How many asparagus crowns should i buy

Weed control is very important when establishing asparagus as well as to develop a good crop. Many people believe that adding salt to asparagus plantings is a good way to go about doing this. Excess salt will destroy the soil structure and inhibit water penetration into the soil. The salt can also leach out of the asparagus planting and affect other nearby plants. Instead, early in the season, before asparagus shoots emerge, shallowly cultivate your soil to eliminate weeds.

Then add a layer of mulch to help suppress weeds. As the growing season goes on, continue to remove weeds. During the first three years, plants should be fertilized in the spring with a balanced fertilizer , , or at a rate of 2 pounds per square feet. Starting in the fourth year, apply the same amount of fertilizer, but wait to apply it until you are done harvesting June or July. This is where patience comes into play: harvesting too much too early will lead to weak plants and lower yields down the road.

Harvest spears when they are five to eight inches tall. You can do this by either cutting or snapping. Many people enjoy using it as an edible landscape plant for this reason. There are several types and varieties of asparagus to choose from, all of which are good choices for their own traits. There are varieties developed with climate in mind, like the cold-tolerant Guelph Millennium varieties and heat-tolerant Atlas and its related cousins. Any quality supplier will provide you with several options and their descriptions will help you to choose varieties based on your location and needs.

If this is all confusing to you, go with one of the Jersey varieties. These newer-developed varieties have been bred for size, disease resistance, harvest, and performance.

Choosing a variety that is well acclimated to your location and its potential pests and diseases is more important. Shop more by feature than by name.

Asparagus naturally has female plants which produce seed and male plants which do not. In years past, the only option was to buy plants that were a mix of both and hope for the best.

Male plants are better producers because their energy is not going into seed production. They also produce earlier than female plants and grow bigger spears. Larger spears mean longer harvests, too, because the size of the spears indicates when to stop harvesting. Female plants do produce and are edible, but with the improved, selected male varieties available on the market, it makes good sense to start with male crowns to maximize your yield.

After all, the amount of work that goes into the bed is the same no matter which sex plant is in the ground. The only other question regarding plant selection is whether to start from seed or from crowns.

Crowns are dormant asparagus roots. Though it is possible to start asparagus from seed and some people do, by far the most common and recommended option is to start asparagus from root crowns. If you have the option of an older crown, it can speed the time to harvest—a two- or three-year old crown can withstand harvesting a year earlier than a one-year-old crown, and all will be faster to harvest than growing from seed.

When your crowns arrive, they will be dormant and will look similar to little, brown octopi. Good asparagus roots and crowns should have some flexibility to them and should not be dried out or easy to break. Crowns can last a couple of weeks this way, as long as they are kept cool and in the dark, out of direct sunlight. Growing asparagus from seed is not the most popular choice because it is more work, a bit harder, and because it significantly lengthens the time to first harvest. Starting asparagus from seed adds at least a year to the time to first harvest.

Crowns are also more common and are easier to find. Additionally, you cannot start an all-male patch from asparagus seed. If you wanted an all-male asparagus patch and you start from seed, you would have to observe and cull out female plants over several years. However, starting asparagus from seed does have the advantage of being much cheaper than buying crowns.

If you do decide to start some or all of your asparagus from seed, here are some things to know:. Knowing how much asparagus to grow depends somewhat on how much asparagus you like to eat. If you will only eat fresh asparagus, then you can plan for the lower end of the recommended amount. If you plan to preserve asparagus for off-season enjoyment, plant towards the higher end of the range. A good recommendation is to plant between six and 12 asparagus plants per person in the household.

This would mean planting six to 12 crowns per person. Probably the most important thing to consider when selecting a site for your asparagus patch is that this is a space that will be devoted only to growing asparagus for the life of the patch. Consider your bed a permanent fixture—much as you would a berry patch or orchard. Make sure that the patch will not be in the way of access, mowers, and machinery and is spaced accordingly. Asparagus will do best if planted in full sun but it will tolerate some shade.

After the initial weeks of harvest, your asparagus plants must be left to grow to full height and will remain so for the remainder of the growing season.

This is, in fact, most of your growing season. Asparagus plants grow to about six feet tall. Keep this in mind when selecting your site so that the plants do not shade other low-growing, sun-loving plants or vegetables.

If you prefer, you can grow asparagus in a raised bed. In a standard raised bed 1. Then follow the instructions for planting asparagus crowns above.

Dig in plenty of well-rotted manure or compost to the soil the winter before planting your asparagus. Add some horticultural grit as well, to help with drainage.

Here are some simple maintenance tasks to keep on top of throughout the year:. It takes a couple of years for new asparagus plants to be ready for harvest. Year 1: Resist the temptation to harvest any asparagus spears during their first season. Instead, leave the plants to develop foliage - this will encourage stronger, healthier growth. Year 2: You can harvest a limited crop of around half the spears in the second year of growth.

Year 3: You can now harvest all spears for six weeks from mid-April onwards. Stop cutting at the end of May to avoid weakening the plant and to promote good cropping in the years to come. Year 4 onwards: From now on, you can fully harvest your asparagus for eight weeks from mid-April each year. It is still producing spears but not enough.

I want to plant 2 year old crowns this year. Would it be OK to plant them in the same location as the original plants? One source suggests that an old asparagus bed should not be replanted for three years. Before you try something else you might try to rejuvenate your existing plants. Asparagus is a heavy feeder; it likes and needs rich compost and aged manure, as well as proper pH 6,0 to 8.

I am so pleased I planted a new raised asparagus bed with about 15 crowns about 7 years ago north of Denver, CO so I could resemble the bed my grandparents had in upstate NY. As a result, I have plenty of composted manure on hand for winter top dressing after the dead stalks and ferns are cut back and before the new shoots appear. I always look forward to those first harbingers of spring and indulge in fresh asparagus for dinner. I have been able to successfully freeze asparagus to use year round in a variety of egg recipes.

Quiche makes a terrific meal and is a great way to use up eggs and clean out the freezer to be ready for the new harvest. My chickens adore hiding between the stalks in the summer and help cultivate between the plants when the new top layer is added. The added benefit is they scratch up the ground thereby eliminating weeds, cutworms, and leave their droppings which only aids in fertilizing the ground and has contributed to the bed becoming crowded it is 5' by 15'.

My question is, should asparagus be divided or should I harvest more? To your question, no; do not try to divide it. Roots could be 6 feet or morel long. The plants might be closer in your bed, but if they are producing, enjoy it. I live in Henderson Nevada.

At the end of December I trimmed the brown ferns leaving the stocks approximately two inches above ground and covered them with mulch.

To my amazement I have spears that are now growing well beyond the mulch they were covered with. One spear shot up to approximately inches the others are inches tall. Is this normal for the spears to continue to grow and can you eat them? I thought cutting them back and mulching for winter causes them to go into dormancy. Your advise is appreciated. Suburban gardener, I planted 11 feet of Mary Washington, and same of Purple Passion boring color when cooked about 17 years ago.

It makes me VERY happy!!! Just me to feed, so occasionally my neighbors get some. I was just wondering how long I must wait until I fold down the ferns, but you've given me the answer: I can CUT is short I don;t know why my habit has been simply to fold it down and use it for mulch after I put down the compost I have planned for it. Thank you for THAT tidbit! Problem with straw is that it never rots Many thanks. Your outline and suggestions above are better presented and clearer.

I am so sorry for the multiple submissions. I didn't think my question was being "saved. I'm wondering if these ferny growths currently around inches high are new future asparagus plants and if I should allow them to continue growing.

Perhaps they are just weeds. Some have emerged on the pathway side of the crowns, so I have removed those. However, some of these little fern-like "things" are growing two feet on the other side of the crowns. I have not removed those yet. I have thirteen crowns in their third year. This is our first year harvesting. We have been pleased with production so far and have enjoyed asparagus side dishes at meals for about 5 weeks.

I'm thinking it might be time to stop harvesting. A few stalks got ahead of me and are already 4 feet high and getting the expected ferny foliage. They may be future stalks; let them be. You could lay on some mulch and prepare to set stake poles and string around the bed like a simple fence so that when the ferns become top heavy they do not fall to the ground.

I have a wonderful asparagus bed that is years old. I have little fern like things coming up around each crown. Separate and very different than the spears of asparagus. Are they weeds or part of the plants? I have a half dozen plants in my garden they are doing well and we were able to harvest some this is the third year. My issues is the ferns, they are so tall they fall over and cover the path and what is growing the next row over.

Can I trim them back some? You would do well to leave them. Run string around the poles and around the asparagus bed not the plants at about four feet high or higher, there is no magic formula to keep the ferns off the ground.