How to Plant Asparagus

Nutritious asparagus fits in any weight loss or optimum health diet.

Asparagus costs a fortune at the store, but it's easy to grow in the home landscape. It makes a beautiful edible plant when planted along fences. Asparagus is a perennial that requires a separate bed of its own. Plant the roots early in spring in most areas. Allow the plants to establish the first year without harvesting. Your work and patience will keep you supplied with yummy asparagus for the next 10 to 15 years.

Things You'll Need

• Compost or manure
• Shovel

Instructions

1. Pick an area along a fence or wall or in another part of the yard where there is full sun. Choose a location where the tall asparagus ferns of summer won't shade anything else that needs full sun.

2. Dig a trench one foot deep and one foot wide. Make the asparagus bed as long as you like, or space separate trenches five feet apart. Combine the soil removed from the trench with half as much compost or manure-enriched topsoil -- a 2 parts soil to 1 part compost ratio. If the soil is heavy, add 1 part sand. Reserve this soil mix.

3. Mound two inches of soil mix in the bottom of the trench for its entire length. Soak the trench with water and let it settle overnight.

4. Place the asparagus roots -- also called crowns -- one foot apart on the top of the hill in the trench. Cover the crowns with three inches of the enriched soil mix and water well again.

5. Keep the soil moist, but not soggy, at root level. Continue adding the soil mix as the plants grow. Keep the growing tips of the plants uncovered. Eventually the trench reaches soil level or slightly higher.

6. Don't harvest the first year. You are building the roots for the future. Allow the plants to grow into ferns and enjoy the lovely sight all season. Cut dried, brown plants to the ground in late fall or early winter, except in snowy areas.

7. Start harvesting the following spring. Cut the asparagus stalks at or below ground level at a 45-degree angle. Harvest only until the stalks become about pencil-size or slightly larger, then stop cutting. Cultivate, adding compost or other fertilizer, and water deeply. Follow this procedure every year and your harvest period will increase.

Tips & Warnings

• Your local nursery or garden center can tell you when to plant in your area. Some areas favor a fall planting, rather than spring.

• In cold winter areas, allow the plants to stand all winter. The plants hold snow, which protects the roots from freezing. Remove dead foliage in early spring after the last frost.

• Ask your garden center about "all male" varieties, which produce more stalks because they don't use their energy to produce seed.

• Water infrequently, but deeply.

• Once the spears start becoming thin, stop cutting.

• Hand pick asparagus beetles or blast the plants with a water spray. If you prefer, use row covers to protect the plants.

References

• SelfNutritionData: Asparagus, Raw
• University of Minnesota Extension: Growing Asparagus
• East Texas Gardening: Establishing an Asparagus Bed