People back in the olden days saw asparagus as a spring tonic. After a long winter, pickins in the root cellar got kind of slim.
Asparagus is a wonderful vegetable, even though the kids might not agree. Not only is it good for you, it is a perennial; that means it comes up every year whether you plant seeds or not.
Its care basically involves planting it right. Weeding is involved some in the spring, but is reduced as the summer progresses for the thick mature fronds choke out a lot of sunlight.
Spring time and planting are the most important parts of growing asparagus. You can start them from seed but buying roots, or crowns as they are called, to plant is best. One-year-old crowns can be purchased on-line, by mail, and from local garden centers.
Asparagus needs sandier soils in areas exposed to the full sun; clay soils are out of the question; clay doesn't drain well. You can create a sandier environment in clay, but it takes a lot of work. Dig the trench 16 inches wide by 20 inches deep with a perforated drainage tile in the bottom of the trench; do not use any of the clay as backfill. For those blessed with good drainable soil, the trench or trenches you dig are 12 inches deep by 12 inches wide.
Once dug, put a three-inch layer of composted manure in the bottom, and mix it well into the soil. Take the asparagus crowns and place them in the trench 18 inches apart; multiple trenches should be spaced three feet apart. Cover them with two inches of sifted compost humus soil and water in well. Throughout the summer the trench should be filled in gradually with an original topsoil/compost mix.
The big temptation, this year and the following spring, will be picking the new spears. Don't give in to this temptation, the roots need these first-year spears to grow up and develop into fronds that catch the sunlight and strengthen the root for next year's production. No fronds, no sunlight catchers; no sunlight caught, no energy for the root; no energy for the root, no root eventually. So don't pick any this year or the next!
Picking in the second year can happen until they get "pencil thin." Let these grow up and become energy suppliers for the root. As the years click by, the picking season will get longer and longer, leveling off in about five to six years.
As for harvesting, some cut, some snap; we snap them. We find if you snap the spears off, you harvest only the tender part of the asparagus, leaving the woodier part in the garden.
Bugs in your asparagus bed revolve around the asparagus beetle; but they only become a problem if the fronds, and the beetle eggs they host, are allowed to overwinter. This is why good fall cleanup practices are a must. Cutting and burning the dried up fronds in the late fall is your best defense. If you can burn them, I guess the land fill is your second best option.
Lastly, adding compost directly over the crowns in the early spring will add nutrients to the soil; always a plus when growing these heavy feeders.
If you have questions, email them to NiemeyerLandscaping@gmail.com A You Tube enhanced version of this article is on the Web site at www.NiemeyerLandscaping.com along with a daily gardening blog with timely information.