Asparagus Beds The Easier Way

The only things I have planted are permanent things, like an asparagus bed and three types of thorn-less blackberries.  And some fruit trees, but that is for another post.  Before I can plant any annual vegetables, I will have to put up fencing and a few strands of electric fence as well because we have lots of critters in our area.

The asparagus is Martha Washington, an heirloom variety which produces both male and female plants. Commercial growers do not usually grow this variety because the female plants put energy into producing seeds and that lessens the availability of harvest-able shoots.  Those few growers that do, will cull the female plants from the bed and replace them.  For the home gardener, this ability to produce seed is actually a bonus.  You only need buy a dozen plants and get them into the garden.  From then on, you can continually harvest seeds in the fall and expand your asparagus bed to whatever size you wish.

Gardening books often suggest trenching and removing dirt for 18 inches deep or more and filling the beds with compost and manure, mixed with some of the soil that was removed from the trench.  While this certainly is the tried and true method, it is a great deal of work if you have a lot of plants to set.  I have a substantial amount of clay in my area and I chose a different method. It seems to be working out just fine. 

To avoid drainage issues caused by my heavy soil, I only turned over about 6 to 8 inches of soil to loosen it. Then I mounded compost and soil over that to raise the bed.  I planted my crowns by forming small mounds spaced about 18 inches apart and spreading the roots over the mounds. Then I pulled more compost and dirt over the roots from both sides of the row.  This kept the crowns and roots above my heavy soil. As the summer warmed, I placed about 4 to 5 inches of leaves and hay over the entire bed.  This kept the soil cool and moist and the weeding to almost nothing.  Remember to thoroughly water in newly set plants right away, and weekly thereafter through the summer if you don't get enough rain to keep the soil moist.

Once established, asparagus is very tough and handles drought, heat and anything else mother nature throws at it. They can be attacked by asparagus beetles, but these can be controlled easily with organic methods. So for the first year, you nurse them along, and then the plants will usually take care of themselves. Your main jobs will be adding more compost and/or manure each Spring and keeping weeds at bay. You never harvest any spears the first two years, at least, and only for the first week in the Spring of the third year.  Leave the rest to produce frilly fronds and develop a strong root system.  Then you can harvest lots of tender shoots for the next 25 years or so.

You can begin harvesting seeds the first year, though. By mid summer, you will see small green berries on the female plants. Allow them to stay on the plants until they turn red, then remove them.
Squeeze the small black seeds from the berries and rinse them under running water in a fine meshed colander. Dry the seeds on paper towels, then put them them in a zip-lock baggy  and place the baggy in your refrigerator until February or March.  At that time, plant the seeds in jiffy pots and keep them moist. When the plants emerge, be sure to let them have light. If it is not freezing outside, move them out to filtered sunlight each day that you can.  Grow lights work great, too, but sunlight is free.

When danger of frost is past, set them out into your asparagus bed. New plants like this cannot be harvested for 4 or 5 years, but you can  continue to plant more each year, if you wish, as well as replace any plants that succumb to disease, insects, or clumsy gardeners.

How much asparagus should you have growing?  Most gardeners will want about 50 plants per person.  More if you want to freeze or can some for later use. That sounds like a lot, but you can't cut all the spears, just some of the ones early in the season. Some have to be left to grow into full fronds to provide energy to the plant. Remember that if you are working with limited space, you can tuck plants into your flower garden and other areas around the property where they won't be disturbed by other activities.

 I will end up with about 400 plants, but then I have lots of space, I want to preserve some of it, and I like to give to friends, family and food banks when I can. And when I have fresh asparagus, I want it at almost every meal.

That may be "information overload" on asparagus for some folks......but I have lots more information, just ask.