Asparagus

NY 986 · Feb 17, 2011

Tried growing some a bunch of years ago and was a flop. The Gurney's catalog came the other day and I am thinking to make another go at it. Looking for opinions and advice. Not to do commercially but just to have for the table.

Bob · Feb 17, 2011

It grows wild here in north central ND, apparently spread from old farmsteads.

GOOD stuff!

Mike (WA) · Feb 17, 2011

Gurneys and the other national catalogs would have you believe that everything will grow everywhere- In fact, thats about the biggest complaint most folks have against them. You need to do your own research regarding soils, climate, etc. First stop might be your local garden store- they usually have someone who is knowledgable about local conditions.

Paul from MI · Feb 17, 2011

I've had my own bed for 35 years. It took it about 4 years to really start to produce and seemed to get better as I started cutting it. Really don't do much to it, just cut it down to the ground in the fall, and cut it until early June in the spring. There's probably better ways to handle it but we get enough for our use and a little to freeze. Location is in South Cenral Michigan and it does grow wild around here also.

TimV · Feb 17, 2011

Be careful what you wish for--if it DOES take hold it can spread in a hurry! Gram grew it in her garden for years here in northern NY, and an old local fellow would grow his right next to the road--claimed it liked salt and that way the town would salt it for him for free!

NY 986 · Feb 17, 2011

The fellow that I could ask years ago is long gone. Hopefully, you guys can straighten me out and maybe El Toro or JDemaris will be along before this gets buried a few pages back.
Most of the vegetable stand guys around here don't bother with it and the chain store people are no help.

RayP(MI) · Feb 17, 2011

We've had an ongoing patch in our garden. Unfortunately it is over-run by quackgrass. Wife tried to dig it out and ended digging out the asparagus.

Initially, we dug out an area a foot or so deep, filled it with manure, spread some dirt over it, and laid rootstock on that, then filled over with more dirt.

Also have a self seeded patch on the roadside in a very sandy area. Dumped a couple wheelbarrows of rabbit manure on it a season ago, really flourished last summer.

glennster · Feb 17, 2011

i planted asparagus on my fence lines and it grows good. got mine from jungs, no problems.

Adirondack case guy · Feb 17, 2011

Hay 986
My wife and I have had great luck with the Jersey Knight Hybrid, and especiallythe Purple Passion from Gurneys. We have had these variaties in three 4"X 12"X10" high beds for 6 years. We freeze enough to carry carry us for each season, and in the past gave excess away, or let it go to seed. We stop harvesting mid june and let it grow to produce seed. In the fall we cut the stalks at just below ground level, strip the berries and brodcast then back in the boxes and compost the stalks. In the spring we top dress the beds with cow manure scraped up off the blacktop barnyard from the farm. My dad has a conventional patch which is 60 years old. He spreads common table salt on it each year which controls grass and weeds. It will take you a couple of years to get the roots established to provide you with a harvestable crop.Plant it and enjoy it. Just a tip if you want to freeze it, take each stalk and bend/ break it in half. Cut the top half to desired lenghts, and peal the skin off the bottom half and cut to length, blanch and freeze all. Good luck The Acg.

Adirondack case guy · Feb 17, 2011

Correction 4'X 12'X10" raised beds.

Adirondack case guy · Feb 17, 2011

As others have said, spread salt on it. kills the grass and doesn't bother the asparagus. As I said in another reply we grow it in raised beds which are very easy to weed with our amended soil in the boxes. You could boarder your patch with landscape timbers and top dress with 4-6" of compost/seasoned manure, and reclaim your patch. The asparagus will grow up through the top dressing easily and you will be able to cut stalks below ground level without damaging the roots.

redtom · Feb 17, 2011

I started growing a 1/2 acre 15 yrs ago. I sell about 350-400 lbs a year. and give away a bunch too. I'm certainly no expert. High sandy ground is best. I have heavy clay loam and was warned it would suffer and it does, but I had this square of land sitting idle. Planting it is easy but certain steps should be followed. there is lots on net about this. Most important is planting deep enough in a trench and filling gradually as season progresses. Fertilizer cannot hurt it, it can touch right on the crowns. As anyone familiar will attest, Crown Rot is its biggest downfall and has no cure. Weeds are a constant battle and keeping grass from crowding it out when its just starting is important. i have been carefully using roundup around the plants but it is labor intensive. Chickweed is a real problem in my area, too. I have since plowed up about half and they say to wait two yrs before replant. If I didn't like eatin it so much I probably wouldn't be workin so hard at it.

James Babcock · Feb 17, 2011

Some good advice below. I just wanted to add a story about asparagus, back in Medieval days it was considered a medicinal herb and wonder drug. This came about because it was the first fresh food most folks got in the spring after a long winter of no fruit or vegetables. The winter diet lacking in vitamins and minerals led to all kinds of disease from scurvy to other skin diseases. Feed 'em some asparagus and they are cured, not from some magic but from the vitamins and minerals since aspargus sprouted before most other plants.

Chuck MA · Feb 17, 2011

We have grown asparagus (Jersey Knight) for years, mulch with straw to keep weeds back replant about every 7 years. I buy them at my local Agway so I can select the roots. Best way is to plant like 3 rows first year thee the second and three the third. Then replant when the first rows stop producing, takes 3 years to get max production out of them. the year you plant don't pick any, 2nd year only pick a few, third year should have good production and pick all want. Just keep track of when you planted each row. Fertilize early spring should be able to pick May and June on warm years even late April.
Chuck

36 Coupe · Feb 17, 2011

I look for it in fence rows and throw some 10 10 10 at it in the spring.

NY 986 · Feb 17, 2011

I suspect my biggest problem is even though I tried modifying the bed with sand there was still too much clay in there. Any decent sandy ridge is far from the yard. I guess I will have to make a full sand bed. Thanks.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 17, 2011

We watch ours very carefully to get it before the deer do!

Jerry/MT · Feb 17, 2011

We find it in fence rows , too. (We actually tag the spotsalong the fence with pieces of baler twine.)It comes in before the aspargus in the wife"s garden does.

Jerry/MT · Feb 17, 2011

We find it in fence rows , too. (We actually tag the spotsalong the fence with pieces of baler twine.)It comes in before the aspargus in the wife"s garden does.

tjdub · Feb 17, 2011

I've got one patch that's been growing my yard for at least 40 years. Doesn't produce much, but hey, free food! I don't even have to weed it.

I bought some roots from a retail store many years ago and they grew, but then failed the next year so I gave up on it.

Then about 5 years ago my wife ordered some from a seed catalog. The variety is called Purple Passion I think, and yeah, it's purple. The sticks are about 4 times the size of what you're used to seeing in the store (and from my old bed) and it's very tasty. I ordered more of it last spring and it looked good last fall. Waiting is the hardest part about growing it

NW Ohio Tim · Feb 17, 2011

We've got a nice patch that was here when we bought the place. There are new ferns every year so I guess it'll keep producing. The worst part is keepin the weeds out.

I think if you plant it, you have to wait a year or two for the first harvest, so the roots will grow deep enough to keep coming back. We let ours grow up, after the harvest. We leave it stand through the winter, then cut it down and burn it right over the bed in the spring. An old timer told us to do it that way and it works for us.

Tim

BushogPapa · Feb 17, 2011

We have a patch, but the best way is to watch for signs of it in the late spring growing wild...!!

Birds eat the seeds and spread them everywhere...

Either pick these spots or transplant the plants..but the roots are DEEP...

Here in Ohio, you can find it often in ditches or fence-rows along the road..
Pick a bunch of the red seed (Berries) in the fall and plant them...
Ron.

Dean · Feb 18, 2011

Bingo!

Deer have decimated two large patches that my parents planted in the early 1970s.

Dean

Anonymous-0 · Feb 18, 2011

Most common here is white. Not allowed any sunlight when growing. Nicknamed white gold because it can get pretty expensive. Seeing all the work that is put into it, I'm happy just to stop at a roadside stand and pick up a couple pounds when it's in season. There are some fields close by that are acres in size and it's mostly hand work (or the folks just don't want machines?)
Gotta look into that wild fencerow thing. I like the green better than white and have a place that would be just right for a patch.

Dave

Bspauld · Feb 18, 2011

I have raised Asparagus for at least 20 years , The first I planted is still producing good,I plant deep and put horse manure in first then make hills and spread the roots around the hill,cover it up a little and every few weeks put more dirt in on top just leaving some green showing. I spray roundup on it in the early spring. Being cool out it takes a week or more to work but make sure none is growning before you spray

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