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The first class in our Spring Garden Series was held at the Senior Center in North Branch. There were 66 gardeners who attended Jim Birkholz's class on pruning fruit trees. Many said they have attended his pruning class before and each time they attend, they learn more about pruning.

That's the way I feel when I write about raising asparagus. It became evident to me that I have a lot to learn about asparagus when I attended the Fruit Growers Conference in St. Cloud in February. Many who attended these classes were commercial growers who get high yields of asparagus with the best quality possible in the most efficient way.

Asparagus is one of the bare root plants the Chisago County Master Gardeners sell to the public. As it is with most plants, the best time to prepare for an asparagus bed is from one to three years before you plant. However, most gardeners, including me, plan days ahead rather than years. One job you can do is to test your soil for the pH level as soon as the soil warms up. You can obtain a soil testing kit from the Master Gardeners or Soil and Water Conservation District offices in North Branch.

When you plan for an asparagus bed you should do as you would for planning for an orchard. It means that it could be there for 10 to 30 years, possibly more. So, any mistakes you make you must live with for years.

In Minnesota, asparagus can be grown on sandy soils to heavy clay loam. However the highest yields are obtained on deep, sandy loam. The roots can penetrate to at least six feet deep in loamy soils. Shallow soils no matter what the texture should be avoided. A high water table or the presence of an underneath hard pan is not good because asparagus roots cannot tolerate wet feet.

Garden catalogs may offer many different varieties of asparagus roots. Gardeners must be sure that the variety is winter hardy for our area. This is the reason we only offer Mary Washington bare roots. It is rust resistant and the spears are harvestable over an extra long cutting period. The roots we offer are two-year-old crowns. Since you should not harvest for another two years, it is a good reason roots are more popular than seeds.

At the St. Cloud conference, we learned how commercial growers plant bare root asparagus. They dig furrows about ten inches deep. Next they put straight phosphorus fertilizer in the bottom of the furrow covered by a layer of dirt. This is so the fertilizer doesn't burn the roots. Then they lay the roots flat on dirt and cover with about four inches of dirt.

Later as the ferns come through the dirt they continue to fill the furrow until the ferns are above the ground level.

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To learn more about raising asparagus, you are invited to attend a class on Tuesday, April 22, at the Senior Center in North Branch. We will cover fertilizing, disease and insect control, weed management, etc.

We also sell blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, and grape plants, as well as onion sets and native plants. Classes on all of the plants we sell, plus others, will be available through our Spring Class Series. Call the office at 651-213-8901 to have a class brochure or plant order form mailed to you.

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