Asparagus

Asparagus thrives best in a deep, rich, sandy loam, but you can grow asparagus in any soil that is moist and well cultivated.

It will even grown on heavy clay soil, as long as the soil is drained well and worked deeply.

You can either sow asparagus seeds where you want the plants to grow permanently, or transplant one, two or three-year-old asparagus roots to the desired spot.

If you choose to sow asparagus seeds and leave the plants in the same spot, you must thin out the seedlings so that they are six inches apart, and then remove any extra seedlings the next spring.

Transplanting asparagus roots allows you to grow seedlings in a small space until you are ready to move the plants to their permanent home. You can also pick out the best crowns and make sure that you plant them at the correct distance.

Some asparagus growers prefer to buy roots so they do not have to wait for the plants to grow from seeds.

Sowing Seeds

Sow your asparagus seeds in rich soil. You should have deeply worked the soil the previous winter, making ridges in the soil so that the frost, wind and rain were able to make the soil friable and soft.

Pull down the ridges and rake the soil so that it is level before you sow

You should sow the seeds on dry soil, between the end of February and the beginning of April.

Sow them in drills that are from 15 inches to 2 feet apart and 1 ½ to 2 inches deep.

Once you have sown the asparagus seeds, cover them with soil, tread them in, and then roll the entire seedbed.

Asparagus seeds germinate slowly, so you can sow some radish seeds in with them as a catch crop.

The radish seeds will help to mark the rows and allow you to start cultivating the soil immediately, pulling up weeds before the asparagus seedlings appear.

Once the seedlings are growing well, thin them out so that they are about three inches apart. You should remove the weakest seedlings so that only the strongest are left.

You can then dress you asparagus seedlings with soot.

Water the plants generously in dry summer weather.

Use a hoe to keep the surface of the soil loose. Asparagus roots grow close to the soil, so be careful that you do not injure the roots when you are hoeing.

Transplanting

If you take good care of your plants, they will grow well the first year and be ready to transplant to their permanent location the next spring.

It is better to plant year old asparagus plants, with three or four buds, than older plants.

Begin planting your asparagus at the end of March or in early April, when the soil surface is dry.

Never allow the plants themselves to become dry or expose them to drying winds.

Only work with a few plants at a time, keeping a damp sack over the rest.

Rake the ground level once you are done.

Fertilizer

Once your newly transplanted asparagus roots begin growing, you can add two or three dressings of sodium nitrate.

Apply farmyard manure or fish manure every autumn.

You can also add Kainit and ammonium sulfate to light soils and ammonium sulfate and potassium sulfate to heavier soils.
In the spring, you can apply sodium nitrate and bone meal before the asparagus plants begin growing.

Later on, you can continue with dressings of superphosphate and sodium nitrate.

You may substitute ammonium sulfate or Nitro Chalk for sodium nitrate. Nitro chalk is good for heavier soils.

Salt can help to keep lighter soils moist.

Plant Care

During the first season, stir the soil frequently and make sure to remove any weeds.

You can grow catch crops such as onions, radishes or lettuce in between the rows.

It is a good idea to keep a reserve bed of asparagus plants so that if, by the middle of June, some of the plants that you have transplanted have not yet broken through the ground, you can remove them and replace them with faster growing plants of the same age from the reserve bed.

When the asparagus leaves start changing color in the fall cut the plants down close to the ground.

During the second season, you should also stir the ground frequently. You can continue to grow catch crops.

In the spring, you can replace any plants that have died. These can come from your reserve bed.

Plants should be covered with soil in the third year, so that 18 inch high ridges are formed.

You should loosen up the ridges by hoeing during the summer, and then reform the ridges every spring.

Eventually, permanent ridges, from 3 to 4 feet apart, will form.

Cutting

If your asparagus plants have been growing well, you can cut them in the first year, after the beginning of June. Do not take more than three shoots from a single plant.

In later years, you should have all your cutting done by the third week of June.