Companion Planting Asparagus and Strawberries (No-till, Ruth Stout)

Now I feel bad. I didn't do any of that when I planted my asparagus 2 years ago :(
I can't honestly recall how I amended now. I think cow manure was involved. I have given it emulsified fish every time as the other gardens.

Such a fuss to plant asparagus! Mine went I as you do. I did a shallow trench, planted the roots, covered it up, watered with fertilizer tea, covered the rest in compost and mulch. The asparagus is Very happily producing over a decent season.
We have nasty, shallow clay and a rather lazy gardener.

I planted some crowns in my Greenhouse raised bed last year, I found Cucumbers and other Vines grow well with them because they climb and can be trained easily not to crowd out the light for other plants. Gonna Do Melons and Cukes with the Asparagus this year.

brilliant best ideas on these 2 companions.. subscribed

The ground where I put my garden was so hard that even a tiller had problems. Could not use a shovel it was so hard. Tiller kept bouncing it was that hard.
Took 3 years of tilling and adding leaves and such to get it straightened out. Even added Gypsum to loosen it. Added biochar too.
Now I have about 10 inches of awesome soil that is easy to plant in.
Nice and loose, fluffy, COAL BLACK in color.
Not deep enough for carrots (those like deep fluffy soil) but plenty for all the other plants.

Don't condemn tilling as it is sometimes necessary.

About tilling - look up the Mormon Cricket and how it nearly became instinct (which was the goal).

Did you also notice that in nature neither one is growing in full sun. Many times the asparagus is growing up from the tree roots like the wind blew the seeds up against the trees.

It's now 2022, so how did this turn out?

My asparagus shoots 4 inches or so high..my strawberries have blooms..my patch is 4 years old. Asparagus is very easy to start from seed..makes a nice hedge fern like..give it a special place in your garden and let it alone..I use pine needles for the top dressing of the entire bed.

Well did it work

Great info here. The only thing that concerned me was planting the asparagus crown that deep. I build the mound on top of my trench above the flat ground this elevates the bed and provides better drainage. My process has been planting my asparagus crown around the same depth you planted the strawberries. Then I add a couple inches of mulch. Speaking of mulch I use mushroom compost for most beds hay doesn't have as many benefits or great water retention, the worms go crazy for mushroom compost.
Cheers Marko

I put in asparagus the first year because my expectations for that year are low and i wanted to build the garden, also already-started strawberries for quick results so they ended up together by accident.

I think you occluded the strawberries too much. Replace them with already leafy starts!

Thanks for sharing your successes and failures with us. It gives me In Ruth Stout's "No-work Garden Book", she mentions planting asparagus by dropping the crowns on top of her peony bed and covering them with hay. I can't find any videos where anyone else has tried this, but I wanted to give it a go. So, 1.5 weeks ago, I cut my grass back to the ground and heaped compost in piles about 1.5 feet apart, set the crowns on top and covered the lot in a thick mulch of straw. Still waiting to see if they come up! If this doesn't work, I'll be trying your method here for sure. :)

Is there an update?
How did it work?? I just planted my asparagus crowns beside my strawberries in our new (last year) no till, mulched bed.

Thank you very much. I wish I could have seen your videos in my younger years; especially for asparagus.

I did this a few years ago. Strawberries needed constant help to keep up with the weeds and never really spread much for me. Eventually the weeds won out. Asparagus did fairly well for a number of years but didn't survive last winter as we had a colder one that usual. Not sure if I'm gonna try again next year or just go with another perennial. I should note that our "soil" is horrible. 100% clay. I did asparagus when I first got the property to farm on and didn't really know what I was doing. Domestic strawberries are nowhere near as prolific as their native counterparts in poor soil. If I try it again I will amend heavily and be relentless on the weeds. I did find growing chives with asparagus and strawberries helped fill a weed void, but alas I discovered this too late.

It's coming up on 3 years later. Any updates? I realize it's only May and so a bit early for this new season. But our asparagus is just coming up here in New Hampshire - maybe there as well? Anyway, I have a similar asparagus/strawberry garden and it's been a mixed bag, likely because the asparagus part is 20+ years old and the strawberries are 3 years in the ground. This spring I have a little asparagus and ton of strawberry blossoms. @Back To Reality

omg, we have a hell of a time keeping the wild strawberries in check here! And i have left some large vines that seeded themselves into my raised beds to see if we end up getting some good yields eventually.

This video was posted two years ago, how’s it going now?

Seven years ago I bought some asparagus seeds from Walmart put some compost on the ground spread the seeds over the top and put some light dirt on top. And they are growing beautifully. It really isn’t as hard as you are making it. Your way will work beautifully as well just wanted to let you know it’s not that complicated

Me thinks I like! Good idea, I'm in the same boat except my soil is clay and shale so I'm just throwing soil on top!!

Good presentation

5hanks for the encouragement. Now I'm glad I planted asparagus, though it was a year ago already. Now I wish I would have tasted the scrumptious spear when it was only 4 inches tall.

Bro it’s dark out here and I thought those were actual bugs on my phone when you were explaining soil biology.

*looks at how home the video it. * ah. Good. Let's see what happened!

I planted my asparagus from seed so I have 4 years to harvest time. Planted next to my front yard trench for harvesting water.

Always soak the crowns for a hour before planting them.

Does digging a hole or trench and burying fish s d kitchen scraps qualify as tilling? Because my garden is healthy as can be my soil is very rich. I bury tons of walleye and salmon scraps in it and kitchen scraps.

You eat hastas too. They taste pretty good. Andni believe part of the same family as asparagus.

I probably won’t do this as I’m going to cover my asparagus with a fine mesh to keep the asparagus beetles out, bees couldn’t get in to pollinate the strawberries. I’d do it tho if I didn’t have the beetles.👍🏻🤠

I stuck seeds in the raised bed last spring and a few under my apricot tree. This year I have sprouts coming up the diameter of a pencil. I did nothing other than water it.

Please plant 10 times what u think u will need.

Nice discourse. After watching I noticed your soil looks too dry for strawberries to grow, keeping the soil moist around the berries will make them flourish and try hard when watering by hand not to wet the leaves. Any brown old leaves and stems should be plucked of and thrown away from the strawberry plant- not into compost! Happy growing, I hope this helps you as much as you have helped me to know the 2 questions I had. Now i know asparagus is a forest plant a d a natural companion for strawberries.😁

I think you mulched your strawberries out of existence.

These two are something I really want to plant in my new location (sons yard) so seeing this video gives me hope that with limited space I got this in one bed!!! One note. I am thinking your strawberries didn't come up because too much straws covering those crowns...they should have come up before two months.

Wonder if the strawberries get enough sun after the asparagus ferns up?

Do you have an update now that it is 3 years later?

Was there ever an update video to this?

If I had a re-do, I would plant male dominant asparagus crowns in large pots in an area with no shade, let them grow till you can spot all the females and get rid of them, then I would either transplant the males at that time or wait till the ferns die back and then transplant, or store the pots in non heated garage or the dormant crowns in fridge till early next spring and then plant them properly. I planted strawberries in with my asparagus but later read that strawberries and heirloom tomatoes can share diseases. Tomato plants can help protect roots of asparagus plants from nematodes and vice versa, also basil & parsley plants help repel pests like asparagus beetles and or attract beneficial insects that hunt pests. If anybody has tried growing clover with asparagus please let me know the results, thank you.
hope this helps someone.

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It's been 3 years...
Any updates 🤔😀🤣?

Fascinating! We had asparagus crowns a few years ago. They did great the first 2 years, but failed in the third. We moved them to a better part of the garden, but that sealed their fate. I've decided to invest in the future of my garden in a big way, part of which entails growing asparagus again...from seed! Wish me luck!

Strawberries need more water.

I don't have much asparagus, but what I do have is in the middle of a strawberry bed. My original asparagus planting, many years ago, mostly failed, but a few plants survived. When I decided to put strawberries in that location, I couldn't bear pulling out the asparagus.

My experience is that they're not really very good companions, space-wise,, because the asparagus grows in a clump that eventually takes up a lot of room. The strawberry runners are not long enough to route the to the "other side" of a row of asparagus.

However, the strawberries that are overhung by the feathery fronds of the asparagus seem less likely to be chewed on by rabbits and deer. But they also are somewhat shaded and not terribly productive.

And oh, that fresh raw asparagus is heavenly to eat. I've never cooked any homegrown, just eaten it raw while standing in the garden.

I've just found your channel and started watching from where you moved onto your farm, good videos:) I remember reading Ruth Stout's gardening books back in the 70's. one of the things I remember her talking about was virgin soil. She started planting rye when that was ripe she would plow that in and plant barley. This was followed by alfalfa. I think she said this could be done in one season.

I sowed asparagus seeds 4 consecutive years running down five rows, covering them with compost. The wild strawberries came naturally to the rows. I generally plant annual vegetables with the asparagus as companions but it is obvious the strawberries are taking over as ground cover. I had a good crop of asparagus last summer and a large crop of the largest wild strawberries I've ever seen. After adding the compost layer in the spring, I think I will spread the strawberry plants better among the asparagus.

Thanks very much!

Too much stupid regressing