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Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Asparagus
Types
Female plants produce berries; males plants do not expend energy on berries so they can be up to three times more productive than female plants. For this reason, growing male asparagus plants is often preferred.
- Gardeners in Zones 4 to 6 have a wider selection of varieties, including 鈥Jersey Giant鈥, 鈥Jersey King鈥, and 鈥Jersey Knight鈥. Older varieties 鈥Mary Washington鈥 and 鈥Martha Washington鈥 may produce female plants, which are not as productive as the males.
- In colder climates, 鈥楪uelph Millennium鈥 and other varieties that emerge late often escape damage from spring freezes.
- In warmer climates, early and heat-tolerant varieties such as 鈥楢辫辞濒濒辞鈥 and 鈥UC-157鈥 produce well before the weather turns hot.
White asparagus is not a variety, but simply asparagus grown in the absence of sunlight to prevent chlorophyll from developing. White asparagus is slightly sweeter but has less fiber than green asparagus.
Purple asparagus is bred to be purple in color but turns green when it is cooked. Purple varieties tend to have thicker spears, but fewer of them. 鈥楶urple Passion鈥 is tasty but is not an all-male variety.
Harvesting
- Skip the harvest in the first year and the second year, if possible. Ideally, wait three growing seasons before harvesting in order to allow the crowns to become fully established.
- If you have young plants, the season may last 2 to 3 weeks. However, established plants produce longer鈥攗p to 8 weeks.
- Check your plant every other day for harvest-ready spears. Spears grow quickly and may become too woody before you know it! Once an asparagus spear starts to open and has foliage, it鈥檚 too tough for eating.
- Harvest spears when they reach 8 to 10 inches in height and between 1/2 and 3/4 inch thick. (Bear in mind that younger, thinner spears will be more tender, so harvest according to your own taste.)
- To harvest asparagus, simply cut the spears with a sharp knife or scissors at ground level.
- Stop harvesting spears when the diameter of the spears decreases to the size of a pencil.
- After harvest, fertilize your asparagus patch in the early summer. You can top-dress with a balanced organic fertilizer or scatter another inch of rich, weed-free compost over the decomposing mulch.
- Do NOT cut down the remaining ferns in summer or you will ruin your asparagus bed. Allow the ferns to grow and mature; this replenishes the nutrients for next year鈥檚 spear production. Always leave at least two or three spears on the plant through the growing season.
- Only cut back asparagus ferns AFTER the foliage has died back and turned brown or yellow. This is usually in early winter after several hard freezes. Cut the ferns back to the ground.
- Fertilize the bed with a 1-inch layer of rich, weed-free compost or manure topped with 3 inches of straw, rotted sawdust or another weed-free mulch. Clean spears will push up through the mulch in spring.
How to Store Asparagus
- Plunge just-cut spears into cold water immediately to preserve their sugar content.
- Asparagus does not keep for very long after it鈥檚 picked, so be sure to eat it within two or three days from harvest.
- To store, bundle the spears together, wrap the stem ends of the spears in a moist paper towel, and place the bundle in a plastic bag. Store in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator.
- If you have enough space in your fridge, you can also store asparagus by placing the spears in a cup of water. Keep about an inch of clean water in the cup.
Cooking Notes
A simple and easy favorite when it comes to asparagus is .
Catherine Boeckmann
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Our asparagus is now into its third year. Can we cut back the ferns now so the other plants in the garden can get more sun or will it damage the roots for next years production? We are in Alberta Canada so we can have extreme cold during the winter months. Thanks for any advice you can provide.
The fern stage is when the plant gathers energy for the next year. Once it dies in the fall, cut back the growth.
I'm growing asparagus in a raised bed . How do I control the berries from dropping everywhere outside the bed. I have little asparagus ferns sprouting everywhere.
Hi Matt,
You can transplant the sprouting asparagus into the bed if you want to save them. Try laying tarps out around the raised beds late in the season. Pick up the tarps after the seeds have dropped and either save them or dispose of them.
I live in Washington and I have fern growth right now. I was wondering how far down do you do the cutting after summer/fall. And here in WA with our 8 months of rain after I put fertilizer in should I cover my garden box so the asparagus don't drown in the rain?
After the ferns turn yellow, cut them back to 2 inches above the soil line. As to the cover—asparagus does not like to be soggy, so protection from consistently heavy rains might be good. Raised beds help with drainage, but make sure yours is draining properly. Adding compost is one way to help to improve drainage if needed. A removable hoop house cover, or similar, can be handy during especially heavy rains (at least in earlier stages of spear/fern growth—the ferns can get several feet tall). Remove the cover on sunny or especially hot days (if covered in clear plastic not row cover), or during light showers. For other ideas, you might contact your county’s Cooperative Extension. Contact information can be found here:
http://www.almanac.com/content/cooperative-extension-services
WHAT IF I DONT HAVE ANY ASPARAGUS THAT ISSMALLER THAN A PENCIL? THEN I CAN HARVEST IT ALL? I HAVE A 4 YEAR OLD BED. THANKS
We are in our third season of plants (planted crowns 3 years ago.) When they started growing this year, they went to ferns, but are now producing some spears. Do I let the ferns grow while harvesting the spears large enough? Also, I have many small ferns coming up around the plants. Should I leave these and will they develop into another producting plant eventually? Or should I pull up any shoots that come up?
I only get a few spears. All I get is seed stalks. When are you supposed to cut them off?
Are your crowns relatively young? They will take 2 to 3 years to become established, and will not be as productive those first few years. Avoid harvesting during that time. When they become established, harvest some spears thicker than a pencil and about 6 inches high, for 2 to 3 weeks in spring. Then after that, allow all spears to grow into the ferns over the summer. Cut those down when they have died back in fall. The ferns help the plant to make food for itself, allowing it to overwinter and produce healthy new spears the following year. If your asparagus is several years old, and you are getting a spindly harvest, that can be due to several factors, such as over-harvesting (which weakens the plant), cutting down the ferns before fall, allowing weeds to take over the bed, or lack of fertilizer. Another factor is age; asparagus over 15 years old tends to become less productive; if that is the case, you might consider planting new crowns. Hope this helps!
