ASPRAGUS [ Asparagus officinalis]

Asparagus

This early-spring treat is one of the few perennial vegetable crops, so once you get a patch established, it will give you many years of delicious harvests for little work.

Grow it in well-drained soil with a neutral pH. (Add lime to the soil if it is acidic.) Asparagus is usually planted in trenches from two-year-old plants called crowns. You can also start it from seed, but it will take an extra year or two to reach harvestable size.

Light:

    Sun

Zones:

    4-9

Plant Type:

    Vegetable

Plant Height:

    7-10 inches tall (edible spears); 4-6 feet tall at maturity

Plant Width:

    1-3 feet wide

Top Varieties

'Jersey Giant' asparagus

is the most widely grown variety. It is more disease-resistant and more productive than older varieties. Its green spears with purplish tips are all male so it wastes no energy on flowering and seed production.

'UC 157' asparagus

is a great choice for warm-winter regions. Developed in California, it's better suited to hot, dry conditions.

'Purple Passion' asparagus

bears purple spears that are sweeter than green ones, but the yield is less and spears turn green when cooked.

Harvest Tips

Allow asparagus to grow without harvesting the year it is planted. In the second year, harvest spears that are 1/2-inch in diameter, but only for two weeks. Cut or break off 7- to 9-inch-long spears with tightly closed tips. In subsequent years, harvest for five to eight weeks, then allow the shoots to develop into ferny growth to build up the roots for the following year's crop.

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