How to Grow Asparagus

     I learned how to grow asparagus from a elderly couple about 10 years ago. Growing asparagus is quite simple with the right   light,compost,soil,water, and sun. Buying a good quality set of asparagus plants with good roots will produce brilliant vibrant and tasty asparagus stalks.   There are two ways to grow asparagus that i know of .

 The first  and most  appropriate way is to dig a trench 12 inches deep. Line the bottom of the trench with a layer of good soil and compost. Then plant your plants  and as the summer goes on and the asparagus starts to grow you fill in the trench  and by the end of summer the trench is filled in and the stalk is out of the ground.

The second way is the way i planted my asparagus plants for this instructable. My soil isnt the greatest ,It has a lot of clay and is a little wetter than i like for growing asparagus so i went the above ground way.

Asparagus starts coming up the beginning of may and should stop being harvested at the end of June.After june let the stalks grow and go to seed. They will develope little red berries and the top of the stalk. These will fall off and create new seedlings.
 
 After this happens the stalks will dry up and now is the time to cut them down and put a layer of mulched leaves over the bed of asparagus.

Choose a good fertilizer with higher phosphate and potassium levels.  A good formula is  10-10-10 which a good time to fertilize is in the hot months of july and august.

    Good luck and happy gardening....

     

 Two rolls of 3 feet by 50 foot landscape fabric
80 Asparagus plants
15 bags of rich moist compost soil

1st ~ lay out the fabric so that its flat
2nd~ put a layer of soil about 5 inches deep on top of the fabric.

Believe it or not this is a asparagus plant. It looks like a dead root  that needs to be thrown out . I remember the first time i bought some plants . Im like what the heck theses are dead so i called the store where i purchased them and imagine the laughter i heard on the other end of the phone .....We all have to learn i guess  (laughing )

Start by spreading the roots in the middle of the plant.
Then spread them out on the soil. Next cover the roots with about 3 inches of soil leaving the head of the plant above the dirt.
The asparagus stalk will grow out from the middle of the head as seen in  picture 4
They should be planted in rows one foot apart
from each other .

 Picture 1 and 2  show asparagus stalks ready to be harvested from a plot i planted 5 years ago.
 when cutting the stalks cut about 1 inch below the soil so all the nutrients stay in the plant for the next stalks that come up after the one cut.