Growing Asparagus
Friday January 18, 2008
Asparagus offers two major perks to the vegetable gardener. First, it’s a sure sign that spring is here and the gardening season has begun. Secondly, asparagus is one of the few perennial vegetable crops. Plant asparagus once and it keeps on giving. There is some up front work to be done, before you can enjoy the harvest, but a well-established asparagus bed can produce for decades. And in some areas, asparagus planting season is now!
Photo: © Marie Iannotti (2007) licensed to About.com, Inc.
Comments
I live in the Deep South. Our beautiful State of Texas can be pretty brutal in the Summer and Fall. Your tips for asparagus are great,but will they wilt in the heat?
You’re right, asparagus won’t thrive in really hot climates. It expends too much energy above ground and isn’t able to store much food in its roots, so every year the spears get a little smaller. This is a big problem for areas that have hot falls, because there’s so little time to build up new reserves before spring.
Your garden space might be put to better use with a crop more suited to the heat. The only work around I know of is to replant the asparagus every 2-3 years and remove the old declining spears as the new ones mature.
We live in the Sierra foothills, our elevation is 1500 ft. We have many +100 degree days. We planted our crop 6 years ago and it continues to produce from spring into the fall. We end up giving it to friends and family.
I moved to a home that had an old asparagus bed that is still producing, but is overgrown with grass. How do I remove the grass, or should I? It is difficult to find the spears, and we are afraid to mow for fear of cutting the asparagus out. Should I turn the soil? Will it hurt the plants?I live in S.W. Virginia.
Thanks for any help.
Claudia, probably the surest way to get the grass out of the bed is to start a few inches away from the bed and begin lifting and removing the sod. Slowly work your way into the bed, working around the asparagus or lifting the sod over the asparagus. Since asparagus roots are deep and matted, they should stay in place.
Someone else told me they laid down a thick layer of newspaper and then mulch, right over the whole bed in the fall. This killed off most of the sod, but the asparagus roots were still able to poke through in spring. She hit any grass that tried to come through the mulch with a vinegar based herbicide. I can’t vouch for this method, but it sure does sound easier.
I live in Anchorage, what temperatures are best for asparagus, winter and summer? Can asparagus be grown in containers so I could move the plants indoors to protect the plants from extreme cold? The summer temperatures are mid to upper 70’s and in winter rarely below -15.
You know how they say you can’t grow asparagus in hot climates? Well, don’t believe it. I live in Zone 9 in Texas, about 10 miles inland in the Galveston area. My husband and I have been growing asparagus in our gardens since 1980. Of course, you do have to make a few modifications to adapt to the heat and soil.
1) Pick the right variety. Texas A&M found hybrids produce better in the heat. Mary Washington and Jersey Giant have done great for me. Purple Passion has also worked well here.
2) Pick the right location for your beds. An area with northern exposure is good, to take advantage of the ‘northers’ when they blow through. Eastern side is good too. Even better, make sure there is at least a little protection from the late afternoon sun – your production won’t drop off as much after 5-6 years if the plants don’t get regularly cooked in the afternoon sun in summer. Mulch is your friend, put it on top of the manure and add more if it gets thin after you stop harvesting. I’ve located my beds both on the north side of the house and on the north side of my property next to a wooden privacy fence. Both have worked well.
3) Prepare the beds carefully. Raised beds only – I can’t say this enough – with good garden soil/rose soil placed on top of the UNDISTURBED soil already there. (I have clay/caliche soil that turns to concrete when it dries out-don’t even try to amend it since it’s a waste of time and money.) Prepare a year ahead if you can, and kill off weeds as they continue to sprout. ESPECIALLY make sure you take time to get rid of nutsedge (or nutgrass, as it is sometimes called) before planting. It can make your life miserable if you don’t, since Roundup only kills off the tops and it keeps coming back.
4) Cut back the ferns in late Dec/early Jan, even if they are still green. You won’t have a frost to kill them back and force dormancy. So do it manually before the (somewhat) cold weather hits in Jan/Feb. If you’re lucky, you may even get a light freeze every 2 or 3 years to help! Cut back the stalks to about 1/2″ to 1″ below the soil line or they could introduce rot to the root in this climate.
5) Invest and buy good quality composted cow manure to top every year. The cheap stuff usually has weed seeds. I ended up with carolina horsenettle sprouting one year, and finally had to kill off the entire bed to get rid of it after it spread to half my garden. Nasty, nasty stuff.
With these differences, I have had tremendous success with my asparagus, and usually end up freezing and giving away quite a bit every year from a single 3′x24′ bed with 11-year-old crowns.
It’s not usually worth it to grow asparagus in containers, because the yield is so small. But most asparagus can handle -15, as long as it’s well mulched in the fall. Have you tried it in a bed?