We just had our first feed of asparagus here. I have over a hundred plants planted in two separate asparagus beds, one in the main garden and one behind my house on the south facing side. I have only four plants that are five years old and then about ten that are four years old and the remainder are either three or two years old. We're only able to take as much asparagus as we want from the five and four year old plants leaving any younger completely alone. There's some debate in the gardening world over asparagus started from seed and whether it can be harvested the third or fourth year of it's growing career. With the varying ages of our plants, we've only harvested from the plants when they reach four years of age and this has worked well. It used to be that one could only obtain asparagus seed that would yield both male and female plants until recently when all male Jersey Giant, a popular variety to buy as roots, became available.
Having planted our very first (the five year old plants) from roots, I decided the best way for me to grow as much asparagus as I could would be from seed. Every year I started new asparagus seeds, except last year, as my asparagus beds grew in more ways then one.
I could never grow enough. It's completely invaluable to us this time of year. Aside from my cold frames, which I'm still battling a pest in, we have nothing else growing and rely heavily on the first emerging perennial fruits and vegetables. Rhubarb, chives and asparagus along with some foraged fiddleheads, nettles and dandelions can keep us out of the grocery store when it's meal making time. I'm hoping some day to have enough to freeze large amounts of although, I won't be upset if we end up eating it all fresh before we get a chance to freeze any. Last but certainly not least, breaking off spears of asparagus and then immediately preparing them will guarantee the best asparagus you've ever tasted. I used to like grocery store asparagus, back in the day I guess, until I tried our own. There is truly no comparison.
How asparagus grows. I usually dress the bed before the spears emerge, this year with everything being late and wet we just got one of our annual loads of black gold (sheep manure) so I'll be more side dressing these plants. If you let some of the spears continue to grow, you'll likely be rewarded with some late asparagus into the summer months.
One of our asparagus beds.
Here's an article from Mother Earth News to get you started growing your own asparagus.
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