Hello, I too, like you, am looking forward to spring. I'll try to answer some of your questions. RE Asparagus -- asparagus needs to be in full sun, and definitely does NOT want a heavy, wet soil, which would make it rot. It actually does best in rich, sandy loam. It does like a steady supply of moisture, but doesn't ever want waterlogged roots, hence the sandy soil. As far as varieties, there are three main classes, open pollinated, mixed-gender cultivars like 'Mary Washington' which are the oldest types, and the cheapest to purchase; all-male hybrids, known as the 'Jersey' series because they were developed in New Jersey, these are generally all-male plants (although a few females slip through at times), so they are claimed to make larger spears and give higher yields as they don't devote energy to bearing fruits. Personally, I don't see that there is a big advantage in these for the home gardener. They are the most expensive plants to buy; finally, there are also the 'gourmet' types, such as 'Purple Passion' which bears purple spears, or some of the European cultivars which grow the white asparagus (ONLY if blanched with mounds of soi), such as 'Precocce d'Argenteuile' (note -that's probably NOT the correct spelling) -- these types are fun to grow if you are of that mindset. Rhubarb will grow in full sun or partial shade, and it likes rich, moist soil. It will tolerate heavy soil and the infrequent, very short-term flooding. In hotter climates, it actually would prefer some shade in the heat of the day. With rhubarb, your basic choice is between green-stemmed and red-stemmed cultivars. There actually is very little to no taste difference, but green-stemmed cultivars like 'Victoria' are actually more vigorous than the red-stemmed ones 'Chipman's Canada Red,' 'Cherry,' etc. Personally, I would say just get a green-stemmed type, and add a little food coloring when cooking if you wish. But, that's up to you. As far as when to plant -- you will basically receive dormant roots on either of these, and the nursery should send them at approximately the correct planting time for your region. Both are fully hardy, and can be planted outside as soon as you can work the soil, which is probably sometime in March in Virginia. Hope that answered some of your questions.

Wow, I'm new to Garden Web and excited to find a thread so exactly on topic for me, I was looking for help in figuring out how deep raised beds will have to be for rhubarb and aspargus as well as other insights to growing them by this method. It seems like an old thread though so I'll see if anyone answers. Also seems to be a bit of attitude going on here, the first I've seen in the garden web-hopefully the last. Anyway I am finally buying a house and swore that I would plant these two crops, rhubarb and aspargues, as soon as I was a home owner, because they take so long to establish. The home I am buying has a concrete RV pad in the side yard with full sun. So my first contact with the garden web was results on a query to whether I could build raise beds right on the pad. The answer was yes and there were great pictures of other folks beds made of used concrete blocks-satisfying all my criteria including going with surplus materials. So I am very happy to have found you all and this terrific resource. I need to figure out how to get in a more current thread though. I'm looking forward to dishing dirt (garden soil) with y'all. Hoping someone can help me out with the question of how deep the beds need to be. Thanks-Hatzi

Hi All! Not sure if anyone is still out there connected to this thread, but thought I would try. =) My family loves the good old Strawberry Rhubarb freezer jam that uses jello, I love it, too. My problem is, I try to make enough of it to last us all year (they love it that much!), but I dont' want to use that much freezer space. I have tried a couple of recipes this year, water bath recipes, that have not set up. One I was afraid may not have had the right ingredients to be a jar jam, since it didn't set up, so after a few hours, I threw it in the fridge to use as syrup. Low and behold it set. =) So, I found another and tried it. It didn't set either. (What is the longest it should take to set up?) 12 c rhubarb 3 Tbs pectin (powdered) 3 c sugar lime juice cubes (2 or 3?) dash red food color Put sugar on diced rhubarb and let it sit overnight to suck water out. Cooked and reduced it for about 15 miutes with lime juice, and added pectin near end. My recipe is homemade so your mileage may vary. Rhubarb is high acid, though, so it should be safe enough. >>> I like the look of the above recipe very much (it is from further up in this thread), it has very little sugar, doesn't require much in the way of other fruit (I'm trying to be as frugal as possible) and is said to set up. My question is this. Can I use one of my recipes that has not set up, just add commercial pectin to it? (I do like the flavor, just want it to set.) If so, how do I figure out how much pectin to add? I'm new to the jam canning process, and don't have much for local resouces, so I appreciate all the help I can get. Thanks! Gabi

We live between Green Bay & Appleton & bought a house last fall with an old garden full of asparagus, raspberries & rhubarb. We've never grown asparagus before but its so established we didn't even have to try! We had asparagus once already last week & have at least 20 spears which should be cut! Very exciting!