Novice questions time.
I have some small, raised gardens that did OK last year, mostly greens and herbs (mustard, arugula, spinach, and chicory). In the fall I planted cauliflower. It is growing very odd (at least for this noob’s knowledge). Instead of growing big cauliflower heads, the plants are growing very tall with small heads (quarter size). Is there a trick I am missing.
Also several years ago I planted asparagus shoots and they come in each year but they are very whispy, like dill, not like asparagus. I thought I had pulled them out but they come back thicker and thicker each year but they are all just thin, frizzy stems, not even pencil thickness.
Your greens use up a lot of nitrogen, so it’s possible that you need some sort of fertilizer. If you check out the local extension service, they can assist you with a soil analysis to see what additives you need.
I use raised beds too. I plant cover crops in the fall to plow under in spring and add compost each spring before planting. It also helps to rotate your plants and not plant the same thing in the same space year after year.
Are you sure there aren’t thicker spears down below all the whips? This week, I cut down all the dead whips and found a couple servings of spears.
You know, sometimes I see asparagus fern mis-advertized at Lowe’s as plain asparagus, which is supposed to come as roots rather than the “shoots” you describe. You didn’t buy asparagus fern, did you?
Patience. If they are three years old they will not be much bigger than that. It’s about the 5th or 6th year in my experience when they begin to get to pencil size. You can harvest them and eat them after about three years but better to wait until year 5.