Just looking for some real life feedback if anyone has ever tried companion planting strawberries and asparagus. It seems like a fairly decent idea. They occupy completely different root zones and vegetative growth zones so it seems that nutients would only partially be competed for. In my hot dry summers, I think that they could be good for each other with the strawberries shading the root zone and asparagus giving a bit of shade releif to the strawbs.
Thoughts?
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I have strawberries, asparagus and rhubarb all planned on the same patch. Not enough time yet to have feedback for you, just letting you know you aren’t the only one thinking about it.
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My asparagus smothers everything around it.
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I have a 4x4 square bed I specifically planted with both asparagus and strawberries because I read that the companion planting would be beneficial. I have 2 asparagus plants (now entering their 3rd year, so just starting to pick up steam) and really only 1 mother strawberry plant that I let put runners all around.
Last year I harvested 1 batch of asparagus and maybe 2-3 pints of strawberries. Last year may be an anomaly but I noticed the Japanese beetles really chewed through both of my crops – it was like they hung out in the asparagus but then feasted on the strawberry leaves. My asparagus did not really supply shade to the strawberries, either. I don’t think it’s a problem that I planted them together (despite the beetle infestation) but I don’t know if I saw strong evidence of benefits to either crop from companion planting. Then again, I did not grow the strawberries or asparagus separate, so I can’t say what baseline is.
The harvest I did get from those plants was really flavorful, I’ve never had fresh asparagus quite like that before. I am hopeful for next season!
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I asked about this on gardening Reddit. They basically said that you still will want to do the 1 foot spacing.
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I have two one year old beds containing both. Bed dimensions are 3’x6’x12". I sandwiched two everberring varieties in each bed. As of now three of the strawberries are alive and well. The fourth I’m not so sure about. I will agree that the asparagus will crowd over them quite a bit.
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My asparagus bed which I have mentioned in other threads recently was planted last year and runs east/west. I figure if I try the companion thing I would likely only plant strawberrys on the south side of the bed. If I am being realistic I don’t have high hopes for the starwberries, I seem to have a bit of a strawberry curse at this house and have met failure everytime I plant them. Between the neighbors friggin cats and poorly timed heat waves they just never get established. Next time I plant them I am promising myself that I get them in the ground early spring and will have to build something to keep the cats out of the lovely soft dirt with fun little toys stuck in it.
Whoops just realized they are alpine berries not everbearing. I choose ones that don’t send runners and clump minimally.
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I love both… but goog search on asparagus bed images… makes me think the strawberries would have a hard time thriving in a healthy stand of asparagus. Managing the density of the asparagus would be key to success with both interplanted. Seems like you would have to have a pretty thin stand of asparagus to have much success with the strawberries.
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Dang! Well, I sure hope my asparagus bed fills in like that! Thanks for the picture.
@TNHunter
That’s exactly how my beds looked by the end of the season. However both fraises Des Boise and a mignonette are alive and well. The single yellow wonder is up in the air. I had plenty of berries from them to eat before the asparagus started to block out enough sun to slow production. However keep in mind that these varieties do not produce heavily so it wasn’t much more than a handful of berries every few days.