I recently picked up a copy of Gardening Without Work by Ruth Stout and was intrigued by her respect for a Mr. J. A. Eliot. She mentions in particular a leaflet from him entitled "Every Garden can Easily Have Asparagus" which supposedly contains a bunch of useful advice that she didn't reprint in her book due to copyright (and in earning Mr. Eliot some money for his work). I was hoping to grab a copy to read and tried Googling for it, but to no avail. Does anyone have a source for this document? It would have been published before 1961 (when GWW was published). Stout mentions sending fifty cents to J. A. Eliot, Route 1, Califon, New Jersey to get a copy, but I'm guessing that won't work.
I have searched in vain for that as well. In 1958, she said to send him $0.25 (same address).
One bit of wisdom I have picked up is "Don't waste your money on the 3rd year plants...they won't produce any faster than the younger ones. They need to establish in your soil."
Thanks, John! In the edition that I have, Ms. Stout even mentions using one year roots, as the two year roots seemed to not have much of an advantage over the one year roots. Of course, she does caveat that the information is coming purely from second hand sources - don't have the book with me right now, but I seem to recall them being the local nursery as well as some gardening encyclopedia.
This thread is over a year old, found it by googling 'j a eliot asparagus' - I was also looking for the 12 page pamphlet quoted in Ruth Stout's books. I have found a couple of the pamphlets online on Amazon, titled 'The no-trench, easy way to grow asparagus', written in 1972. I ordered one for $10, should receive it in a week, will share the basic information if anyone is still interested. It took several weeks for a pamphlet to become available for sale so they are really hard to find!
I will, Miles. The pamphlet I ordered must be a re-print, or a different one from the document Ruth Stout mentioned in 1958, since it was published in 1972, but I am hoping it will have the no-trench basics. Thanks for the welcome to permies!
Got my J. A Ellliott pamphlet today on growing no-trench asparagus, "The No-Trench, Easy Way to Grow Good Asparagus". It is 6 typed letter-sized pages stapled together at the top, and was copyrighted in 1972. Mr. Elliott advised planting at least 25 asparagus plants (one- or two-year roots) per person, planted a minimum of 16 inches apart in all directions. He said to spade some manure into the soil before the asparagus arrives, and emphasized the importance of keeping the roots moist before putting into the ground. He planted by just stabbing a spade into the ground to open a crack in the soil and slipping the root in just deep enough to be covered, so that the bud is about 1/2 inch below the surface, then stamping the crack shut. He then adds a layer of fresh manure mulch, but warns to leave a space about the size of a cup around each plant so they don't get burned. After the sprouts come up, he mulches deeply with 'salt hay' or straw to keep down weeds. Each year, add more manure and mulch - that's it! He did mention only picking for 'a taste' the first year, and only for 2 weeks the second year, to allow the roots to establish well, and never picking the small sprouts, only those larger than your thumb, so as not to over-stress the plants. He said the best time to pick spears is when they are just beginning to open up a little, what he referred to as having 'bird shot' barely showing on the buds. In the fall, the plants all turn brown. He would leave them all winter, then cut down in the spring, and use for mulch back in the same asparagus bed. I can see why this guy was a gardener after Ruth Stout's heart, they agree on everything, I think!
This was the first result when I searched for the leaflet mentioned in Ruth Stout's book and the leaflet is still hard to find (out of print etc). Although this thread is old, I thought I'd drop a link to Tennessee Virtual Archive which has a scanned copy of "No-Trench, Easy Way To Grow Good Asparagus" by J.A. Elliott copyright 1947, price 25 cents. The document is indexed as "Homestead way to grow asparagus 44021_001" on the site. Each page is scanned and downloadable.
https://teva.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15138coll31/id/34
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