Asparagus

One of the few perennials grown in vegetable gardens is asparagus, there are two others and they are rhubarb and strawberries. All of them offer the pleasure of having an enjoyable crop year after year. A well cultivated bed of asparagus can produce a good crop for possibly 20 seasons or more. Preparation of an asparagus bed is much more thorough than for annual vegetables, but keep in mind, asparagus won't be ready for harvesting until the third year after planting. If you grow your own crop of asparagus, just remember it will retain its wonderful flavor when you freeze them.

If you live in a state where winters are some what warm you may not want to try and grow asparagus. Asparagus does need the dormant time that cold winters provide.

How to Grow
Most gardeners will start their asparagus garden beds with roots, because a seed-planted bed will require an extra year's growing time. You can buy the roots from a garden nursery or home and garden center or on-line. When planting your roots allow 25 feet of row for every 12 plants, with your rows spaced 4-5 feet apart.

Asparagus grows well in any well-drained, fertile soil. You need to test your soils pH - it should be slightly acid but not below pH 6. As soon as the ground is workable, you need to dig a trench that is 18 inches wide and about 10 inches deep. Add 5-10-5 fertilizer, about 5 pounds for each 75 feet of row, to a liberal amount of organic matter or compost, and mix it into the soil you just removed from your trench. Now you can fill the trench with this new mixture to about 6 inches below ground level and tamp down. Now place the roots on top approximately 2 feet apart, with the crown side up. Cover with a few inches of soil, and as the plants sprout add more soil until the trench is completely full.

If you feed your asparagus plants with 5-10-5 fertilizer roughly two to three months after planting, it will increase the growth rate of your plants. Every spring and fall you will need to fertilize again. Always watch for weeds, you should hoe them out shallowly so you won't injure the underground stems. If you mulch around the plants it will help keep in the moisture and the weeds to a minimum. In fall or winter, depending on where you live, when the leaves have been killed by frost, you can cut top growth down to ground level and mulch the bed again.

During the first two years an extensive root system will grow, this will help feed and support the stalks. During the second spring after you have planted your crop, you can pick a few of the shoots after they have reached about 7 inches high. But remember to restrict harvesting to only about a month. Once you have reached the third year after planting you can cut all shoots except the very thin ones. You can harvest the shoots when they have reached 5-8 inches tall and the buds are still tight; when the buds have started to open the crop is past prime. Discontinue harvesting when the new stalks start to grow thin. This harvest season generally will last between six and eight weeks. Leave these stalks; they will help feed the roots by growing into tall fernlike branches.

The easiest way to harvest is by bending the stalks at the ground level until they snap, leaving the white part of the stalk in the ground. If you cannot use the asparagus immediately, keep the stalks upright in water until you can cook them.

What Can Go Wrong
Rust, a fungus called Puccinia asparagi, was once known as the major cause of failure. If the spread of rust is not controlled it will destroy the entire crop of asparagus. Most of what we can purchase today is the rust-resistant variety of asparagus. If small beetles appear on the stalks, treat with rote-none or some other recommended pesticide. Most importantly, keep the asparagus bed free of weeds.