ok here,s how i plant n grow my stuff you can make what of my ideas you wish everybody does stuff thier ways but it gives me good results and isnt my gospel but a life times collection of oldies tips and tricks and also some of my own . i may as well start it alfabetickly. so here we go with
ASPARAGUS.
types of asparagus can be early mid or late cropping so choose what you want n then decide if you want to use my planting method
in feb start by digging a 3 ft wide by the plots width trench filling it with good extremly well rotted manure .in mid april place the crowns in on top at least 3ft apart in the centre of the manure trench now pile the soil back over the crowns and pull more soil from the outside to make it level if needed, now lime the surface with 1oz to the yard , harvest only the first 5 spears from each crown in the first year , in the second year crop from when they appear til june 21st ,stop and leave alone till spring .in jan cut down the sprays and remove all rubbish and spray all weeds with roundup ( DO NOT SPRAY IF THE SPEARS ARE THROUGH ) hand weed only . you can carry on cutting for 20 yrs or more if you feed them properly . after 4 yrs in put manure on top of the mounds in winter after cutting the sprays down in november .this will give the sparrowgrass a new boost for the next spring .lime before the spears start to appear each year.
BEANS all types are the same in my book and need no different measures except in climbing frames for the climbing varieties
method, dig a trench 18 by 18 inch deep .fill with rotted manure not compost as this doesnt hold anywhere as much nitrogen as muck does . pull the soil back over and leave to sink about a month is great ,when your ready to think about beans start em off in a greenhouse or cold frame or even ya window sill in april , plant em out in may . sow some extra seed 4 -5 to each plant and they will come later you can leave them to get on with it .this gives an extended growing season to near end october .pick all beans before they become stringy and do not allow any to set seed unless you want it to at the last of the season. water in the morning before the sun gets to high if possible ,and then again in the early evening ., do not spray the flowers with water from the HOUSE hose as it contains chlorine and other nasties and may affect the pods setting let nature and the bees do the job with just a helping hand from you . always plant beans from east to west even if this means you have smaller rows . for climbing beans see my frame this can be applied to all climbing varieties and you can interplant both french climbing with ya runners if you so wish conserving ground
LEEKS
you can plant em straight out as they are,i sow the seed in april in a small bed in the garden . preparing the ground a top dressing of lime 1/2 oz to square yard will help along with a dressing on potash and superphosphate ,both available from garden supplies 1/2 oz per . the dibber hole is a trried and trusted method from generations of gardeners i personally dont use it i use the spade dug in deep and then levered back and forth to form a slit, i find this leaves a soft loose spot in the soil in which the roots can spread .if you come across a broken fork / spade shovel handle then have its end made to a blunt point this will then be fine for your leek dibber .rake the top dressings in lightly, mark the line and then go down the line with the dibber a foot apart placing holes ,the depth of the hole is determined by the leeks length i grow mine to about pencil thickness before planting out in a final "seed " bed in the garden. place the leek in the hole twisting it down as you go to make sure the roots all go down . turn the leek so that the leaves fall left and right of the line now pour the water in ,i prefer to use water from cans that i have warmed up in the greenhouse or in the sun for a couple of days ,this has the effect of not shocking the roots and also i believe in reducing the chlorine from tap water ,if you have rain butts use that water , plant the rows 2 ft apart ,hoe when needed water every other day in dry weather feed one lot of potash same as before to the leeks in end week october , hope that helps