Growing Asparagus: Tips and Tricks

By following a few simple asparagus growing tricks, can harvest asparagus all summer long.

Here are my two part-time saving tricks to enjoy garden fresh asparagus the same year you plant.- Get a jump start. Instead of growing asparagus from seed, buy one-year old crowns. Now, you are a full year ahead of the game!

- Harvest wisely. Go ahead and harvest the first spring, but only for two weeks. And, don’t cut any spears that are thinner than a pencil. Extend the harvest period to three to four weeks the second year. And four to six weeks the third year.

After that, go ahead and harvest for the full eight weeks – and enjoy every minute of them!

I’m absolutely fanatical about asparagus. You can bet I’ve tried about every trick to get the best possible harvest over the longest possible period. I have found one fantastic trick that beats all the others by a mile – a way to enjoy garden-fresh spears all the way into the fall!  And,

The secret is to plant twice as many crowns as usual. Then, once the bed is established, pick spears from just half of it until early summer. Once the plants in the unharvested part have fully leafed out in midsummer, cut all of their tops down.

Then harvest the new spears, that appear in this half of the bed, into October.

A Passion For Purple

Try growing purple or white asparagus. The variety “Purple Passion” is one of all-time favorites. The flavor is a little sweeter than that of typical asparagus, and the deep purple uncooked spears look absolutely beautiful in salads. They turn green when cooked, unfortunately; but they taste great!

White asparagus isn’t a separate variety. This is how you get white ones: pile soil over the emerging shoots of regular asparagus to keep out the sunlight until harvest. Its an incredibly mild flavor for the ultimate gourmet treat.

See another article on asparagus.

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Yours truly for a great garden with outstanding berries, veggies and flowers.

Polly-organic gardener