How to Plant Asparagus

A few weeks ago I came across asparagus plants at the Nursery.  I had no idea how many plants I should buy so I picked up an assortment of 10 asparagus roots. At $1.49 each I didn’t want to go hog-wild and buy to many.

I have since learned I should have bought more like 50 plants {Ha Ha Ha}.  Every on-line source has said when planting asparagus you should plant 10 -15 crowns per person.  Wowza!  10-15 seems a little high to me. Although we like asparagus, we wouldn’t want to eat asparagus every day for 6 weeks. So, I’m happy with my 10 plants for now.  If I find 10 plants is not enough down the road, I can always plant more.

Here are the varieties I purchased:

• Mary Washington {excellent flavor}
• Purple Passion {nutty flavor}
• Jersey Knight {performs well in clay soil}

Planting asparagus is rather simple.

You will of course want to start with good soil.  I like to fortify pretty much every garden bed I grow food or plants in with Tagro and chicken fertilizer, but any well rotted compost will do.

• Dig a trench 12″ wide by 6″ deep
• Mound soil in the center of the trench and place crowns on top
• Space crowns 12″- 18″  apart, in rows 4′ apart
• Back fill trench with soil, covering crowns with 2″ of soil
•  Add soil every once in a while until the soil is slightly mounded around the base of the plant.

If you are planning on planting asparagus roots this year, Soilman has an excellent video on the subject. He’s British, has a potty mouth {on his blog}  and his video library is an excellent source if you are new to gardening.  Just remember, you will not be able to pick any asparagus the first year, or the second {torture, I know} but after that… You’ll be in asparagus heaven!

Want to learn more about vegetable gardening?

Amazon currently has a great book on sale for $15.51 called Grow Vegetables: Gardens – Yards – Balconies – Roof Terraces. It is a perfect book for the beginner veggie grower!