd like to be done the small increases by the end of the week and finish the last two or three big picking jobs by the end of next week. As soon as the tomatoes are done we start on small pepper increases and squash and pumpkins.


Last week I talked about the elevator I purchased to use in the seed processing line. Here's a photo of it in action:

Brian's newly purchased elevator sends pumpkins on their final journey, and into the Vine Harvester.

The big, orange machine is the Vine Harvester which I talk so much about during the harvest. It was patterned after a seed harvester, common out west years ago, and built here by a former farm employee. In this picture, the fruit drops into the hopper which grinds the fruit releasing the seed. The broken fruit is then deposited into a rotating drum with perforated holes. The seed goes through the holes into a catch draw and the pulp flows out the back.

A picture of the business end of the Vine Harvester:

The Vine Harvester machine makes quick work of our pumpkin harvest as it separates the seeds from the pulp.

The vine harvester is powered by a Farmall 200, which we use because it has a drawbar that adjusts height hydraulically. This is important to get the correct slope on the harvester. Too little slope and the pulp will get pulverized and go in with the seed; too little and good seed will be lost out the back.

Seed crops we use this machine on include pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, melons and peppers -- basically any crop that is wet seeded. It speeds up the seed separation process considerably.

And lastly, as I was driving back from the sluice area last Friday I snapped this picture below:

Clover, sown between the cornrows, makes a great cover crop.

 This is the sweet corn trial that has gone by. It was undersown with Crimson clover around the fourth of July. We broadcast a couple of pounds of Crimson clover and then worked it in to the soil with rakes and hoes. Once the corn stalks get mowed the clover will really take off. It likes cool and damp weather, so it will thrive in the fall. It will provide a great matt of vegetation to hold and protect the topsoil. Regrowth next spring will depend largely on how the winter is so we may or may not have a lot of regrowth next spring.

Until next week, Brian