Asparagus is that the first sign of Spring in many vegetable gardens.

Stalks or spears begin to interrupt the soil in early spring as soon because the soil temperature reaches 50°F (10°C).

Asparagus may be a perennial vegetable that needs three to four years to become established and productive. Once established, an asparagus plant can produce spears for 15 to twenty years or more.

ASPARAGUS PLANTING TIME

1. You can grow asparagus from seeds, crowns (roots), or transplants.
2. Start seed indoors 12 to 14 weeks before the last frost.
3. Transplant seedlings or plants into the garden after the last frost.
4. Plant asparagus seeds or crowns within the garden in early spring as soon because the soil is workable. The soil temperature should be 50°F (10°C) or warmer.
5. Allow asparagus 3 years to determine its roots before you start harvesting.

Grow asparagus in raised beds if the native soil is poor.

WHERE TO GROW ASPARAGUS

• Asparagus may be a perennial. Plant asparagus during a spot where plants can grow undisturbed and productive for 15 to twenty years.
• Plant asparagus fully sun where it gets many air circulation; this may help prevent disease. Asparagus can tolerate partial shade.
• Plant asparagus out of prevailing winds; wind can damage or break stalks.
• Asparagus grows best in loose, compost-rich well-drained soil. Sandy loam is sweet soil for growing asparagus.
• Add 3 to 4 inches (7-10cm) of aged compost to the planting bed and switch it under to 12 inches (30cm) deep or more before planting asparagus.
• Plant in raised beds if your native soil is poor or constantly wet.
• A soil pH between 6.5 and 7.5 is best for growing asparagus.

STARTING ASPARAGUS FROM SEED INDOORS

• Asparagus plants grown from seed are less vulnerable to transplant shock than those started from crowns. Also, an asparagus plant started from seed is going to be more productive over the course of its life than a plant started from a crown.
• Sow seed 8 to 10 weeks before you propose to line transplants within the garden.
• Soak seed in compost tea for five to 10 minutes before planting; this may help reduce disease problems.
• Sow seed 1½ inch (3.8cm) deep during a seed-starting mix or light potting soil. Sow seeds in individual containers.
• Seeds will germinate in 7 to 21 days at 75°F (24°C).
• Place seedlings during a protective covering, plastic tunnel, or greenhouse to grow on until outdoor temperatures are warm enough for transplanting. The optimal growing temperature is 60° to 70°F (15-21°C).
• Male plants produce more spears than female plants. you’ll choose female plants by watching the flowers. Female flowers have three-lobed pistils; male flowers are larger and longer than female flowers.

STARTING ASPARAGUS FROM SEED OUTDOORS

• Start asparagus outdoors from seed during a protected nursery bed or under a transportable plastic tunnel or a protective covering.
• Sow 2 seeds per inch (2.5cm); space rows 18 inches (45cm) apart.
• When seedlings are 3 inches (7.6cm) tall, thin plants to 4 inches (10cm) apart.
• At the top of the summer, transplant male plants to a permanent spot. you’ll keep female plants to grow on, but they’re going to produce fewer spears than male plants

GROWING ASPARAGUS FROM CROWNS

Asparagus is often grown from roots (called crowns). Crowns are sold at garden centers in late winter and spring and online by seed companies. Crowns are the roots of plants started by a seed grower.
You can purchase one, two, or three-year-old crowns. One-year-old crowns are less vulnerable to transplant shock.
A viable crown is going to be fresh, firm, and healthy-looking. Avoid crowns that look dry or shriveled.
Store crowns until planting time in moist sphagnum or sphagnum.
Asparagus growing bed

Continue to mound up soil over the spears as they get older in order that plants are growing on 4-inch tall or higher ridges or rows.

PLANTING ASPARAGUS CROWNS OUTDOORS

• Before planting soak crowns for 10 to fifteen minutes in compost tea.
• Plant crowns in beds already prepared with aged compost or commercial organic planting mix.
• Dig a trench 6 to eight inches (15-20cm) deep and 12 inches (30cm) wide. Space trenches 3 to 4 feet (.9-1.2m) apart.
• Create a 2-inch-high (5cm) furrow or mound down the middle of the ditch.
• Set crowns atop the mound; drape the crown’s spider-like roots over the sides of the mound. Set crowns 18 to 24 inches (45-61cm) apart.
• Cover crowns with 2 inches of soil. Spears will begin to grow during a few weeks.
• As the spears grow from the crown, cover them again with 2 inches (5cm) of soil. Repeat this process until you gradually fill within the trench.
• Continue to mound up soil over the spears as they get older in order that plants are growing on 4-inch (10cm) tall or higher ridges or rows.
• Plant between 30 and 40 plants for every person within the household.

More recommendations on starting asparagus plants: Asparagus Plant Starting Tips.

WATERING ASPARAGUS

1. Keep asparagus planting beds evenly moist but not wet throughout the season.
2. Mature plants can survive without extra watering, but the stalks may become stringy and woody.

FEEDING ASPARAGUS

Add two inches of aged compost to planting beds every spring or sprinkle a high phosphorus and potassium fertilizer, like 5-10-10, down rows before spears appear in spring. do that again at the top of the harvest.
Asparagus in loamy soil

Keep asparagus beds well weeded. Competition from weeds will lower the yield of asparagus.

CARING FOR ASPARAGUS

• Mound 1 to 2 inches (2.5-5cm) of aged compost or commercial organic planting mix over asparagus established crowns every spring. Aged compost has all the nutrients asparagus plants need. Plants will easily get older through the added soil.
• Keep asparagus beds well weeded. Competition from weeds will lower the yield of asparagus.
• To grow white asparagus spears, blanch the shoots by mounding soil up round the spears as they grow.
• Erect windbreaks if there’s a prevailing breeze; blowing soil can damage spears.
• When plants become dry and brittle in autumn, cut plants back to 1 inch above the soil. Add aged compost or commercial organic planting mix over plants.
• If a frost or freeze is forecast, protect spears and crowns by covering them with several inches of straw or chopped leaves. Unprotected spears hit by a freeze will turn brown and soft or they’ll die.

COMPANION PLANTS FOR ASPARAGUS

Plant tomatoes, parsley, and basil near asparagus. Avoid planting root vegetables near asparagus.

ASPARAGUS PESTS

1. Asparagus beetles may attack asparagus, especially in commercial asparagus growing districts.
2. Asparagus beetles and larvae chew spear in spring and prey on fronds in summer.
3. Pick off and destroy asparagus beetles or spray with insecticidal soap or pyrethrins.

ASPARAGUS DISEASES

• Asparagus is usually disease-free.
• Fungal diseases like rust and wilt can attack asparagus. Spray-mist plants with compost tea to stop fungal diseases.
• Treat seed to stop the disease before planting; soak the seed during a one part bleach to nine parts water solution for 2 minutes then rinses the seed.
• Plant disease-resistant cultivars.

More about asparagus pests and diseases: Asparagus Growing Problem Troubleshooting.Harvest asparagus

Snap spears off at soil level together with your fingers at or simply below ground level. If you employ a knife, take care to not injure nearby crowns.

HARVESTING ASPARAGUS

• Begin the asparagus harvest when plants are three years old and fully developed.
• Pick spears for less than fortnight the third year (which is that the first harvest); let plants still establish themselves; over-harvesting can weaken plants and cause future harvests to be small.
• The fourth year after planting, extend the harvest to 4 weeks.
• Every year after the fourth year, you’ll extend the harvest by every week or two until you’re harvesting up to eight weeks.
• Cut spears once they are 6 to 10 inches (15-25cm) tall and a minimum of the diameter of a pencil. Tips should be firm and closed.
• Snap spears off at soil level together with your fingers at or simply below ground level. If you employ a knife, take care to not injure nearby crowns.
• When spear bracts begin to feather out, it’s too late to eat them.
• If temperatures approach 90°F (32°C) at harvest , harvest daily; heat can cause bracts to open prematurely.
• More recommendations on growing asparagus: Asparagus Growing and Care Calendar.Asparagus plant ferns

Just after the center of summer (in late July) cut the ferny plants right down to the bottom . New spears will grow for a second harvest.

HOW TO EXTEND THE HARVEST: HARVEST TWICE A YEAR

• To extend the harvest, plant twice as many plants.
• Harvest half the plants as was common from spring to early summer.
• Let the opposite plants/spears grow on; they’re going to grow on to become tall ferny plants.
• Just after the center of summer (in late July) cut the ferny plants right down to the bottom.
• New spears will emerge in autumn; harvest these spears such as you would spring spears.

STORING AND PRESERVING ASPARAGUS

1. Asparagus is best used fresh.
2. Asparagus will keep for up to 1 week within the refrigerator. Place spear upright in an in. approximately of water and refrigerate.
3. Freeze asparagus after blanching.
4. More on the way to Harvest and Store Asparagus.Asparagus sproutsv

Green young asparagus sprouts within the garden

ASPARAGUS VARIETIES TO GROW

1. ‘Jersey Knight’ (male): heavy producer.
2. ‘Jersey Giant’ (male): grows well within the East and Midwest.
3. ‘Larac’ (male/female): pale, nearly white, French cultivar.
4. ‘Mary Washington’ (female): heirloom traditional variety.
5. ‘Millennium F1’ (male): grows well in very cold northern gardens.
6. ‘Purple Passion (male/female): colorful, tender.
7. ‘UC 157’ (male): an honest choice for West Coast weather.
8. ‘Viking’ (male): excellent for cold climates, tender, tasty.

ABOUT ASPARAGUS

1. Asparagus may be a hardy perennial that produces tender, fleshy, green stems or “spears” with bud-forming caps.
2. Grown to maturity the asparagus features fernlike, feathery foliage.
3. The asparagus is long-lived staying within the garden for 15 years or longer.
4. Botanical name: Asparagus Officinalis
5. Origin: Mediterranean

ASPARAGUS SOWING AND PLANTING TIPS

Grow asparagus from seed or root divisions also called crowns.
Seed is often started indoors 8 to six weeks before the last frost in spring; plants are often transplanted to the garden once they are well established, 2 or 3 weeks after the last frost in spring.
Sow seed ¼ to ½ inch deep (6-13 mm); pot up young plants until they’re well established before transplanting them to the garden. Set transplants during a trench 6 to eight inches (15-20 cm) deep; the ditch is going to be slowly and naturally fill in because the plant grows over the course of the primary two years.
In the spring of the second year, cover about the tops of spear-growing tips to assist plants to establish strong roots.
If you begin plants from crowns, began crowns in late winter or early spring when the soil is often worked—usually about 2 weeks before the last frost in spring.
Plant crowns in trenches 8 to 10 inches (20-25 cm) deep and 12 inches (30 cm) wide.
Set crowns at rock bottom of the ditch then cover with 2 inches (5 cm) of soil.
Space crowns and plants 8 inches (20 cm) apart for slender spears to 14 inches (36 m) apart for thick spears.
Space trenches 4 feet (1.5 m) apart.
Grow asparagus in loose, aged-manure- or aged-compost-enriched soil.
After shoots emerge in spring and start to grow, gradually fill within the remainder of the ditch with soil, but never fully cover the growing tips.
Fertilize with fish emulsion or a soluble complete fertilizer at half strength.
Add aged compost to planting beds beforehand of planting.
Asparagus prefers a soil pH range of 6.5 to 7.0.
Grow asparagus fully sun for best yield.
Plant asparagus during a dedicated bed; plants will live up to fifteen years.
Interplanting: Plant during a dedicated bed; asparagus plants can live and be productive for up to fifteen to twenty years.