Growing Asparagus at Home, Planting Asparagus, How to Grow Asparagus

Easy tips for growing asparagus when home gardening. Learn how easy it is to plant, grow, and care for asparagus in your garden.

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Many gardeners do not attempt growing asparagus plants since it is not a fast producer.

If you have avoided cultivating this succulent plant in the past, we want to encourage you to give it a try this season with helpful tips found below!

Building an Asparagus Bed

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Make a Garden Plan that Includes Asparagus

A garden plan of 20 by 30 feet is large enough to provide fresh and preserved food for an average family without being too big for the weekend gardener to keep up.

Planning your site is largely based on yielding the most produce in the least amount of space.

A bonus for growing asparagus is that the plants do not take up a lot vegetable gardening room!

It is a good idea to include crops that are ideal for storage and preserving because being overrun with vegetables can happen sooner than you think.

For example, give plenty of space to tomatoes and cucumbers in your plans, which are heavy producers and excellent for food preservation.

Your main goal should be planting only the foods your family enjoys eating.

How to Grow Asparagus at Home

Best Asparagus Varieties

Although the standard variety for growing asparagus is ‘Martha Washington', the variety ‘Jersey Knight'/ was developed by hybridizers to yield as high as four times more top quality crops than older varieties.

The hybrid perennials are vigorous growers and will grow in poor, salty, or alkaline soil.

The plants are hardy even in sub zero temperatures.

Cultivate bigger, more flavorful spears in a third less gardening area with the ‘Jersey Knight' selection.

Planting Asparagus

If you decide to plant from seeds, sow them thinly in shallow drills that are 30 inches apart.

Thin to 3 inches apart the first year.

Pick out inferior plants for thinning until the ones left by the third year are a foot apart.

Caring for Growing Asparagus

Harvesting Asparagus the First Year

It is normal for first year spears to be slender.

If older stands produce weak plants, fertilize them well.

Next season; shorten the harvest period to allow plants to recover.

Time Line for Growing Asparagus

Asparagus is a perennial which will continue producing every spring for years.

Unfortunately, if you start growing asparagus from seed, the plants will not reach maturity for three years.

You can purchase one year roots to speed up the process.

However, it is advised by seasoned gardeners that two year old roots do not transplant well.

So if you can come to terms with the fact that you will not be eating fresh asparagus the first year, then by all means consider growing asparagus!

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