Asparagus

[the.fee.fairy]

I know the british season is very short, but when does it run?
And...waht should the asparagus look like when you harvest it?

I planted some asparagus when i was getting my Brownie Gardening Badge (shows you how long ago it was...). Then the woman next door put up a new fence, that just happened to mean tat my asparagus was on her side... In the winds, this fence blew down, so Dad reinstated the old fences, in the proper fence lines. And my asparagus made a comeback!

however, it being quite a few years ago, i have no idea when to harvest/how to look after it. I understand its got something to do with crowns - what do i do?!

i think its too late now, i'm pretty sure its bolted, but i've nevere harvested it before, so it could just be growing, i haven't got a clue.

Do you prune asparagus? Or does it seed, then die down?
Do the crowns have to be separated? If so, how?

[Wombat]

G'Day Fee,

I'm no asparagus expert but grew it a bit.

They are perennial so just let em grow. To havest you cut off the spears just below the ground if they are as round as your little finger but after harvesting for a while you let the spears come up and you have asparagus fern. The will dies off the next winter and the cycle starts again. You need to hill up around the growing spears if you want them blanched.

Hope this is of some help!

Nev

[the.fee.fairy]

aaah, i've got asparagus fern going on now then. I had 3 spears come up, and i didn't know what to do with them, so i left them. Now i've got ferns.

Ta!

[Wombat]

No worries, if they are recent plantings they need to build up for a couple of years before you harvest anyway.

Nev

[the.fee.fairy]

Oh no, they're about 20 years old!! I planted them when i was in the brownies!! They've been hidden for the last 10 years or so by next door.

Maybe she mucked them about a bit, so they made an escape for it to the manured side of the fence

[Wombat]

Ahhhhh so those are the originals! I misunderstood!

Nev

[ohareward]

Hi

This is from my book.
Keep the ground weeded.
In late spring when the shoots that have emerged are 10-15cm long, cut them by inserting a knife 5cm below the surface of the soil. Only cut through the stem, do not thrash around below the soil level or you may damage spears that have not yet emerged. Make a slanting cut. After the third year cutting can take place over about six weeks.
Asparagus is best used fresh from the plant, but it can be stored for a couple days if it is stood in a jug of cold water in the refrigerator.

Robin

[the.fee.fairy]

Ace. Thankyou

I#ll try to remember that for next year!

So...now i just leave the ferns to die down over winter and look for spears next year then?

[digiveg]

I remember reading (parts of) a big study done by the university of Ohio which said it made no difference at all whether you cut off the spears just above the ground or just below it - except that it was easier, cleaner and less likely to damage the crown if you cut them just above ground. So that's what I did for the last couple of years - and it seems to work fine.

Incidentally, I dug up my 5-year-old crowns last autumn as we'd moved house and I couldn't bear to leave 'em behind. Alas, it didn't work. Most of them died during the incredibly wet Welsh winter. If I'd had better drainage it might have been OK, but now I'm going to have to start all over again! Sigh...

[Cheezy]

Hi Fee,


I've just planted my first asparagus this year, and have been reading up on the subject.

Firstly it is a 6 to 8 week period depending on age/variety and season. The hard and easy rule is you stop picking on the longest day ie this Thursday!.
You let the ferns grow. When they start to show signs of yellowing in the autumn you cut them back hard.
If you have a female variety it will try to put on the red berries, these you should try to weed out so you only get all male varieties. And don't let the seedlings grow.(not to worry if you only have 3!)
Weeding, is very important they hate all disturbance of the roots, so accidentally cutting through a root with a trowl to get at weeds can kill them. Hand weed everything, and use a heavy mulch during the summer to stop seeds taking over. After you've cut them back you can apply a heavy mulch of manure to feed and again keep out weeds.
It is said that they like addition of salt, but this is deemed unnecessary.
Though I wonder if this might also help keep down weeds?. They are cetainly salt tolerant being a coastal plant.