Highly productive, delicious tasting, but expensive to buy, why not consider growing asparagus in your garden? Some planning and preparation is needed to successfully harvest this vegetable, but one single planting will last up to 15 years without having to sow again, interesting eh!
Now growing asparagus in the same place for this amount of time can be a bit of a dilemma, so it’s important to choose the right spot. You can grow along a fence, and that adds a feature at the same time, also you can create a border along the edge of the garden, you’ll find one row will be adequate for the average family. When mature they will be about 5 foot tall x 3 foot wide.
If you follow certain guidelines, and the climate is suitable (they do not thrive in extreme temperatures, preferring a cool climate), you can be successful in growing asparagus and it is one of the most nutritionally well-balanced vegetables in existence.
One good reason for growing asparagus is its high content of folic acid. A 5.3 ounce serving provides 60% of the recommended daily allowance for folacin which is necessary for blood cell formation, growth, and prevention of liver disease. Folacin has been shown to play a significant role in the prevention of neural tube defects, such as spina bifida, that cause paralysis and death in 2,500 babies each year.It also has a wealth of other nutrients and fiber with very low sodium and calorie content making growing asparagus a nutritionally wise choice for today’s health-conscious consumer.
Soil preparation is essential if you want to savor this vegetable for the next 15 or so years from just one sowing, you need to make sure the bed is free of debris or weeds before planting, a deep, well draining soil is essential, with access to full sunlight.
Start preparing your soil in the fall by spreading a good layer of manure or compost and dig in to a spades depth so it is well buried and has time to break down over the winter ready for use in spring. Buy yourself a soil analyzerso you can get an accurate reading before you start growing asparagus. They like a high pH in the 6.5 to 7.0 range, so if you get a reading that’s below 6.0 add some lime to the soil.
Using one year old crowns (these are the one year old base and roots of the plant) is the best way to start growing asparagus, much easier than statring from seed. Purchase them from a garden nursery or you can have them delivered through a seed catalogue and get healthy plants.
A week before you plant the crowns rake in some general fertilizer granules, remember it’s a spring crop so that’s when to sow. Dig a trench about 4 inches wide and 6 to 12 inches deep, add a 10cm high mound of fine prepared soil down the length of the trench, now place the crowns on top of the mound of soil in the trench, about a foot apart. If you plant too close you’ll get small spears, too far apart and they will be larger, however production will be reduced.
Cover the crowns with about 5 cm of fine soil. Gradually as buds start to develop from the crown, keep adding soil to cover them, it should be autumn when the trench is filled.
Water regularly while they are establishing themselves and each crown will produce spears during spring and early summer. If these are allowed to continue to grow they develop fern like stalks, which produce red berries. It’s from these that the mature plant manufactures its own food, which is kept in storage roots, that gives it the energy needed for production the following year.
Avoid harvesting spears over the next 2 years as this encourages the crown to develop their root system. You have to wait until the third year of growing asparagus before you begin harvesting spears that are finger-sized and about 8 inches long, just snap them off at ground level. Harvest for about a month this first time, thereafter harvest till the warm weather takes its toll on the spears making them all spindly.
If you’re a novice vegetable gardener or new to organic gardening and can only afford one gardening guide, this may be your best value –
Harvesting is determined by the temperature, usually spears can be picked weekly in spring time and as the temperature rises they may have to be picked every 24 hours. In ideal conditions spears can grow up to 10 inches a day. Look for firm ones with closed, compact tips and the larger diameter ones are uaually more tender.
When harvesting is finished, leave the fern growth till it has completely turned brown or you will deprive the crowns of nutrients needed to produce growth next spring.
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Some of the more common varieties:
Mary Washington is the most commonly found variety. It was bred for rust resistance.
Jersey Knight is rust and fusarium wilt resistant. This is one of the new all male hybrid varieties which have a much higher yield of spears.
Brock Imperial gives high yields.
Princeville suitable for warmer climates.
Purple Passion larger sweeter and tastier than the green types.
Now you have the facts, I’m sure your itching to start growing asparagus and you may even want to give some other vegetables a go in your garden.
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