Put your cruddy old jeans on because you're going to be getting down in the dirt this weekend. It's asparagus planting time. THIS is the year you're actually going to do it.
Every year you say you wish you grew asparagus and every year you continue to buy bundles wrapped in rubber bands from the store.
Fresh cut, homegrown asparagus can be eaten raw right out of the ground. It tastes very similar to peas when you eat it like this, which I often do as I survey my asparagus plants.
BUT it wasn't always this way because I, like you, kept putting off planting asparagus.
Asparagus is one of those things that everyone (me) seems to put off planting because they (me) hate the fact that they have to wait 15 (actually 2) years to harvest it.
I'm going to convince you by the end of this post to plant some this weekend, because the window for this year is closing.
To reiterate, THIS IS THE YEAR YOU'RE GOING TO FINALLY PLANT ASPARAGUS! GOOYA! (The phrase is similar to Booya, but more like what a baby would say if they scored a touchdown)
Asparagus is a much bigger miracle than a toothless baby quarterbacking in the NFL let me assure you. It's a perennial vegetable that will stay strong and grow bigger and bigger for decades, feeding your family for generations.
Plus it's decorative
Asparagus you see, turns into 4-6' tall ferny plants once it's done producing asparagus in the spring. So you get to eat it all spring and then you just let it do its thing and it'll become a bushy, ferny bed that looks nice and can act like a privacy screen.
Basically asparagus is fantastic all around. But you can't harvest it for the first 2 years. Which is where asparagus loses a lot of people.
The actual job of planting asparagus is easy. It's the waiting that's hard.
Table of Contents
How Does it Grow?
Asparagus can be planted from a seed or from a crown.
What is a crown? The crown is the top knobby part of the asparagus where the shoots will come out of. It has roots coming from the bottom.
The actual asparagus grows above ground from the top knobby bits of the crown. These shoots push up in the spring exactly like you see them in the grocery store as perfect solid spears.
As the season progresses, the stem portion of the asparagus continues to grow and gets taller, and the tip of the asparagus opens up and flowers with long thin branching. By the beginning of summer any asparagus that has been left to grow will develop the long stems and ferny top, often growing as tall as 7'
How to Plant
- Dig a 10" deep trench.
- Add 2" of compost to the trench.
- Make a little mound of soil for each asparagus crown to sit on.
- Spread the roots out.
- Fill the trench in making sure the crowns are covered by 2" of soil.
- Once the asparagus starts to emerge in the spring, add another 2" of soil or compost.
** Unlike strawberries, you want the crown of the asparagus to be under the soil by about 2" **
You buy the asparagus crowns (they look like big spiders) either at a local nursery or through mail order and then you put them in the ground. Easy.
You just have to get over the idea that you won't be able to eat any of it until you're frail and elderly. It's 2 years. You will not be frail and elderly. You probably won't even have cleaned behind your couch by then. You will have asparagus before your next behind-the-couch cleaning. That's not too long to wait is it? No it is not. 2 years isn't a big deal.
Now. Don't you wish when you first thought of planting asparagus that you'd actually done it because you could be picking and eating that asparagus this spring?
Yes. Of course you do, because you're not an idiot. You're just weird about planting asparagus.
Healthy, robust crowns like this will cost you anywhere from $0.75 - $1.50 per crown. I ordered my 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.
Most garden centres have asparagus crowns for sale in the spring so grab yourself some of those and start planting.
The first thing you should do is figure out how much you need to buy.
How Much to Grow
Expect to plant around 10 crowns per family member that loves asparagus.
50 plants for a family of 4.
Plant MORE if you want to blanch and freeze asparagus for the winter.
Of course you don't have to plant this much, it's just a guideline.
What Variety Should You Plant?
Asparagus is a dioecious plant. That means there’s boy asparagus and girl asparagus plants.
A girl asparagus plant will produce thinner spears because she’s concentrating on reproducing, which in this case means seed pods and therefore lots of asparagus babies. The only thing cuter than an asparagus baby is a cabbage baby.
Male asparagus plants on the other hand don’t care one whit about making babies they just want to grow up big and strong themselves. So they only concentrate on making big, thick spears. Male plants don’t have to produce seeds so none of their energy goes towards producing them. It only goes towards making spears.
Up until 20 or so years ago all asparagus varieties produced both male and the less desirable female plants. Then agricultural scientists made a break though and created a hybrid asparagus plant that was ONLY male.
For generations the most popular variety of asparagus was Martha Washington but the all male varieties have now taken over in popularity.
"Guelph Millennium" one of the most popular and productive all male varieties is what I grow. Other male varieties are the Jersey collection: Jersey Supreme, Jersey Giant or Jersey Knight.
Millennium was developed over the course of 12 years at the University of Guelph in Canada. The other thing about all male hybrid asparagus plants is they don’t self seed which in the case of a hybrid is good. When a hybrid plant self seeds you don’t get an exact reproduction of the original plant, you get a version of the original plant which is always a weaker, worse version.
With female plants you constantly have self seeding happening which is why your asparagus bed will spread so quickly, but it’s spreading with an inferior product.
White, Purple or Green
WHITE asparagus is the same thing as green asparagus. It’s just been grown in darkness which means it doesn’t develop the green colour because it doesn’t develop chlorophyll. If you want white asparagus just mound soil over it as it grows so the spears never see the light of day.
PURPLE asparagus is a variety of asparagus that grows purple all on its own without doing anything special to it. The same way some tomato varieties are different colours this asparagus variety is a different colour.
GREEN asparagus is regular old asparagus.
When to Plant
They can be put in the ground as soon as you can get out into the garden and work the soil in the early spring.
You want to plant asparagus crowns while they're still dormant and not showing any signs of growth.
As long as your beds aren't goopy with mud or frozen sold you'll be fine.
Growing Tips
- Asparagus grows best in zones 4-9
- Plant 10 crowns per family member.
- Dig a 10" deep trench.
- Add 2" compost to your trench before planting.
- Plant crowns 15" - 18" apart on mounds of soil with the roots spread out.
- Cover crowns with 2" of soil.
- Add another 2" of soil when shoots first emerge.
- Let your asparagus patch grow for 2 years before harvesting.
- On mature plants only pick shoots that are bigger in diameter than a pencil.
- Don't cut the fronds at the end of the season until they have all died back.
- Replenish the soil of your patch every year with a 2" thick layer of compost to the top.
I eat from my asparagus patch in the spring until the sight of asparagus triggers my gag reflex. At that point I blanch and freeze it to use in the winter for making soup, quiche or even roasted.
See? Not so hard. You just need to know a few things. It's the same story for another vegetable that confounds people - zucchini. Did you know that it only has 1 stem and you should stake it like a tomato? If you do that it'll only take up about 1.5 square feet in your garden instead of becoming a sprawling mess. You can learn how to grow zucchini properly in this post of mine.
Get the roasted asparagus recipe here.
Do those things and you'll be eating asparagus in no time.
Well ... in 2 years actually. Which will seem like 15. But there's NO RULE that says you can't snap off and sample a few spears in those first 2 years to satisfy your curiosity.
Gooya.
I planted big crowns last year and they did great. They popped up in a week! but of course I let them go all frondy. If I get some fatter-than-a-pencil spears this year, can I harvest just a few please? Also, can I topdress with compost in early spring but after the spears start to burst forth?
this sounds SOOO interesting !! I love to pee outdoors ! sometimes I even wait till dark ...
... and of course I really like asparagus too!
Q: once a crown has done its stint establishing itself ... out of one crown, approximately how many spears will you get ? ... and will they all be ready to harvest at once (Boo-hoo), or does it keep coming for a period of time .... (Goo-ya !!) - like days or weeks
I am hoping stalks will keep presenting for a while!
growing weather region= Montreal, Qc
As much as I love home grown Asparagus, for a garden with limited space it wasn't worth the investment in space with such a short growing season. I have 4 4x16 raised beds and several smaller 4x8 beds. I planted 1 of the larger beds with 24 crowns and after 5 years decided to dig them up. Not a fan of freezing or canning Asparagus which we did after the third year. It works out better for us to buy from the farmers market and the taste is only slightly less than what we produced at home. Too much space for a two week crop in my opinion.
I am in southeast Ontario. I have asparagus from the first of May until the end of June when I stop harvesting. I agree with you that it does take up a lot of space.
I planted big crowns last year and they did great. They popped up in a week !! but of course I let them go all frondy. If I get some fatter-than-a-pencil spears this year, can I harvest just a few please? Also, can I topdress with compost in early spring but after the spears start to burst forth?
Can you buy older plants so it won't take so long to harvest.
Hi Betty. Generally the oldest plants you can buy are 2 years old. Asparagus crowns get quite huge even in a 3 year old plant. The only thing you could do is find someone who has older plants that they're willing to dig up and give (or sell) to you. It would have to be done when the plants are dormant in the winter. Even then you'd have to skip harvesting for the first year while the plant reestablishes itself in its new home. ~ karen!
You are hilarious and I'll now frequent your site! I have good intentions to start a garden this year but it's January in Montana so by the time planting season comes this phase may be over. That being said I will from now on say "GOOYA" loudly and aggressively then giggle when I'm the only one who gets the joke. Thanks. 😂
What about light? Do they have to be full sun, or is partial shade okay?
Like most vegetables, asparagus needs a minimum of 8 hours of sunlight a day. The more sun the bigger it will grow. ~ karen!
Last year my asparagus ( 5 year old bed ) I had asparagus beetles!
Drove me nuts as I went out at least once a day to hand pick them off .
I DIDN’T compost the cuttings at end of year but am worried about having them this year. Here in zone 5 they are just popping up. Any help? I try to be totally organic .
miserable asparagus beetles!! They only showed up after a few years. I picked and picked them for years and couldn't bring myself to use chemicals. They hide so well and can be found as early as the first asparagus comes out. My brother in law pulled his bed out because of the beetles There must be a solution! Sold our property last year. If anyone has the solution it would be great to know..........
Hi,
so this is the first year after planting and I have crowns coming up. Do I cut them off or just let them alone. Do I add more soil over the top of them? 2nd year is kind of fuzzy to me.
Hi Lisa. Just leave everything alone. The crowns will turn into fronds which will then feed the plant for next year making it stronger. I leave my fronds on all fall and winter long then cut the dried fronds back to 2" in the spring. No need to add anymore soil. Hope that helps. ~ karen!
Hi Karen, I live in zone 3 (Warroad, MN- 7 miles from Canada!) and I just bought a house and really want to grow asparagus. I moved from zone 8 and know nothing about growing in such a cold climate. Should I plant my crowns now? Or wait until spring? Same goes with garlic, I'm thinking late September for it.
Thanks!
Julia
Hi Julia! I'm in a zone 6b so I'm not really sure about the ins and out of Zone 3. I'd suspect late September would be a little late for planting garlic in that zone but that's just a guess. Asparagus crowns get planted in the spring normally as soon as the ground can be worked. But best way to tell when's the best time for planting in your area is to see when things are for sale. So if your local seed stores or garden centres are selling asparagus crowns in the spring, you know that's the time to plant them. ~ karen!
I pick asparagus for about 6 weeks. Or - when it starts to fern out( I call it going to seed). Then I quit picking it. The ferns grow till it freezes then I trim them down to a few inches off ground. And then they pop up in the spring. LOVE IT!
I planted my asparagus a month ago. I just realized i didn't spread the roots apart. Should i dig up and redo?
Well, just see how they grow Beth. You must have spread them apart a little bit because that's how they grow. It's actually difficult to push them downwards. They naturally want to grow horizontally so chances are they'll find their way.~ karen!
We bought a home with an established asparagus bed and we love it! This is very informative!
I was wondering what kind of mulch I should use and when is the best time to mulch. Can I use the same mulch that I put around my shrubs and flower gardens?
In one of the comments, I saw that the plants can also be split - when is the best time to split them? I have several that are in tight clumps.
Thanks!
Hi Patty. The best time to split the plants is when they're dormant so it depends on where you live. I moved my entire asparagus bed this February when they were dormant and from the look of it all of the plants survived the move. That's also a good time to split them. The best time to mulch with compost is actually in the fall after the plants have died back. You want to get it on there so the nutrients are available when the asparagus starts producing. You can also add some mid summer. ~ karen!
We bought a home with an established bed. What kind of mulch should I put on an established bed? Can I use the same mulch I put around my shrubs and flowers?
Hi Patty. An established bed still needs you to add nutrients every year. I'd add 2-3 inches of compost on top of the bed and call it a day. But if you like you can add straw over the whole bed. Wood chips are fine too. They're mainly to keep moisture in and weeds down. They add a bit of nutrients to the soil as they decompose as well. ~ karen!
Oh that sounds good. Ok I will do that then maybe beside the house where I can keep a close eye on them in a fresh bed of new triple mix and composted rabbit poop. Thanks Karen.
Karen I looked high and low and couldn't find asparagus roots but I did find seeds. I am going to try to plant them and see what happens. I could try online but thought I would try the seeds first. I will let you know what happens.
They'll be fine Leslie, they just take longer to get asparagus from. I know many people who started their asparagus from seed. Plant them in a "nursery bed". A bed free of weeds and other plants. Then in the fall transplant them into their final resting place. ;) ~ karen!
Great info and article! Thank you!
I too have asparagus seeds and planned on starting with those as opposed to crowns. When you say it takes longer to get to the point of being able to harvest asparagus when you plan from seeds... how much longer does it take? Like a another year? Thanks in advance for any insight you can share!
Hi Josh. I'd count on another year until you can pick ... possibly two depending on how the first year's growth goes. And really you can pick a few spears if your plants are doing well just to have one serving of it in the 3rd year or so. Just not so much that you decrease the energy of the plant. ~ karen!
Building the asparagus bed was the first thing we did when we moved here 14 years ago.
Best. Decision. Ever.
The asparagus are getting a little thinner and less productive now, but after 12 years of good meals we can't complain. We've started a new asparagus patch to take over from the exhausted one.
I think the trouble with planting asparagus is one of mindset. Don't think of it as planting vegetables - we're used to picking things within a few weeks of sowing seed with veg.
Think of it like a fruit tree. You'd expect to wait for the fruit tree to mature a bit before it produced fruit, and after that it needs no help from you but a good mulch every year. Asparagus is the same.
I wonder if, rather than abandoning your 12 year old bed, whether it just needs dividing. I find when my daffodils get spindly, they're telling me that they are getting too crowded. I wonder if it's the same with asparagus. If you were just going to leave them anyway, it might be worth a try to dig them up and see.
I planted my asparagus at least 2 years ago, but I didn't get the thick stalks you were talking about. Should I be doing anything with the plant when it first pokes through in the spring? Or am I just not being patient enough for the thick stuff?
Hi Jessica. Your asparagus just isn't old enough to have nice big spears yet. The older the plant gets the bigger the spears. The same way a young tree has slim tree branches and an older one has big ones. It also depends on the variety of your asparagus. Some are naturally thicker than others. ~ karen!
My husband loves asparagus. Mind you, it's not about the actual asparagus, but rather it's about the fact that it makes your pee smell funny. He'd be more than happy to "water" compost as long as he eats asparagus first.
Who am I kidding? He'd be happy to"water" the compost regardless!
You're right, it does make your pee smell weird, but that's incredibly useful if you go fishing from a boat ... asparagus pee attracts fish!
I'm not sure if hubby would be interested in that fact. If he would, maybe you shouldn't tell him; it sounds like he might be the type to take up fishing just so he had an excuse to pee overboard.
Apparently you've met my husband. He is exactly that type of person.
My asparagus are now 4 years old, and this was the first year I got a decent harvest. The fronds, however, are about 8' tall. Crazy insane mass of green. Forget juniper hedges, just plant asparagus!
If you order the plants in November, when do you plant them? Right away? Because here in Ottawa, that's frost time and it's gets pretty cold PDQ.
Madeleine
I think we order them then to make sure they aren't sold out come April when they mail them to us ... (it's April now and I just googled and everyone is sold out in Ontario. One site said to order in November 2021 for Spring 2022. I am waiting for strawberry roots from a nursery that I ordered back in December 2020 and expect them to be mailed sometime this month.