Asparagus: A Good Backyard Investment

Asparagus is a perfect crop for the home gardener. It is a perennial vegetable; an asparagus bed can produce upwards of twenty years, and with proper maintenance even longer. It is a long term investment, a dependable vegetable money saver.

Asparagus is a gourmet vegetable which can be prepared in a number of different ways or consumed raw. This flavorful and perennial vegetable is an important health crop and contains many necessary vitamins and minerals.

Since it is a perennial, the first step in growing asparagus is to locate a sunny, well drained spot for the asparagus bed. My option, once I decided on a location, was to construct a raised bed, using discarded concrete blocks, in a corner area of the garden.

Autumn is a perfect season to begin. The weather is cooler for the site preparation. Since asparagus is going to be there a long time, soil management and improvement is important. The concrete block, raised bed measured about six by ten feet and the bed was dug out as deep as possible. In this case an estimated thirty inches deep. The cooler fall weather made the dig more tolerable.

The future asparagus bed, now a gaping earthen hole was filled with leaves, compost, manure, the grass clippings, even old fallen apples and kitchen scrapes, all mixed with the returned soil. It was a September weekend project. The bed was then reseeded with a combination of buckwheat and oat seeds as a cover crop for the winter months. The cover crop grew nicely before the snows came that year.

Asparagus is normally planted in the spring after the danger of a killing frost has passed. There are a number of varieties available; and asparagus roots can be purchased, or seeds can be obtained from many of the same sources. Roots can be expensive and seeds, well, don't cost near as much.

Roots are generally all male plants, which produce better quantities. For commercial growers, roots are important and cost effective. For the backyard gardener, the seeds work fine and in the end there will be male and female asparagus plants and eventually little ones popping up here and there. The asparagus seedlings are good for a second asparagus bed or as gifts.

I chose an heirloom purple variety and planted the seeds inside in mid-March in a sunny window. Germination was within a week and, as I recall, near 100 percent. The seedlings grew rapidly and I transplanted them into larger and deeper peat pots. It helps to soak the seed in warm water overnight and start with larger pots right from the beginning. The seedlings develop a large root quickly.

At the end of May, after the plants were in a cold frame for several weeks, they were ready for their new home. The asparagus seedlings were planted about a foot or so apart from each other. They grew by leaps and bounds the first year; the ferns were decorative and except for a few Japanese beetles were not bothered by anything.

The second year, the growth was equally impressive. As the year progressed the red berries of the female plants appeared. Year three, I couldn't wait and made a light cutting of the purple spears; they were as a good as any description I have ever read. Purple asparagus has a sweeter and more nutty taste about it and the spears are exceptionally tender. The spears do turn a light green color after they are steamed or cooked.

Year four, when starting with seeds, is the recommended cutting year, there was an abundance of asparagus. What could not be eaten was frozen, given as gifts or sold as word started to get around about this crop.

The asparagus harvest usually runs for about eight weeks; the spears appear when the weather warms in the spring, usually late April. The spears can grow six of seven inches overnight. They are easy to cut with a sharp clean knife and rushed into the kitchen. By mid June, it is too warm and the ferns feather out quickly. Besides, the spears need to grow to get nourishment to the roots for next year's crop.

Maintenance is low. The bed is weeded and then mulched with grass clippings to help keep weeds under control, retain moisture, and the clippings add an extra organic boost to both the roots and the soil. In the fall, a layer of compost is used as mulch and during the winter months a sprinkling or two of wood ashes are spread on top of the snow.

For seven years now, there have been no insect pests, fungus infections, no rabbit or deer damage. There is an occasional Japanese beetle or two but they don't seem to do any damage, besides, they are fish food for the pond. The ferns in the bed are attractive all summer and add a unique dimension to that area of the garden.

Autumn weather provides many opportunities for the backyard gardener and an asparagus bed is a worthwhile, long term investment for a fall weekend. It may take three or four years for the results, but it is well worth the wait on an early spring day.