A Basic Guide to Growing Asparagus
If you're tired of paying high prices for asparagus at the grocery store, why not consider growing asparagus in your own back yard? Asparagus is not a difficult vegetable to grow, nor is it particularly difficult to harvest, but it does add a classical and elegant element to any dish, which makes it a coveted and high-value vegetable (hence the pricy supermarket tags). The key to growing asparagus successfully is to know how to meet the needs of this vegetable--which is not a difficult task. We are going to discuss exactly how to go about planting your very own asparagus patch as well as how to harvest the asparagus.
It's important to know that asparagus needs to be planted in a sunny area. The soil quality doesn't matter so much, but the drainage does. It's important that you choose a spot that has excellent drainage, meaning that it isn't partial to flooding or retaining large amounts of water in the soil. The size of the plot really depends on how many people you intend to feed. In order for two to four people to have servings of asparagus, you will probably need to plant around forty asparagus plants. It sounds like a lot, but you can always freeze your extra produce and enjoy asparagus throughout the summer and autumn months.
Asparagus grow best when planted "trench" style. The trench should be about ten to twelve inches wide and long enough to leave an eighteen inch gap between each asparagus plant. The trench should also be about seven inches in depth. If you like, you can dig more than one trench and space them about four feet apart to create tidy rows in your asparagus patch. Once you have dug your trench(es), you need to back-fill it with about three inches of soil and one inch of soil mixed equally with compost. This makes four inches of soil/compost altogether.
The asparagus you will be planting is in the form of a crown, which is really just an established root system with a bit of top growth. Each of these crowns will produce about half a pound of asparagus spears each year. You should plant your asparagus in the early spring after all threats of frost are gone. When planting the asparagus crows, you don't even have to bother spreading the roots or making sure they face a certain way. Simply lay each crown on its side and space them eighteen inches apart from one another. The roots will find their way into the ground just fine.
Now you simply back-fill the trench with the remaining soil, but be very careful not to pack it down. It needs to stay nice and loose so that the growth of the asparagus spears is not hindered. If your area is experience a lack of rainfall at the time of planting, go ahead and water the trench lightly, otherwise you can simply let nature take its course. After about two weeks, you should see the tips of the spears emerging, but you must wait until next year to harvest the asparagus. Asparagus is fairly tolerant to drought weather, but a hot or dry summer may require that you water your trenches every few weeks.
Next year, around the time that the temperature reaches 50 degrees F, the asparagus spears will once again emerge. They can be harvested several times throughout a period of roughly three weeks, so make sure you have room in your freezer! All you need to harvest your asparagus is a sharp knife (and gloves, if you like). Simply cut off the spears at ground level. Early in the harvest season, the asparagus spears that reach a height of seven to nine inches and have closed "buds" or tips should be harvested every two to four days. As the harvest season progresses, you may harvest the spears between five and seven inches tall every two days or so, as long as the buds have not begun to fern out. Any spears whose bud has "ferned out" should be snapped off at ground level and thrown away.
See? Growing asparagus isn't a difficult task! Simply create your patch to the specifications listed and sit back while your asparagus patch flourishes!