Planting Asparagus

Asparagus is usually the first vegetable to push up through the soil in the spring.  This harbinger of spring arrives with the advent of warm days and nights.  It could be in April or as late as early May in central PA.  To enjoy this nutritious vegetable you must plan 2-3 years in advance.

~ Grow asparagus in partial or full sun (it performs best in full sun) in soil with a pH of 6.5 to 7.0; ammended with plenty of organic matter that is rich in potassium and phosphorus.

~ Make a 7-inch deep, V-shaped furrow (or more, depending on how many crowns you are planting), and in each one spread a handful of wood ashes, a handful of bonemeal and an inch layer of compost or well-rotted manure.

~ Soak the crowns in compost tea for 10 minutes or so and lay them on their sides on top of the organic matter, 12-16 inches apart, in rows 4 feet apart.

~ Fill the furrows gradually as shoots emerge, taking care not to cover any foliage; eventually the furrow will be level with the soil surface.  Don’t bother spreading out the roots; they’ll find their way down.

~ Give new plantings one to two inches of water a week; after that, only water when rainfall is scant.

~ Side-dress plants with a balanced organic fertilizer in late summer and top the bed in organic mulch in the fall.

~ Refrain from harvesting and spears during the plants’ first year in the garden.  Each spear needs to “fern out” so that the roots can grow stronger and more producting.  The second year, pick a few that reach about the size of an index finger.  The third year, pick finger-size spears for two to four weeks in the spring. In subsequent years, take all the finger-size spears desired for 6 to 8 weeks or until the spears that come up are thin and spindly.

~ Asparagus is well worth the three year wait it takes before harvesting the first full crop.  A well-tended bed will give tender, delectable spears year after year for a decade or more, at a tiny fraction of the price it would cost at the supermarket.

~ The experts disagree about when to cut down asparagus foliage.  In the fall to keep pests from moving in for the winter or in spring so that the foliage can protect the crowns through the winter.  The choice is the gardener’s, but if they are cut back in autumn, do it after a few killing frosts have struck and then mulch the bed.  If cutting back in spring, cut the foliage to ground level before new spears start popping through the soil.