A meal of fresh asparagus picked from the garden and brought
into the house for a quick sauté in butter and a sprinkle with salt is one of
the first signs of spring in my garden. The
first indication that anything is growing in my asparagus patch is the green
spears that push through the mulch and look like the ones you buy in the
grocery store. After I pick the
asparagus for about 6 weeks for my mature patch, I stop picking and allow the
plants to grow. The spears grow into 3
feet tall feathery bushes with foliage that resembles that of a very
fine-leafed fern, and visitors to my garden are often mystified as to the
identity of those strange plants.
Garden centers and catalogs sell seed year-round, and they
sell crowns, which are dormant asparagus roots, in the late winter and early
spring. Start seeds in early
spring. Some common varieties are the
heirloom “Mary Washington,” which has male and female plants, “Jersey Knight,”
a hybrid with all-male plants, and “Purple Passion,” a hybrid with purple spears. All-male plants produce bigger harvests than
female plants because they do not waste energy making seeds.
Crowns, although they are the most expensive way to start
asparagus, produce an asparagus harvest more quickly than plants started from
seed. Plant them as soon as you obtain
them about six inches deep. After
planting and watering the crowns, cover the bed with 4 to 6 inches of mulch,
leaving a small opening on top of every crown for the first tiny spears to
emerge. After the spears emerge, tuck
mulch around the spears. In subsequent
years, mature plants have no trouble pushing spears through the mulch, so cover
the entire bed with mulch.
Unlike the asparagus you see in the grocery store, homegrown
asparagus varies in diameter, but all tastes the same. Harvest asparagus when it is 6 to 8 inches
tall by pulling over the stalk until it snaps.
If I don’t have enough for a meal, I store spears for a few days in the
refrigerator, with the ends wrapped in a moist paper towel in a closed plastic bag.
Harvest no asparagus the first and second springs after
planting if the plants were started from seed because the plant needs to devote
all its energy to growing larger.
Finally, the third spring, harvest asparagus for a couple of weeks. When the newly sprouted spears look
consistently pencil-skinny, it is time to stop harvesting. In subsequent years, harvest until the spears
become skinny, usually after 6 to 8 weeks of harvest.
Harvest a few spears the second year after planting if the
plants were started from crowns, and harvest for 6 to 8 weeks in subsequent
years, but stop when the spears begin to be skinny. The remaining spears will grow into ferny
little trees to adorn the garden until frost. Harvesting for longer than
recommended weakens the plants.
Winter is a great time to prepare an asparagus patch. The weather is pleasant for work, and fall
leaves are available for mulch. Asparagus
is one of the easiest vegetables to grow, but planting it does require some
planning since a healthy asparagus patch can produce spears for decades. Choose a site with well-drained soil in full
sun.
Enrich the soil with compost, organic fertilizer, and lime
if the soil requires it. Eradicate any
serious weed problems before planting because tilling the soil among the plants
is impossible, and removing invasive weed roots from among the spears is a
tedious job. If you don’t have enough
room to devote an entire bed to asparagus, mix in some plants with your perennial
flowers. Asparagus comes up at about the
same time spring bulbs bloom, and the mature foliage complements flowers.