Tips On How To Grow Asparagus
Growing Asparagus at High Elevation
How To Grow Asparagus
Find a nice sunny spot that you will walk by often (that’s important). Soil needs to be easy to dig in and drain well. Add compost and mix it in. Asparagus grows from “crowns”. Plant them with the thick roots all splayed out like a spider about 5 inches. Cover to let the base of the stalks be at soil level.
During the growing season in spring, you will need to check it every morning and clip off the shoots. That’s why it’s important to plant where you will see it regularly easily.
(I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that I have gone out in the morning cut my shoots and left some that just weren’t tall enough yet. By 5pm the same day they are ready to cut. That’s why you have to check it every day in the growing season)
Through trial and error, you will learn how tall to let the shoots become before cutting, but always cut in the morning for best results. I usually only eat asparagus shoots bigger than a pencil in thickness. The smaller shoots are ok to cut and eat as well, or let g;row; just be aware that if you let the leafy fronds grow, the good cutting shoots can be hidden by foliage. Cutting the tiny little shoots doesn’t hurt the overall growth - it actually stimulates growth.
Let the fern-like fronds grow after you’ve harvested all the asparagus in season and you notice it’s not putting out as much. Be aware that male plants bloom tiny little yellow flowers. You might think this is unimportant until asparagus is growing in your other flowerbeds. Cut the blooming fronds to reduce this problem.
Be prepared to tie up or fence up the fronds when you’re letting them just go. They get tall enough to fall over. Using pretty stakes and “green colored” string worked well visually for us.
Once you’ve let the fronds just grow for the summer you might see a second small harvest for fall if the temperatures. ** Asparagus will keep in your refrigerator for a long time. **
In winter when the fronds turn bleached blonde color, they are ready to be cut down even with the soil line and discarded. The is the dormant stage. Cover with some mulch and forget about it till spring.
Remember asparagus is perennial and comes back every year and multiplies.
Asparagus is pretty enough to use in your landscaping, but it grows waist tall so use it in the back. (I would get a handle on growing it for normal food harvesting first.)
Article by Lori Clark
