What is this perennial vegetable? Can you guess? Many visitors to 7 E’s Homestead are amazed to discover that these delicate ferns are the “leaves” of the asparagus plant! April-June is harvest time for this delicious taste of spring.
One cost to establish an asparagus bed is time. It is a high value specialty crop that is slow to mature. It takes three years from seed to the first light harvest, but you can cut a full year off the time before harvest by planting one-year-old roots called crowns. Please do not waste the additional costs of two year old “jumble” roots. After much trial and error, I am sticking with the one-year-old roots because when nurseries dig up the larger two-year-old roots so much of their root structure is left behind. That throws them into transparent shock that slows their growth recovery. You have gained nothing and the costs of the jumbles are much higher.
Asparagus is a dioecious (dye-EE-shus) plant, meaning that it has both male and female plants. All-male cultivars (remember the definition of cultivar is a plant produced by selective breeding: aka a hybrid) give slimmer spears in larger numbers over a longer season. Female spears are known to be more succulent and larger but they produce baby asparagus plants that compete for space and nutrients. This to me is not a big deal as I dig them up and either share them or plant them in another bed. I never leave the new seedlings in an existing bed.
Asparagus spears produced by all-male plants are usually more uniform. The hybrids developed in New Jersey at Rutgers University exhibit high yields and are resistant to rust and fusarium crown rot, two major issues with growing asparagus. Buchheit offers several Jersey varieties like Jersey King or Jersey Giants. The classic dioecious Martha Washington heirloom variety is available in seed packets. Sweet Purple is larger and more tender than green asparagus. Its 20% higher sugar content makes it delicious even raw but the spears turn green when cooked. I love to plant a purple variety but usually further down the row as to not cross with the green varieties. If you have the space, why not plant several varieties?
Asparagus is one plant that you must carefully consider its location. Properly planted bed can last for over 20 years. I am looking for the correct micro-climate at my new homestead in which to locate the new asparagus bed. Most experts advise that you take one year to prepare the bed and in year 2 plant the roots into the trench. Diligent soil preparation is the key to a long lasting asparagus bed. Asparagus can be grown in any well-drained, fertile soil. Test for pH—the soil should be slightly acidic but not below pH 6. Before planting a new asparagus bed it is critical to remove ALL weeds and grasses from the planting site (part of what might take up to a year in prep work). Asparagus plants will not tolerate weed competition. I know that you drive by the wild asparagus in the country and the ferns are sticking up in the midst of the weeds but the new domesticated varieties will not survive. No weeds, no grass, or no asparagus! If grasses or other perennial weeds get established in an asparagus bed it is almost impossible to reclaim the planting as pulling deep-rooted weeds may damage the asparagus roots. That’s why it’s so important to keep your bed well mulched from the start.
Here is an example of how an asparagus bed can be taken over by weeds. Yes, this is one of my beds that got away from me. It took me hours on my knees hand-weeding to fix this mess before I lost the entire asparagus bed. I should have cut down all the spears right after spring harvest, lightly hoed to loosen any weeds, removed the small weeds, raked some fresh compost across the bed and covered it with mulch. Lesson learned the hard way! I like to use sawdust as the mulch for my asparagus beds but any mulch will work. In my next blog, I will talk about how to prep and plant your own bed.
Once you harvest your first delectable tender spears that taste so much better than anything you can find in a store, all the work and waiting will be worth the effort. Hope this was helpful! Anne May
