•2—Lancaster farming, Saturday, May 12,1979
Asparagus growing is a family business
By SUSAN KAUFFMAN.
Staff Correspondent '
One of the first vegetables harvested from the garden in
early Spring is asparagus. Warm days push the green
spears through the ground’s crust. Many a homemaker is
glad for the first fresh produce to put on the dinner table.
To Ruth Wolfe though, asparagus means lots of hard
work. She and her family raise asparagus' for local
marketing. They have over four thousand plants to tend
and harvest.
The main work force at their home is Ruth, who collects
the daily pickings with the help of her older son Kenny,
and her husband Kenneth who does the tractor work and
some of the hand work as well. The Wolfes live on a seven
acre site touching the Lake Aldred Recreation Park at
Holtwood R 2, Lancaster County.
Although Mr. Wolfe works fulltime at Armstrong, the
assortment of trees and garden crops planted on their
property keeps the family very busy past the regular work
week hours. When the family moved there 10 years ago
there were a number of Chestnut trees already
established so Kenneth decided to take a course from the
Penn State Extension to learn how to care for nut trees.
That course lead to several more including fruit trees,
strawberries and asparagus.
Over the past several years their farming enterprise
increased to include SO fruit trees- apples, peaches, pears,
plums, apricots, cherries-, 45 blueberry bushes, 10
chestnut trees which produce 1000 pounds of nuts a year,
black raspberries, 3000 strawberry plants, seasonal
garden produce such as cauliflower and sweet com and
finally, the asparagus crop which covers half an acre.
After studying a course from the Extension service,
Kenneth ventured into the asparagus by a series of three
planting, one new planting each Spring for three Springs
to bring the total to over four thousand plants. “In 1975,
early in April, we planted 1000 crowns. In 1976 we added
2000 plants and in 1977 we planted 1100 more,” he ex
plained as he consulted his notebook.
“The Penn State information says to plant 18 inches
apart as a guide. Actually, I placed the roots in the furrow
spread out from the crown so that the tips of the roots
touched from one plant to the next,” he added. “One
particular order of roots was very nice and large so the
plants that year were not as close as other plantings,” he
explained. t
The Wolfes ordered two-year old roots from a Maryland
firm. These roots were then placed in a furrow made by a
shovel barrow pulled by a small tractor to a depth of 10 to
12 inches. The roots were placed dicectly on the floor of the
furrow then covered over by raking in me soUfay hand.
“We do everything the hard way,,! ti)|nk,” ffitth Wolfe
added. “We have a small operation and much of the work
is handwork.”
Mrs. Wolfe explained that their soil is very stoney and
loose so they could get away with filling in the furrow
Kenneth Woife, seen
on the tractor with the
herbicide sprayer at- '
tached, uses Sev;n to
control the asparagus
beetle.
completely the first year while directions suggest partial
filling in, during consecutive growing seasons. “I’m not
sure that what we do is exactly right, but it has worked for
us so far,” she added.
Heavy soil might smother the new plantings so partial
filling in of the deep furrow is recommended generally,
she explained.
During the first growing season the new plantings are in
the ground, they must be kept free of weeds by pulling by
wmesfpad tA/ofas
hand and shoots should not be cut. Taking the growth the
first year would weaken the growing crowns under the soil
level.
At the beginning of the second Spring, or first Spring
after planting, fertilizer can be top-dressed on the rows
and the old plants which are now dead above the ground
can be harrowed down to make a clean surface. Wolfe
sprays with a herbicide at this time to discourage weeds
as well.
During the second season of growth, Wolfe explained
you can cut the asparagus “that is as large as your middle
finger in diameter for a few weeks.” The rest should be
left to grow into the seed bearing bushes.
The third year after planting, four weeks of cutting is
recommended. After that, the asparagus should be
established sufficiently to allow a long cutting season
from mid Spring through to early July, depending on'rain
and temperature.
The Wolfes break off their asparagus at ground level or
just below ground level every day and sometimes during
the hotter weather twice a day to insure their customers of
nothing but the tenderest spears. “There is no wast&with
our asparagus. We just could not feel right selling it that
way,” Mrs. Wolfe added.
Mrs. Wolfe is kept busy in the Spring taking orders by
phone and gathering the asparagus each day. With their
thirteen year old son’s help she keeps up with thepicking.
Kenneth and Ruth also have two other children, Joyce
who is 10 years old and Jeff who is eight. All three children
attend the Lancaster Christian School and when not at
school are learning to care for the plants and produce on
their property.
It is up to Kenneth to spray the herbicides, till the
ground, spread the horse manure, commercial fertilizers
and lime and to control the pests such as the asparagus
beetle.
Even with the first early cutting just completed, there is
already evidence of the ongoing battle against the beetle,
Kenneth pointed out. On one stalk he showed a series of
asparagus beetle eggs which appear to be tiny, black,
short hairs protruding from the stalk. Shortly, the eggs
would hatch into little worms which suck out the nutrients
in the stalks, leavmg them eaten out and brown.
Wolfe uses Sevm on the patch after picking is completed
to control the beetle. He has to continue spraying
regularly until cold weather comes in the Fall.
A County Extension agent advised Wolfe to spray with
Princep after cutting is completed to help control Summer
weed growth. Keeping the patch cut-off, or, broken off in
the Wolfe’s case, also helps to keep pests and weeds under
control. Cutting off the spears below ground level is ad
vised because this practice is supposed to hinder disease
from entering the crown of the plants.
Getting rid of the asparagus itself is much easier than
getting rid of weeds and bugs, Mrs. Wolfe added. “Most of
our orders are for 20 or 30 pounds at a time for those who
want to freeze it or for a bunch, or one pound, for a meal or
two at a time.” “We have orders taken way ahead. Our
customers know they can’t wait too" long to place their
order or they may not get it,” she added.
“The work is not as bad now as it was the first few years
when we had the new plantings because we had the weeds
to pull by hand then,” she lamented. “Now the spraying
really helps out a lot,” she concluded.
When Ruth serves asparagus to her family she .usually
fixes it with cheese because it is their favorite. “I take
very little water and cook the asparagus pieces for only a
very short time, just until they become tender.” “Then I
add pieces of velvets cheese and put a lid on the pan until
the cheese melts.” “I think you can over cook asparagus
and cook it with too much water,” she cautioned.
She also explained that she blanches her asparagus for
the freezer only long enough to heat it through and it turns
a bright color. Then she cools it quickly in cold water and
seals it in double plastic bags for Winter meals. “It is
something we always think tastes good in the Winter
time,” she said.
One would think that having so much would make one
tired of asparagus, but to the Wolfes, it is a garden crop
which gets easier to care for and market each year.
Kenneth Wolfe suggests that any gardener interested m
establishing his own asparagus plants check with Ex
tension agents in a given area for details and advice.
Plants need plenty of sun, a good bit of rain and warmth to
grow asparagus, he said. Customers are easy to find if the
quality is right, both Ruth and Kenneth agreed.