How to Grow Asparagus

Plant it right the first time, and you’ll be harvesting these delectable spears year after year

As a perennial , asparagus requires more up - front investment than any other vegetable . But the long - term payoff is that , once found , an asparagus bottom can , with minimal maintenance , produce for 15 year or more . Its harvesting windowpane is short , but Asparagus officinales freezes so well that the ancient Romans deployed runner to work shaft from the Tiber Valley up to the Alps , to hold them in glaciers there until the Feast of Epicurus . Asparagus is not just delicious ; it is also rich in fiber , B vitamins , antioxidant , vitamin atomic number 19 , and folates — the latter of which are peculiarly helpful in brain development and may provide some auspices against Alzheimer ’s disease .

My current asparagus patch has been going strong for six age now , and I am happily pick edible asparagus in amount exceeding the reported expected yields — with scandalously minimum maintenance . Here are some tips and thaumaturgy that I ’ve learned along the way that can help make your own edible asparagus patch up a achiever .

Get the soil right from the beginning

A well - ready asparagus bed will be in your life for at least 15 years — longer than most railway car , careers , and marriages ( statistically speaking ) , so it makes good sense to do it right . situate your patch in as well drained and sunny a position as potential ; asparagus does n’t wish wet feet . Get a soil test to find out the pH of your ground and other basic attributes of your filth ’s wellness , and amend your soil accordingly . ante up particular attention to getting the pH adjusted to near 7.0 , and increase your soil ’s constituent topic as much as possible . If possible , do all this a yr ahead of planting time . Till the bottom to smother any sess , or if using a crotch , loosen the soil and hit any theme you see . Once you plant your asparagus , it will be hard to get rid of weeds without damaging the asparagus roots because they grow so close to the surface . The further forward of metre you do this , the more effectively you could empty the bed of any weeds that might rest in wait . turn over growing a cover harvest or two ( such as buckwheat in midsummer , and oats and peas in early fall ) the season beforehand . A covering harvest will help oppress weeds , build constitutive affair , and limit nitrogen into your dirt all at once . Even if you do n’t apply a cover crop , keep the patch weed - free , at the very least , during this clip .

Consider your climate when choosing plants

Asparagus can be grown from seed or from one- , two- , or even three - yr - old crowns . I commend first - year crowns ; they give you a twelvemonth ’s saltation on the harvest liken to sow asparagus , and they cost far less and are more vigorous than older crowns . Although capable - pollinated heirlooms , such as ‘ Mary Washington ’ , are still knocking about , the variety I chose to implant when I started my bottom was one of the innovative hybrids . I was sway by the greater productiveness of the hybrids ( yielding at least twice as much as the heirlooms ) and their peachy potential for disease electrical resistance . I am particularly interested about fusarium bunkum — a fungal pathogen that almost ruined my dwelling state ’s asparagus industry back in the 1950s and that still resides in the ground here . I chose ‘ Jersey Supreme ’ , which is resistant to fusarium rotting . When choose which smorgasbord to found , you might also want to consider your latitude and your microclimate . Almost every year , I ’ve lose my first wave of Asparagus officinales gig to ice harm . ‘ Jersey Supreme ’ is supposed to thrive in my zona , but my farm lie low in a steep vale — the short straw when it come to outpouring freeze . If I expand my planting in the future , I might try ‘ Millennium ’ or another hybrid from Canada . If , on the other hand , I retire to North Carolina , where the former summer heat would be my foe , I ’d go for an betimes - emerging variety , like ‘ Apollo ’ or ‘ UC 157 ’ .

Prepare the furrow, and amend the soil

Once you ’re quick to embed , it ’s meter to relegate ground . Dig a oceanic abyss about a foot encompassing and 8 to 12 inches deep — about as wide and deep as the head of your shovel ( stay on the shallow side of that range if your soil is large or cadaver based ) . If add lime , bonemeal , or other sources of phosphate , you may do so at the bottom of the oceanic abyss . Hold off on adding compost until after you ’ve planted the crowns and they have grown in a bit . Too much compost can leave in waterlogged grime , which will rot the crown . How big a while should you cook ? That depends on how much edible asparagus you want . works five crowns per family penis , twice that much if you want surplus to put by . jacket crown need at least 2 feet on either side within the wrangle .

Place the crowns, and partially cover them with soil

Do n’t plant your crowns too early in spring . They wo n’t wish being subjugate to a hoar during their settling - in period . Your nursery will be intimate what planting date to recommend for your area . Plant the crowns as before long after reaching as possible . Do not soak them before planting . A healthy crown will have upward of 30 hempen root , resembling rat tails , up to a base long . I ’ve found that the top have a disposition to fall over on their side in the deep unless you mound up the soil underneath them a mo . The source can then spread slightly down and into the trench , and the summit themselves will stay upright . Once position , overlay the plant with a 2- to 3 - in - cryptic layer of the soil you take out of the wrinkle . Plant your next poll about 2 feet away , and continue down the wrinkle . Water in the crowns , and check back in a few days .

Over the next six week or so , keep the deep well watered and watch for fragile spears to emerge . As they do , add 2 to 3 column inch at a prison term of a blending of ground and well - mature compost , never inhume the shoot completely . practice anywhere from 25 percent compost for relatively rich dirt up to ( at most ) 50 percent compost for pathetic filth . If the spring rains do n’t amount to at least an inch per week , remember to water ; your new patch will benefit , in fact , from an inch of water system weekly through the end of August . As the shaft open up and become ferned fronds , make a habit of walk the dapple every few days to scout for pests . Keep an oculus out , in particular , for the Asparagus officinales mallet ( sidebar , above ) . Make a habit , too , of tear any widow’s weeds you see .

At the death of the first year — specially if you saw beetle to begin with — clip the dry out - out fern shuck and remove them because asparagus beetles overwinter inside the stalks . verify to wait until the fern are whole dried out ; as long as there ’s any green to them , the ferns are feed the crown .

Start harvesting just a few spears in the second year

In the 2d fountain , you’re able to set about to harvest some of the wages . Once the first spear is sizable enough , you may take all emerging fishgig for the next two weeks . If you take for too long , however , you are pluck the crowns of a decisive level of fernery . The fern are where photosynthesis occurs — and photosynthesis feeds the crowns , which , in play , determines how well they will produce fishgig in the futurity . In the third natural spring , you may happen up your harvest windowpane to four weeks . In the fourth and subsequent springs , you’re able to piece for six to eight weeks . Within that prison term frame , if the egress spears get noticeably smaller all at once , that ’s a sign that you should quit picking . One rule is that you should stop over harvesting once the largest spear is less than a ½ inch in diameter , but do n’t go beyond eight calendar week . If , in any class , the spears do n’t seem to be sizing up , it might be that you overharvested in the previous year . You ’ll find that , in the early day of your harvest windowpane , you could get by with harvest home every two to three days . As things warm up , though , the spears can put on as much as 12 inches a day , so it ’s secure to make a aurora wont of it .

Some sept care to harvest by cut the straw , others by snatch up off the stalks with their men . I favor snapping — it ’s easier and quicker than cutting , and what breaks off in my hand is tippy enough to eat , so I do n’t have to snip it in the kitchen . Cutting the gig at or below the footing surface risks damaging adjacent not - yet - emerged spears or giving dirt - carry pathogen easy admittance to enter the result combat injury .

Keep the patch productive and healthy

Once your patch gets a few years former , you likely wo n’t need to water at all . At two years old , the roots are deep enough to get the water they need from the territory . ( hearsay has it that asparagus root can attain 4 foot deep into the soil . ) I fertilize once a year in leap . In early April , I transport a grease sample of the spot to a soil lab , and I have recommendations on how much nitrogen , phosphorus , potassium , and various micronutrient to add . The advice varies widely from class to year . This makes me reluctant to rely on blanket recommendations as to a ecumenical fertilizing scheme .

Asparagus is the most rewarding and least labor - intensive harvest I grow . It was worth every mo of effort to start my speckle off on the ripe foot .

Megan Haney commit community - supported agriculture at Marble Valley Farm in Kent , Connecticut .

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