How to Grow Asparagus
Level:
Beginner
How-To:
Garden
Tips For Growing Asparagus:
When you plant seeds, you need to wait 4 years before the first harvest. Instead, you should plant with asparagus crowns, which are basically the roots of 1 or 2-year-old asparagus plants that have been dug up and soil removed.
When you plant crowns, you can harvest 1-2 years sooner, so it is still a long-term commitment. It’ll be about 2 to 3 years before you can have your first harvest.
Pre-Planting:
- Crowns are packaged as bare roots and come in bundles of 6 to 8 roots.
- Carefully separate the individual crowns
- These swollen buds are where the spears will sprout from- it is the crown area!
- These long strands are the roots of the plant
- Soak the asparagus crowns in water 10 minutes before planting.
Location:
- Site selection is important because asparagus is not a plant that you can easily move around the garden once it becomes established.
- Select a spot for asparagus that when it grows tall, it does not cast a shadow on other vegetable plants
- 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight
- I prefer to plant in a raised garden bed that i can fill with rich, well-drained soil, which asparagus requires.
Planting:
- Our trenches are approximately 8 to 10 inches deep by 12 inches wide.
- Add and mound up a 2”-inch layer of compost to the bottom of the trench to enrich the soil.
- Lay the crowns on top of the mound and spread out the roots. Space crowns 12 inches apart
- Cover the crowns with a mix of potting soil, compost, and fertilizer to a depth of 3 inches and water well
- As the asparagus grows and peeks out of the soil, add another layer of soil to cover them, each time filling in the trench until it is level with the rest of the soil.
Harvesting:
- In a couple of springs from now, you will see individual spears emerge from the ground
- You harvest the spears by cutting below the soil line
