Is it worth the effort to grow asparagus and strawberries?

As most of you know, we recently moved into a trailer park. Well, we only plan to be here for about four or five years. Is it worth the effort to try to grow asparagus and strawberries? Wouldn't I have have to leave them behind and start all over when I move in a few years?


april

 

I know that asparagus should be in the ground for 3 years before your first harvest, so I don't think that I'd bother with that one. For now, why not hunt for wild asparagus in the ditches around your area. It took me a few years to identify all the spots where they grow around me, and now I'm out there every spring collecting fresh spears...can't wait!

 

Heck yeah! I'd plant anything you want! The first couple of years we were married we rented this little old house. I was too cheap to spend any money on plants because I figured I wasn't going to stay so I didn't want to spend my hard earned cash for the landlords. Wrong attitude Looking back I wish I'd have planted things!
Deanna
:-D

 

You can do lots of large pot planting.. Asparagus never worked for us, on the farm.
Strawberrys are ok......But I battle the robins and weeds to get them......
We love them.

They can be grown is pots.

 

The only way for me to grow asparagus is in very large pots, this spring will be my first harvest. I say go for it to. We don't have wild aspargus down here so in order for me to have any this is my best option. I use those large containers trees come in from nurseries.

 

Very good trudy..

b

 

I would immediately say YES to the strawbs, and like Eileen says--you can take the babies on the runners with you.
As for the asparagus, I would (myself), not begin with those, because they are ment to be harvested for around 12 consecative years..and they can typically be slow starters. It would be a shame to put all the work into them, then have to abandon them prematurely.
Having said that, if you planted them in containers, you could take the containers with you.
I've never heard of this technique. It sounds interesting.

Good luck.

 

Of course , container planting is a great sport here. Not only that, one can move them to what ever spot they wall all the time.. If it is too sunny, under a tree, too shady,, put it out in the sun. Storm coming , put them in a garage ..
Lots of options.

Enjoy......I have flowers in pots which I love moving.

 

We rented for years and I decided early on to just plant what I wanted instead of always waiting for "some day." If possible you can take a lot of it with you. For asparagus I bought three year roots so it didn't take long. I don't grow stawberries because there are a lot of u-pick places in the area and I begrudge them the room.

 

As far as asparagus goes, personally i wouldn't grow them, i hate them so it won't be grown near me,,and i mean abhor them,gives me the creeps (full body shake going on here just thinking about them)

now strawberries on the other hand yes i would grow, but i don't because i pick them in the wild.

I think the folks here have given you some excellent advise, either way you decide, if you want them go for it. container or straight to the ground sounds like a good idea to do what you want no matter if your going to move or not.

 

Thanks, everyone!!

Trudy,
I am VERY interested in your method of growing asparagus in containers. You mentioned the pots that nurseries sell trees in. I have a few of those. How many crowns do you put in each pot? Do you do the whole "mounding up" thing in the pots? Obviously, I need a lot of help.

 

Being really inexperienced in asparagus this has been the only time I've had any success with it. Many years ago I attempted to grow them straight in the ground an they all died. Coulda been our horrible heat down here.

So as mentioned earlier 3 yrs ago I wanted to give it another try (we love gusses an at 4.99 a lb, ouch!) got to thinking that being it is better grown in the northern climates that I needed to raise them a bit to get the chill hrs they would need at the root zone. Thinking that by being in the ground down here it wasn't really anything I did wrong, but it may have been partly the heat an minus the chill time (our ground doesn't freeze really so really not enough chill time).So I figured an hoped that by planting them in the large tree containers it would meet there needs. So far so good. An to I can move them with some guy help if I need to, an have. My issue wasn't a moving problem, but a desire to have what I feel wasn't ment to grow here naturally.

I planted anywhere from 2 to 3 per container. No mounding, just planted them like any other plant. Good compost an keep them well watered till established. Problem I do have is they are very tall an want to flop over, but they will do that in the ground to from what I've read. Remedy is to take some flexible wire an make a cage for support.

I found out after the fact that there root system is enormous but it was to late in the game for me up uproot them an only use 1 per pot. And it would set me back another year of harvest by uprooting them. So I'm still in the experimental stages by using up to 3 per planter, not sure how well they will produce being crowded that way, this year will be the test on production.

So as of today I have 3 beds in 2 high tire towers, 3 dryer drums, 2 in cattle salt containers(large that farmers use), about 4-5 in tree containers. An just today bought some Jersey Giants from the Southeastern Garden Show in Atlanta. I may try one more time with those an plant them in a raised bed in the veggie garden, which I didn't have years ago.

I have had good luck growing Peonies and Solomon's Seal in containers down here where they don't typically grow well. Just gotta rethink how to grow things sometimes when your a zone pusher like I am. Hope all that made some sense to you, I'm not saying my method will work for you or not. Just that it has worked for me so far, I also sprig in some parsley at least 1 per container cuz it is a companion an helps them out. Good luck in whatever you choose.