{"id":10556,"date":"2020-02-09T04:06:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-08T18:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gardens.theownerbuildernetwork.co\/?p=10556"},"modified":"2025-10-30T21:16:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T11:16:35","slug":"so-you-want-to-grow-asparagus-this-spring-start-planning-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/2020\/02\/09\/so-you-want-to-grow-asparagus-this-spring-start-planning-now\/","title":{"rendered":"So you want to grow asparagus this spring? Start planning now!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Asparagus – a favorite among many backyard gardeners because of its delicious young shoots – is among the first crops of the spring harvest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we buy in the supermarket are the straight young shoots of the plant. Later in the season, the foliage matures into a feathery, fern-like tip which changes to a golden color in the fall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best-suited for areas with cool winters, asparagus is\nusually grown from year-old plants – or \u201ccrowns\u201d – you can buy from the garden center.\nBut you can also grow them from seed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"What
What we call asparagus spears are the straight young shoots of the plant. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Growing Asparagus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you love asparagus and want to grow some yourself, don\u2019t\ndelay getting started. Even with the best of care, an asparagus bed won’t yield\nits best crop for several years. Once it does, however, the bed will produce an\nabundance of spears for at least 20 to 30 years!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are a few tips to get you started. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soil Preparation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

First and foremost, check the pH of your soil. Asparagus thrives in slightly acid soil. You\u2019ll need a pH of about 6.5 to grow a healthy crop. Choose a site that has partial sun. Since your vegetables will be in the same spot for years, you need to find a spot where all the growing conditions are right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be sure that your garden bed has good drainage. Asparagus does not do well in soggy soil. If you do not have good drainage, consider growing asparagus in raised beds<\/a>. Make sure you pull all the weeds from the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"If
If you do not have good drainage, consider growing asparagus in raised beds. (Photo: Linda N\/Flickr) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How to Plant Asparagus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The best way to plant asparagus is in a trench. In the\nspring, dig a trench about 8 to 10 inches deep and 18 to 20 inches wide and work\nin your compost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To plant the crowns, spread the roots out on the bottom of\nthe trench. Space plants about 12 to 15 inches apart. This will allow them\nadequate room to grow. Cover the spears with a couple of inches of soil. Water the\nplot well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should continue covering the plants with soil as they\ngrow, leaving only a few inches of the shoots exposed above ground. Do this\nuntil the trench is full.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The best way to plant asparagus is in a trench. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Harvesting Asparagus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You can’t really start harvesting spears until the third year after the crowns are planted. Your vegetables require time to establish root systems. This is especially true in the first year of planting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can harvest a few spears in the second year of growth.\nThe plants will not have fully matured, so let them grow undisturbed after that\ninitial harvest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
You can’t really begin harvesting your asparagus spears until the third year after they are planted. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the third year, start harvesting spears that are\nfinger-sized and about 8 inches in length. You can either snap off the spears\nor cut them with a knife just below the soil line. Be careful you don’t damage the\nshoots that are still underground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can harvest for about four weeks in the third year. In subsequent years, the shoots will continue to emerge from the soil throughout spring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the weather starts to warm, the shoots will begin to grow spindly. Allow the plants to grow their mature fern-like foliage. These will feed the roots for next year’s crop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"You
You can harvest for about four weeks in the third year. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Good, Healthy Eating <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Growing asparagus requires patience, but the harvest is worth\nthe wait. Once your crop starts hitting its stride, you will be harvesting those\nlovely green spears for months every spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They make for good, healthy eating, too. This perennial\nvegetable is rich in iron, B vitamins, vitamin C, and calcium. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you love asparagus and want to grow some yourself, don\u2019t delay getting started. Even with the best of care, an asparagus bed won’t yield its best crop for several years. Once it does, however, the bed will produce an abundance of spears for at least 20 to 30 years!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13557,"featured_media":10559,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Start your asparagus bed now for 20-30 years of fresh harvests! Learn why planning ahead is crucial and how to grow abundant spears at home.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sma_last_campaign_date":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[182,24],"tags":[292,51,81,83],"class_list":["post-10556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips-and-tricks","category-vegetables","tag-asparagus","tag-gardening","tag-vegetable-gardening","tag-vegetables"],"modified_by":"Freddie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13557"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}