Planting Asparagus

Now is a great time to consider planting an asparagus bed.  There is nothing to compare to fresh asparagus, picked straight from the garden.

I planted my first successful run at asparagus three years ago.  It has taken three years for the plants to really boost their rootstocks.  They are just beginning to produce my favorite springtime vegetable.  I planted more asparagus crowns two years ago, but those aren’t quite ready for prime time.

Asparagus is easy to plant.  My only gripe is waiting for it to fully mature.  My bed isn’t there yet.  I expect that I’ll be able to harvest enough for a daily meal for a couple of weeks each Spring.  Getting to that point may take another two years.

Patience is not my strong suit.  Growing asparagus takes plenty of it.

This is a good time to plant an asparagus patch.  I placed mine near my tomatoes because tomatoes discourage asparagus beetles.  Asparagus does best in full sun.

I dug a trench one foot wide and one foot deep and 12 to 18 inches in length for each asparagus plant.  I loosened another one foot of soil in the trench to provide the roots well-aerated soil.  I filled my trench with four inches of compost and placed my asparagus crowns. 

Some resources like asparagus crowns to be 12 inches apart, others claim that 18 inches is best.  The asparagus farmer I met this spring told me to leave an inch or two between the extended roots of the plants (imagine octopi with LONG legs).  That put the crowns I planted for my father about 16 inches apart.

Asparagus crowns have long roots that should sit in the trench with roots extended in both directions of the trench.  Once placed in the trench, I covered the plants with two inches of soil and watered them thoroughly.

I carefully mounded and covered the soil from the trench.  As the plants began to send up miniature stems throughout the summer, I covered them with more and more soil from that mound until the soil was all used.

The first two years, I let my asparagus plants grow into miniature trees and build their root systems.  This year, I began to pick some of the spears as they came up from the soil.  There is nothing to compare to fresh asparagus.  Mine never makes it further than the garden.  I eat it whenever I can.  I picked my asparagus for a couple of weeks this Spring then let them fully mature and build their root stocks.

When fully mature, I should get about eight spears from each plant.   Next year, I should begin to pull in an appreciable harvest.  A well-tended bed can produce asparagus for thirty years.  My twenty feet of asparagus should be feeding my family for many years to come.  And asparagus cut straight from the garden is so incredibly tasty, nothing like the stuff that is found in the grocery stores.  It is worth the effort taken to dig the trench and the patience required to wait for the asparagus plants to develop.

Asparagus crowns can be purchased at local gardening stores this time of year.  More exotic varieties, like 'Purple Passion', can be found online.