Home-grown asparagus: the payoff is spears yor years
By Barbara Damrosch
Nothing is forever, even a good bed of asparagus. But as garden investments go, this one pays off richly for decades to come. Establishing a productive bed takes some work, and some patience as well, because the first real harvest won't come for several years after planting. But after that, those little spears will poke up dependably every spring as long as the planting is well maintained. That's the tricky part. Long after spring asparagus with hollandaise has given way to summer tomatoes with vinaigrette, this crop still needs your attention.
The most important thing is to keep it free of weeds, especially those with long tiller roots. My parents once lost a bed to orchard grass, with its powerful snaking rhizomes, and I lost one to the raspberry planting I thought I'd set at a safe distance. Not so. It was impossible to remove the berries' wandering roots without disturbing the asparagus crowns, and there was nothing to do but start over with fresh plants.
Watering the bed in dry weather is important, too. Asparagus plants won't wilt in dismay the way your lettuce will, but they'll be less productive the next year if allowed to dry out. A good mulch such as hay, straw, shredded bark or chopped leaves will help keep moisture in the soil and deter weeds.
Keeping the plants healthy will pay off in beauty as well as in future harvests. A vigorous stand of fluffy green asparagus tops, aptly called asparagus fern, is a beautiful backdrop for a vegetable garden or even a flower bed. In autumn the foliage turns a sunny gold color. If your site is windy the plants may flop, and it is worth running a length of sturdy twine, held up by stout stakes, on either side of the row to hold the stems upright. In late fall, after you remove the dead ferns, you might apply a top-dressing of manure, compost or seaweed to help keep the crop vigorous next spring. Just brush the mulch aside and replace it after you're done, adding more as needed.
If your asparagus seems to need a serious boost this year, stop picking it earlier than usual to give it a rest, and feed it with a liquid seaweed fertilizer.
In the summer days ahead, it will be easy to forget about a crop that has ceased to bear when others are screaming for attention. Just remember what spring asparagus tastes like when picked and eaten right away, slicked with butter. It's a treasure that no amount of money can buy.
Article copyright of the Barbara Damrosch. Reprinted with permission.
Photo credit: Poslfit
