Lets talk perennials....

[BarredBuff]

If you have been visitng my journal any, you will know that I have been establishing a lot of perennial plants in my new garden. I have garlic, multiplier onions, strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries right now. I want to add a little more variety to that. Two at the top of my list is Asparagus and Rhubarb. I prefer to get transplants of these, and set them out opposed to sowing seeds. When is the best time to set these out? How many for a "good" sized patch? Soil amendments (high nitrogen manure, mulch, calcium, etc.)?

Any other perennials you can think of to have in the garden?

 

[so lucky]

These plants are available for purchase in the spring, which is the best time for planting, I guess. There are some pretty specific directions for planting asparagus, involving digging a deep bed and using lots of manure-enriched soil/compost. I don't plant either one, but I would like to plant some asparagus, just for eating raw, if nothing else.
I'm sure someone on here has the info you need. If not, peruse our sister site, TEG.

 

[SSDreamin]

I am not an expert on anything, so take this with a grain of salt My Uncle grew 500 acres of asparagus. He told me to give it fertile ground, shove the roots in the best you can (in the early fall) and hope for the best I didn't have real fertile soil, so I just dug holes in what I had, stuck the roots in, and covered them up. I am the only one that eats it, so 10 plants I figured would be good for me. NOT. I think I'd be happier with 20, cuz I like grilled asparagus So far, I haven't killed it, but it is developing slow. As for rhubarb, I have some that was given to me from a friends garden after she passed years ago. I have dug it up repeatedly, divided it, and let it set in the frig for a month or two until the ground was soft enough to put it in - it survived it all! Just put in some divisions from my MIL this fall. For me, it can be planted either fall or spring, and requires little pampering. I asked my Dad how he made his grow so big, he said "I ignored it! I hate that nasty stuff!" I have decided to ignore the whole patch, and hope I get lots of yummy stalks! (I have 12 roots in right now. If they all grow, that should be about right)

I don't have nearly enough blueberries or blackberries. I want A LOT more! I would also like to put in some bush type cranberries, and a couple other I can't think of now. I've heard that blueberries love coffee grounds, so I plan to put some out (DH keeps me well stocked!). I am trying garlic for the first time this year. What are multiplier onions? I also transplanted some cherry bushes into my patch this fall. We'll see how they do. I need to get down to my neighbor's to pick up some concord's. We all love grapes/grape juice/grape jam, so I want plenty.

What about herbs? My herb garden lacks. I need to add a lot more perennial herbs. And more fruit trees!

 

[FarmerJamie]

SSD - you could always do herbs in containers. I have "nanking" variety of ground cherries. They are great, if I can get them picked before the chickens find them! I "cheat" on the blueberries. Two miles from here is a 10 acre blueberry farm, I have enough berries here for ad hoc eating, I load up at the farm for jam and freezing.

BB - I agree with SSD, you can never have enough asparagus! I have twelve plants, this will be their 4th (?) year. I did find out this Spring that the chickens love them as much as we do. Most of the chickens ignored them, but the GLW girls decimated them. Fencing this spring!

(Notice a pattern here? )

 

[BarredBuff]

SS, multiplier onions are commonly called potato onions. They do not bloom instead they produce onion sets (big and small) and those can be saved for the seed the following year. We keep most of the large onions it makes, and then plant all the smalls and a few large. It seems like the large ones will produce dozens of small sets the next year and vise versa.

I am gonna shop around and get some asparagus and rhubarb. Mom is fixing up an herb garden this year too. I also realized I have some Apple trees to move soon.

 

[cheepo]

i think it is a good idea to add a manure based fertilizer for rhubarb...last year...i didn't get it on and it was substantially...not as high as the year prior which was amazing...
i too have the interest in adding more perenial crops ...
and have many herbs that are well established and doing well
added horseradish..this year which is suposed to be an easy grow....we love our rasberries..and have some yellow coloured ones that are amazingly sweet...
saskatoon berries do well here...some kales..are suposed to be good as a perenial plant...
planted currants red and black...2 year some crop...but slow...added gooseberries...in 2 years..have had only 3 berries so cant recomend...planted a hardy..kiwi"s ..no flowers or fruit yet..have you thought grapes...there again...we have quite a vine but no fruit.and we are limited in variety with our zone......mint and lemon balm are abundant here... so far haven't been sucessfull with fruit trees...other than a crab apple which does well but small fruit...we do have some very high cherrie trees...and planted a raineer...but it died along with the peach..which was disapointing...but we are zone 5 and get some sun but not as hot as most places...

 

[~gd]

SS, multiplier onions are commonly called potato onions. They do not bloom instead they produce onion sets (big and small) and those can be saved for the seed the following year. We keep most of the large onions it makes, and then plant all the smalls and a few large. It seems like the large ones will produce dozens of small sets the next year and vise versa.

I am gonna shop around and get some asparagus and rhubarb. Mom is fixing up an herb garden this year too. I also realized I have some Apple trees to move soon.

Keep in mind that most Apple trees are now grafted onto a root stock and the graft must remain above the soil line or the structure of the tree can drastically change. A drawf can become a giant or the tree can take off to be 50-60 feet tall with little branching to bear fruit. in many cases the root stock controls the growth of the tree more than pruning does. At the same time shoots from below the graft usually don't bear desireable fruit and these suckers should be removed before they have any size.
I strongly recommend Potato [multiplier] onions they are members of the same family as shallots or garlic but taste more like common onions just slightly milder. I grow them because they are the best keeper onions I have even grown, seldom rot and won't sprout if kept reasonably dark. Buff is right small bulbs tend to produce large single bulbs and Large bulbs when planted tend to produce tons of small offset bulbs which serve as seed for next years crop. Very SS!
The thing with asparagus and rhubarb is knowing when to quit cutting and let them go they need the leaves [firns for asparagus] to produce the goodies stored in the roots for next years harvest. ~gd

 

[Corn Woman]

BB- I started my asparagus bed in the spring but I am in a zone 5. I dug a trench along a fence line and mixed in rabbit manure composted with pine shavings they have only been in for 1-1/2 years. I will be adding a lot more it's true you can't have too much. I have the walking onions and the bulbs seem to be small do you think they are the same as the potato onion? I split the sets and they make great scallions year round. Have you thought about the jerusalem artichoke I don't grow them yet but thought I might try them.

FJ- What can you tell me about the nanking cherries as far as how big they get. I need to find a permanent place mine are in 5 gal containers.

 

[FarmerJamie]

CW...Here is a fact sheet

They can get very large, 10' x 10'. Mine aren't that big yet.

Oh yeah, sunchokes/Jerusalem artichokes are another good perennial. I would only put them in a bed by themselves. Took me several years to get them out of the main garden.

 

[BarredBuff]

I'm going to definitley do Asparagus and Rhubarb. Thanks for the tips. Any varieties ya'll like?