Saturday, May 7, 2011
First Time Growing Asparagus: More Edible Perennials
Last year, we planted Jersey Asparagus from 1 year old bareroots into our garden. I've read that it takes a good 3 years before you can really harvest good sized spears. These were coming up 2 weeks ago, but we didn't harvest them because they are really thin and stringy. Instead, we decided to let them grow and amend them with some compost so they can beef up substantially so that we might be able to harvest some good size spears next year. I like growing edible perennials but I am so impatient. Waiting is the hardest part!
We have two sets of plants growing. Here is the other set coming up. We put tomato cages around them to contain them, it grows so tall and bushy. For those of you that grow asparagus, how many spears usually grow from each plant? I'm thinking I should plant a lot more this year, I love asparagus!
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Your asparagus look great! good idea to add the tomato cage. I never thought to do that and had several floppy years. I put my purple asparagus in about...5 years ago and am just now really getting some fat fat spears - like thumb-sized. PRetty amazing. Just plant and forget it... My garden is pretty lean. I usually get several spears per plant (have about 5 plants) and then a second flush of spears near the end of the summer.
ReplyDeleteDepends on the plant, really. And how often you harvest it. But I think you get 6 to 10 spears per plant over the whole season.
ReplyDeleteI do not know the answer to your question. I am just taking up your space to say that I also put in asparagus last year. Mine is purple. I thought that I bought two plants, but it was actually two dozen. My asparagus people tell me that I can "taste" the early spears this first year. Around Easter I did just that. If a plant had more than one spear I took the first one. It was like no asparagus I have ever eaten. More like asparagus candy than veggie. I'm fixen to make a small quiche from the next wave.
ReplyDeleteDeborah....who tried to give lots of crowns away but people acted like they were afraid of it.
Yum, I love Asparagus too. Hope you get a nice harvest next year. :)
ReplyDeleteLove learning about asparagus. Keep us posted in this in the future.
ReplyDeleteI grew asparagus but the dang asparagus beetle [in the larval stage] really enjoyed the spears. Look for the red-orange ladybug looking beetles on the foliage. Hopefully this won't be an issue for you as it was for me since I really love asparagus too.
ReplyDeleteI have heard you should have 10-12 plants per person planning to eat from it. Also supposedly you get about 1 grocery store bushel per plant per year...We will find out soon!
ReplyDeleteI quite enjoy the anticipation!
I've found 2 clumps of volunteers on the property. Seeds were spread by birds out of our asparagus bed.
ReplyDeleteI'm growing asparagus from seed this year. They are so tiny compared to yours! They take 3 years to mature from seed, so I'm hoping I can keep them alive for that long! :D They're lookin' good!
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