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Vegetable Gardening

my first asparagus harvest!

13 years ago

I've never grown asparagus before, so this is a new experience for me, but wow, now I realize what I've been missing all these years! I had no idea freshly picked asparagus tasted so much better than store bought.

Last spring I planted a 4x8' bed with 25 plants, I let them sit for a year, and now they are producing very well.

The spears are either very thick (thumb) or very thin (pencil). Should I let the small ones go to fronds and just harvest the thick ones? I missed picking a few of the thick ones since they shot out of the ground several feet tall before I noticed them. Is there any reason to cut these off or should I just let them sit?

I've understood only to harvest for 2 weeks this year, but I've found contradictory info on harvest in the following years. Any advice?

In terms of quantity, how much more will the plants produce in the coming years? I mean, do mature plants shoot up many spears simultaneously? I'm so excited about growing asparagus that I'm contemplating adding 25 more plants. My family loves them, but I tend to selfishly eat them raw before they even make it into the kitchen. They seem to be an easy crop to grow, and in early spring I have space between the rows for radish and arugula.

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Comment (1)

mauirose
13 years ago
What kind of asparagus are you growing sojay? We are harvesting Purple Passion which is so sweet and low fiber that we enjoy it best raw. Really amazing.

I think most asparagus growers use the clear cut method which means you cut all spears until they get to be pencil sized or less and then let them fern out.

UH mentions another method where you let the first three spears fern out and then harvest any new spears until they get to be pencil sized or less. Probably this is not the preferred method for cold climate gardeners but thought i would mention it since you are in zone 8. I have tried both methods and find that leaving the three ferns makes for a smaller harvest over an extended period of time. Could be other variables in play, tho.

I'm seeing more variability in spear size this season and have been letting the thinner shoots fern out. Is that the right thing to do? IDK. Maybe someone else will comment on that later in this thread.

Nice to hear of your success ; )
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What variety are you growing, and how are you feeding them? A three year-old bed should have some skinny ones and some larger ones, too, as the season progresses. I'd harvest sparingly this year and feed them well! There is another possibility in addition to variety size and fertilization results. Asparagus crowns migrate to the surface of the soil over time because the new crown grows on top of last year's crown every year. Asparagus beds should be maintained so 3 to 5 inches of soil covers the crowns. Crowns that are cultured too shallow yield spindly spears. http://www.weeksberry.com/ASPAR.HTML So even if you originally planted them at the correct depth, maybe the crowns of the plants are now too shallow to produce thick stalks. I envy your being able to grow them. I've grown them when I lived near the coast and they were like weeds in the sandy salt-flavored soil, but I just haven't wanted to prepare this heavy Georgia clay soil for asparagus. Maybe they'll surprise you with larger stalks a little later!
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