![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.botanicoir.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Asparagus-2021-3-1-300x200.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Coco coir produced by Botanicoir has helped eco-friendly grower, Sandy Booth on his farm in the New Forest, to enjoy the earliest-ever asparagus harvests, boosted by England\u2019s sunniest-ever start to the year.<\/p>\n
Traditionally, the British asparagus season runs from St George\u2019s Day on April 23, through to the Summer Solstice on June 21 – just eight and a half weeks. In some years, that window of seasonal delight can be even shorter.<\/p>\n
January 2022 was the sunniest start to a year in England since 1919, with 80.7 hours of sunshine and we had the warmest New Year\u2019s Day on record, which created optimum growing conditions for the asparagus to thrive. Kalum Balasuriya, Botanicour managing director, says coco coir supports quicker rooting too. <\/p>\n
Horticulturists and shoppers alike were delighted to hear Waitrose announce on February 25 that its first homegrown asparagus crops had already been harvested and would be in the shops ready to eat in time for St David\u2019s Day, to grace dining tables along with leeks and bunches of daffodils.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.botanicoir.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/PHOTO-2021-09-10-10-30-12-1-300x200.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Botanicoir\u2019s coco coir is a renewable resource which is produced from the husk of a coconut and it warms up faster than British soil, as well as supporting quicker rooting. <\/p>\n
Usually, growers plant shop-bought crowns of the prized, seasonal vegetable in the first week of April because it is so sensitive to frost. But this year the highly-anticipated asparagus tips, that are so prized by celebrity chefs across the UK, emerged a full six weeks early in late February, thanks largely to coir. <\/p>\n
Mr Balasuriya says: \u201cCoconuts love the sun and can be harvested on average every 45 days. \u201cThere are huge amounts of research being done to increase the productivity of the existing coconut plantations too, through the Coconut Development Authority (CDA) in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have always offered recyclable plastic with our grow bags, but we wanted to go a step further in our commitment to global environmental sustainability. After years of research and trials, in 2019, we launched our first biodegradable plastic for grow bags, which growers can simply mulch with the coir and spread on land, with zero negative impact on the local environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sandy Booth, of New Forest Fruit, based in the New Forest National Park, Hampshire, who supplies asparagus to Waitrose, said their use of Botanicoir\u2019s coconut fibre from repurposed strawberry bags, has greatly reduced their use of fertilisers and inputs, which is a great selling point to attract ethical foodies and horticulturists alike.<\/p>\n
Sandy said: \u201cAsparagus requires a soil temperature of at least 10C to grow. However, if the conditions are right it can grow up to 10cm in one day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe use coir from old strawberry growing bags which is repurposed into a blended compost, enriched with microbiology, to build up the soil around the asparagus plants, allowing them to warm up faster in the spring.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe spears are housed in unheated tunnels and start off covered in a fleece for the first two weeks; this is then removed as the temperature increases. The quality of the soil and natural approach to growing, helps to give our asparagus its delicious taste.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the last few years, our growing techniques have changed and in 2021, this enabled us to use no chemicals on the crop. The spears harvested in 2022 are free of chemicals,\u201d adds Sandy. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"