Tell me about asparagus!

I posted about a week ago, asking if I can still plant asparagus this spring, and didn't get any response! Can anyone tell me a little about how to grow this, how much room it takes, how much it produces, and when? What varieties are good? I noticed that Park Seed offers several varieties bareroot, including Jersey Knight, Jersey Giant, and a gourmet purple variety. Seems like they come in quantities of 20. How much room should I guesstimate for 20 plants? Does anyone have experience with those varieties, or with asparagus from Parks? Any good sources you recommend? I haven't seen any locally except at K-Mart, and it looked scary, but then I haven't had a lot of time to dedicate to searching!

Help! I'm trying so many new things this year: cucumbers, potatoes, dill, spinach, Romaine lettuce, and hopefully asparagus, too!

Hi,

Sorry you didn't get any response. I'll try to help you as best I can. I planted Jersey Knight last year. I think I planted them in April, if I remember correctly. Since you won't be picking asparagus this year anyway, I don't see why you can't still plant them this year. I planted about 30 plants. I bought two-year roots. I did buy them on the internet, but don't remember where. Check Garden Watchdog for recommendations on where to buy. I would not buy them at Wally World, HD, or Lowe's. I think they sit in their little boxes too long in those places.

One thing to do is be sure you plant them correctly, not too deep, not too shallow. Do a search on Google for planting instructions. Be sure you don't want to move them later as a good asparagus bed will produce for 20-30 years. Because of our red clay soil, I have mine in a raised bed, just ordinary soil. Plants are about 18" apart. I think I could have planted them closer. I did not pick any last year, but this year I picked them for about six weeks. Next year I can pick longer. Now I'm letting them go to fern. When you are through picking for the year, you let the new ones grow up and become a fern. Don't cut the fern down as it is storing food for the plant for the next year. When they dry in the fall, cut them down.

I have read that you can prolong your picking season by picking only part of the plants in the spring and letting the others fern. Then you can start picking those and let the first ones go to fern. Does that make sense? I hope so. If not, let me know, and I'll try to explain better. I read that if you have enough plants you can do this in threes, pick only one-third, then six weeks later start picking the second third, then the last bunch six weeks after that. I haven't tried this yet, but it intrigues me, and I'm considering getting more plants to give this a try. It would be nice to pick fresh asparagus all spring and summer. Lots of info about this method on the internet.

However, I do find them to be easy and take little in the way of care.

Karen

Thanks for the input! I didn't know you could continue harvesting into the summer--I thought they were a one-time "I'm ripe, pick me right now" kind of plant. So you can harvest after they go to fern? I know so little about asparagus, and have never even gotten a good, up-close look at any in a garden to know how they grow. I just love eating them, and pretty much only know what the spears look like harvested!

Each individual spear, if left alone and not picked, will become a fern. However, they will continue to put out spears, which will then also fern so that's how they can be ferning on some spears and you can still pick others. Each plant also increases in size every year, so each plant will grow more spears each year. This was my first year picking, so my plants are still too little to get much of a second growth, but next year . . .

So many places make asparagus growing sound really hard and technical. I've found that it's easy. Just be sure you are getting one- or two-year-old roots/crowns, then after this year's growth you can start picking next spring. You plant them in a trench about 6-8" deep, then gradually fill in the trench as the plant grows up. Jersey Knight is an all-male variety and will take temps down to -40 degrees. I don't remember where I bought mine, but I know it wasn't Park's as their shipping can be pricey. They also have a lot of negative comments in Garden Watchdog. I'll check my credit card orders for last year and see if I can figure out where I bought mine since I want to get more and they shipped beautiful crowns. I'll let you know.

The fern is just so the plant can store up food/energy for the next year. Asparagus needs a dormant period. In climates where there is no cold to make them go dormant they use different methods. One is called the "mother fern" method and another one is by droughting the plants (cutting the water to them). It's a fascinating subject, I think.

Here are some good planting instructions with photos:
http://www.kitchengardeners.org/2006/03/planting_asparagus.html
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Down at the bottom of this article are three methods for extending your harvest. I like method #3 and am going to try that one. I've also read this method works by dividing your picking areas into three sections as well. Just depends on the length of your growing season.

Pick section #1 for 8-10 weeks while the others fern. Then let section #1 fern, cut the ferns from section #2 and pick the new spears for 8-10 weeks, then while sections #1 and #2 are left to fern, cut the ferns from section #3 and follow the same procedure. That gives you 24-30 weeks of picking fresh asparagus. I think I can do the three sections here, but even if your climate only allows for two sections, you could still have 16-20 weeks of fresh asparagus. Do be sure to pick every day. It's amazing that a spear that was only 2" high today will be 14" high two days later.

It also depends on how much area you have to devote to this. I have plenty of space, and the price of fresh asparagus at $2.99/lb or more inspires me to plant more and give this a shot. You would need a lot of plants if your whole family likes asparagus, but you can add some every year until you get the number you want, and the production of each plant does increase every year, too.

http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/envirohort/426-401/426-401.html

Here's a good explanation of the mother fern method for growing asparagus year around in tropical climates, since they don't get a cold period. It's not really applicable to us, but still it's interesting.

http://www.maximumyield.com/article_v10n4_year-round_asparagus_production.php

Karen

Aha, I found where I bought the asparagus crowns last year. I bought 25 two-year plants. The total with shipping was $23.00. The prices do not appear to have gone up from last year. They don't ship in the fall, but are shipping until June 15 and have crowns in stock. They have a good Watchdog rating. They are a very small operation, so if you buy from them it might be a good idea to place your order over the phone.

http://www.daisyfarms.net/asparagus.html

Karen

Thanks for all the great information! If my DH *ever* wakes up from his nap, we're going shopping for containers for our new strawberries, hanging baskets of flowers for my kids teachers, and maybe even asparagus, if we find any that looks good locally.

DH and I both LOVE asparagus (though I can't stand the way he likes it fixed--cooked till it's falling apart, then pour off the water, drown it in milk, and tear up chunks of white bread toast and toss in with it. Ugh. Soggy toast and overcooked asparagus aren't my thing! It's how his mom and grandma made it, though). I'm trying to convert my kids into asparagus lovers, but they are kind of resistant.

I'm going to check out Daisy Farms right now. Maybe I'll just go ahead and order some, and forget hunting the local places! I also looked at ordering from Nourse--followed your suggestion to check out vendors through Plant Files/Garden Watchdog, and saw that they had good ratings.

Mmmm, wish I had some nice fresh asparagus right now!

Nourse would be a good choice, too. I was going to order more strawberries to plant around the apple trees I have growing in a raised bed. However, I think I'll just let the berries I have continue to fill in where they are (2 1/2 8x4 beds) and order more asparagus. I really want to try the half and half picking idea. I can do that next year if I put in more this year. Wouldn't it be great to pick fresh asparagus for 16-20 weeks a year?

If you do buy locally, just be sure that the crowns look really healthy and that roots are nice and plump. Our nurseries here are such a big nothing that I buy everything from the big box stores (HD and Lowe's). But I tried the plants they have in the little boxes, and if I don't get them right away then they are too old from having been in the boxes too long. If you do contact Daisy Farms do use the phone number as sometimes their on-line ordering is not working correctly. Like I said, they are a small operation.

Oh, I sure know about the "way mama made it" recipes. LOL. Personally, it sounds terrible, but if he likes it . . . that's good enough. I never got my kids to eat asparagus, squash, or tomatoes. More's the pity, and now they are way too old to change. After I was grown I found out that I liked a lot of things that I didn't think I did. I discovered that my mom was an awful cook and most of the problem was with the way she cooked stuff. I like my asparagus cooked, but not to mush. I also don't like it the way they are doing it on the cooking shows where it is barely warm and not really cooked. But to each his own, I always say.

Here's a funny story about asparagus. Many years ago my mom and dad were renting a house in Tujunga, CA. I was raised in the Los Angeles area. Mom discovered asparagus growing by the side of the house. She had a grand time picking it until one day the landlady, who lived just down the street, dropped by and saw what she was going. Said landlady had a fit -- "Oh, you're destroying my beautiful fern". Mom told her that it was asparagus and that the fern was when it was going to seed for winter. Yep, you guessed it. The landlady started picking "her" asparagus, and we didn't get any more of it.

Do let me know how you come out on the asparagus. We just came back in from picking bowls of blueberries, strawberries, green beans, and wax beans. Got drenched. That raincloud looked farther away on the Doppler than it was. But the rain was warm. My daughter and granddaughter live in the house next door on the same property. I planted the blueberries especially for Katie, my GD, as they are her favorite. But she has to share the strawberries.

Karen