Menu

  • HOME
  • HOME IDEAS
    • Architecture & Design
    • Interior Design
    • Cleaning Tips
  • GARDEN
    • Yard & Backyard
    • House Plants
    • Flowers & Herbs
    • Fruits & Vegetables
    • Gardening Tips
  • HEALTH & BEAUTY
    • Diet & Weight Loss
    • Fitness
    • Beauty Tips
    • Health Tips
  • FOOD
    • Recipes
    • Keto Diet Recipes
    • Vegetarian Recipes
    • Vegan Recipes
    • Raw Food
    • Desserts & Cakes
    • Cocktails & Beverages
  • ANIMALS
    • Cats
    • Dogs
    • Animal World
    • Funny Videos
  • INTERESTING
    • Relationship
    • Travel
    • Kids & Parenting
    • Pregnancy
    • Interesting Stories
  • DIY
    • DIY Ideas
    • Video Tutorials
  • HOME
  • HOME IDEAS
    • Architecture & Design
    • Interior Design
    • Cleaning Tips
  • GARDEN
    • Yard & Backyard
    • House Plants
    • Flowers & Herbs
    • Fruits & Vegetables
    • Gardening Tips
  • HEALTH & BEAUTY
    • Diet & Weight Loss
    • Fitness
    • Beauty Tips
    • Health Tips
  • FOOD
    • Recipes
    • Keto Diet Recipes
    • Vegetarian Recipes
    • Vegan Recipes
    • Raw Food
    • Desserts & Cakes
    • Cocktails & Beverages
  • ANIMALS
    • Cats
    • Dogs
    • Animal World
    • Funny Videos
  • INTERESTING
    • Relationship
    • Travel
    • Kids & Parenting
    • Pregnancy
    • Interesting Stories
  • DIY
    • DIY Ideas
    • Video Tutorials
23
Nov
1
How To Grow Delicious Asparagus
By Zana Coffee Guru
/ in Fruits & Vegetables
/ tags Asparagus, Fruits & Vegetables, Grow, How To
0 Comments
How To Grow Delicious Asparagus is a high-end gourmet food item, but if you know how to grow asparagus, it becomes an inexpensive way to add a delicate flavor to your meals. A well maintained asparagus patch will yield for 15 to 30 years.

How To Grow Delicious Asparagus

Unlike most vegetables, asparagus is a perennial, meaning it lives for more than two seasons. It takes a couple of years to mature before you can harvest and enjoy it, but it lasts for many years. It’s a vegetable that will stay strong and grow bigger and bigger for decades, feeding your family for generations. Although supermarkets stock both canned and frozen asparagus, neither compares to the unique flavor you get from freshly harvested and picked asparagus. Once an asparagus bed is established, asparagus is the first vegetable that is table ready in the springtime and will provide your family with a firm and fresh vegetable treat for up to 20 years, each crown in your bed producing up to 1/2 pound of spears per year.

How To Grow Delicious Asparagus

Asparagus Planting

Plants can be started by seed or you can buy one-year-old crowns from the greenhouse or garden center. Buying year-old plants means you can start harvesting a year sooner. It is best to start with asparagus crowns rather than seed. They are much easier to handle and plant, plus they will be ready to harvest in two years, rather than three. When you’re buying asparagus, look for:

  • A variety that will grow well in your zone
  • Bundles of 10 to 25 crowns, with firm, fresh roots
  • A bundle that is predominately male, as they yield better. Check the plant’s label to find out the mix of male and female plants, as the mix isn’t evident until the plant blooms. If you want to select for all-male plants, then look at your asparagus plants with a magnifying glass once flowers appear. ​Female plants will have pistils with 3 lobes, males will be larger and longer than females. Pull out all of the female plants and transplant the males to your permanent bed next spring. Popular male varieties such as Jersey Giant and Martha Washington are great choices for those looking for maximum yields.

How To Grow Delicious Asparagus

Starting with Crowns

Great crowns will cost you anywhere from $0.75 – $1.50 per crown. Crowns from a wholesaler that grows the asparagus crowns themselves and got 50 of them for $37.50. Which is cheap. If you’re buying them from someone other than a wholesaler expect to pay twice as much. Asparagus is planted in early spring as soon as the bed can be worked. You want to find a good sized permanent spot that will be used only for the asparagus. Asparagus prefers full sun, although it can tolerate a little bit of shade. Selecting a spot where your asparagus will have optimal sun conditions is best, especially given that it will keep returning year after year. Asparagus foliage will grow tall enough to shade any surrounding vegetation, so it is usually grown in a prepared bed of its own.

How To Grow Delicious Asparagus

Preparing the Bed

Create a lush nutrient-rich spot. Dig the bed well, loosening the soil and adding amendments such as compost and manure. Take a bit of extra time to weed the spot well. Be sure that your planned planting site is completely and totally weed-free. Asparagus does not like competition from other weeds. It’s a good idea to mulch the area very heavily to help prevent weed growth.

How To Grow Delicious Asparagus

Some people advise soaking your root crowns in compost tea for about a half hour prior to planting. If you don’t have compost tea on hand, you can use just water. The goal is to fully hydrate the root mass and make it a bit more pliable and easy to spread. Asparagus crowns are planted in trenches, so you’ll want to dig your trench to a depth of at least 8 to 12 inches and 12 to 18 inches wide. Make mounds down the center of the trench to plant the crowns on. A great idea is to use compost for the mounds, but the garden soil will work as well.

Caring For Asparagus

You can sprinkle a small amount of hardwood ashes and compost or well rotten manure in the bottom of the trench. Space each mound around a foot apart. As the crown begins to grow through the soil, keep adding a few inches of soil until the soil level has filled in the trench over the course of a few weeks. This process allows the asparagus to develop a deep root system to provide for years of crop harvests. Water regularly in the first year to assure the roots have ample moisture to get established. Optimal temperature range for production is between 75-85 degrees Fahrenheit during the daytime, 60-70 degrees at night. In that optimal range, it’s not uncommon for an established plant to grow three to six inches of asparagus spears per day.

How To Grow Delicious Asparagus

Fertilizing

Fertilize with compost or rotted manure mixed with hardwood ashes twice a year. Once in the very early spring before the asparagus spears begin to appear and again in the early summer after the harvest time has ended.

3 Years Period

For the first year after planting, do not cut or harvest any stalks. They need to be allowed to grow into the asparagus ferns that feed the roots so they can survive the first winter. In year two, you will begin to see some small spears shoot through the earth in the spring. You can harvest the first week or two of spears, then allow the plants to once again grow tall and build up strength. The year 2 spears will be smaller, but still very tasty. By the third year, you should be able to start cutting some of the larger spears. You’ll want to leave the smaller spears to grow up and fully frond out, so that they’ll feed and support the root system. After each spring harvest, let your asparagus grow tall in the beds and repeat the process of cutting back after they have died off in the fall.

How To Grow Delicious Asparagus

Harvesting

To harvest asparagus spears, use a sharp knife and cut the spear off. Some growers prefer to do this just under the surface of the soil. If you do that, be careful to avoid cutting other spears that may be forming under the soil’s surface. You can also simply grasp the spear and bend it to snap it off just above the soil surface. Harvest spears when they are 6 to 10 inches high and the tips are firm and tight. Do not harvest spears smaller than ¼ inch thick. You can harvest them when they’re shorter if you’d like, but you’ll have less asparagus that way. Extend the harvest each year by 2 weeks until you are harvesting for 6 weeks. Pick asparagus every 3 days, more often in warm weather. Asparagus is best when eaten within 24 hours, but can last several days in the refrigerator.

How To Grow Delicious Asparagus

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

How To Grow Your Own Kiwi
How To Grow Your Own Kiwi 3 years ago
How To Grow Watermelons
How To Grow Watermelons 3 years ago
How To Grow Healthy Radishes 4 years ago
← Creamy Hot Chocolate
Keto Gingerbread Cookies →
Loading Facebook Comments ...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Categories

  • Animal World
  • Architecture & Design
  • Beauty Tips
  • Cats
  • Cleaning Tips
  • Cocktails & Beverages
  • Desserts & Cakes
  • Diet & Weight Loss
  • DIY Ideas
  • Dogs
  • Fitness
  • Flowers & Herbs
  • Fruits & Vegetables
  • Gardening Tips
  • Health Tips
  • House Plants
  • INTERESTING
  • Interesting Stories
  • Interior Design
  • Keto Diet Recipes
  • Kids & Parenting
  • Pregnancy
  • Raw Food
  • Recipes
  • Relationship
  • Travel
  • Vegan Recipes
  • Vegetarian Recipes
  • Yard & Backyard

Popular Posts

15 House Cleaning Tips That You Need To Know

Posted on 4 years ago
01

Little Black Dress

Posted on 4 years ago
02

How to Grow Lemon Tree

Posted on 4 years ago
03
WHO WE ARE

Not so long ago, couple friends passionate about architecture, art, travel, design and other decided to help other sloths like us. We collect articles, images and we blog all day long so all this cool information can be available to you. We really hope that you enjoy the ride so time can fly fast for all of us…

Enjoy.
Latest Comments
  • No comments
POPULAR ARTICLES
  • Keto Lemon Pound Cake 210 people like this
  • Keto Blueberry Crumble Bars 135 people like this
  • How To Grow Your Own Vanilla Beans 96 people like this
OUR PAGES
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • DMCA Copyright Policy
  • Medical Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy & Legal Disclaimer
  • Terms of Use
    This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Reject Read More
    Privacy & Cookies Policy

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT
     

    Loading Comments...
     

      %d bloggers like this: