Most of the vegetables we grow are annuals.  Every year we have to fight weather and soil conditions to get them planted.  Many have to be seeded in heated greenhouses and transplanted.   Because they are annuals, they are programmed to flower, fruit/set seed and die. Then we have to compost or turn under the remaining plants and prepare the ground for the next crop.  It’s a continuing, and sometimes exhausting cycle.

Asparagus, however, is one of the few perennials we grow for market.  With proper soil preparation, a planting of asparagus may last 10 to 20 years or more.  No worrying about “getting it planted” in a wet spring. It’s also a very early season vegetable – ready before almost all annuals unless they are being grown using protection. Most important, it is much loved by all our customers.
Asparagus officinalis has been a popular vegetable for a very long time.  It is believed to be native to the eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor, but it grows wild so many places, probably having escaped from cultivation in most instances, that there really isn’t agreement on its origins.

The early Greeks loved it and the root of our name for it comes from the Greek for sprout – aspharagos which may have come from the Persian asparag. They didn’t cultivate it, but gathered it from wild populations.  The Romans, however, took cultivating of it seriously, improving the wild strains and as early as 200 BCE published detailed growing instructions.  Their word for this noble plant was sparagus. You can see these roots in many of the European languages: asperge (French), Spargel (German), esparrago (Spanish) and, of course, our own asparagus.  On this side of the Atlantic, Thomas Jefferson was very proud of his asparagus beds at Monticello and many of the listings of farms for sale at that time made sure to mention the large asparagus beds as a selling point.

Asparagus is different from other vegetables in that it has both male and female plants.  Because of the energy used in seed production, female plants are slightly less productive, although the individual spears are often thicker.  The seeds that fall and germinate can also be a “weed” problem, so some hybrid varieties have been bred to be “all male.”

Like so many things we grow, asparagus likes a sandy loam soil.  But it can do very well in heavier soils as long as they are well drained.  A waterlogged soil will dramatically shorten the life of your asparagus bed as it encourages fungal diseases of the crown. A too sandy soil may cause moisture stress in late summer, so a balanced soil is best.  It also helps if the field is mostly level.  When establishing the planting, the soil will likely be bare for some time, and a level field will have less soil erosion.

Select your field carefully.  If it has a lot of perennial weeds, you may want to select a different location.  If it has a lot of annual weeds, you may want to take at least a year planting cover crops and/or using timed tillage to diminish their population. Preparing with cover crop plowdowns will also add organic matter to the soil – the last time it will be this easy to do so.   Keep in mind you only have to do this once to get 10-20 years of production, so it’s worth doing it right.  It is also necessary to check for pH.  Asparagus will grow from 6.0 to 7.5, but prefers 6.8 to 7.0.  If a soil test indicates it, liming the year before planting is optimum.

In planting your asparagus beds, you have three basic choices:  direct seeding, transplants and crowns.  Unless you have a weed-free field, direct seeding is probably not your best choice.  Asparagus seedlings don’t compete well with weeds, and can get lost quickly.  One-year crowns are a traditional way to establish a planting.  There is a lot of information about the technique, but basically you put them in the bottom of  prepared trench, at least 6” deep, cover with a couple of inches of soil and continue to fill in the trench as they grow.

The third way is to grow transplants.  You may not have quite the choice of varieties, but it is an inexpensive way to go.  For instance, Jersey Giant is $39.15 per thousand seeds, available from Jersey Asparagus Farms, Inc.  (www.jerseyasparagus.com). In comparison, crowns are $170 per thousand from the same supplier.

The largest asparagus grower in our area, Joe O’Daniel, has a neat technique for getting the best germination when starting his own:  He creates an aerated water bath by putting an aquarium heater and pump in a half-gallon jar of water. He puts the seed in the water bath and leaves them for four or five days, rinsing once after two days. Then he dries the seed and plants immediately into flats in the greenhouse, using a 200-cell tray. He says he saves one week in germination time and has better and more even germination. At 11-12 weeks, the plants will be ready to take to the field.  Plant them similarly to crowns, in a trench, filling in as they grow. 

It takes a few years for the planting to mature.  You may get two weeks production the second year after planting, four weeks the following and six weeks thereafter.   A lot depends on the nutrition available.  You’ll know to stop harvesting for the year when the spears get pencil sized.   At that point, let the ferns grow to feed the crowns for next year’s crop.

Asparagus is not a terribly hungry crop.  It probably helps that it is perennial with an extensive root system.  If you have properly prepared and amended your soil before planting, commercial sources suggest only 50 lbs each of NPK per acre each year on-going, although in our area, O’Daniel uses 75-100-200, so that can vary.  Five tons of manure per acre can also supply needed fertility.
This crop has remarkably few pests.  But the few it has can be a real challenge.  The first few years we grew asparagus, we had no problems.  Then the asparagus beetle (Crioceris asparagi) showed up.  The adults chew on the spears causing deformations,  they lay little black eggs up the spears making them unsaleable, and the larvae eat the spears and ferns.  They aren’t easy to control organically, but we stumbled on something that works for us with our small planting.  We run our laying hens over the asparagus rows in winter.  They scratch up and eat the overwintering adults and fertilize the plants at the same time.  You have to be aware of leaving enough time between ranging the layers and harvesting the asparagus so there is no contamination from the manure, but the population of beetles has really diminished for us and the spears are much larger.  There is also a 12 spotted asparagus beetle, an asparagus aphid and various other beetles that cause problems, but not at the same intensity.

Problems with asparagus
The diseases affecting this crop are mostly fungal.  Fusarium causes rots of the crown and roots.  A well-drained soil will go a long way toward prevention of major damage from this organism.  Asparagus rust can be a problem in non-resistant varieties.  Wider row spacing to increase air flow will help in controlling rust.  Needle blight is becoming more common and is worse in high humidity.  Burning fern residue and better air flow will help in control.

Weed control is a serious challenge for organic growers.  Hand and mechanical tillage is effective in the establishment year.  If the field is level, tillage after last harvest can clean up annual weeds in advance of letting the ferns grow all summer.  Be sure you don’t allow the tractor tires to go over the rows – it would injure the crowns.  Flaming is another possibility for in-row annual weeds.  The best method is to try to have as clean a field as possible by taking a year or so to eliminate most of the annual weeds before the asparagus is planted.

Variety selection is very important for organic growers.  By selecting disease resistant varieties, the grower can expect fewer disease issues.  By planting all male varieties, there will be greater production and fewer volunteer plants in the row.  Your Cooperative Extension Service should be able to help with variety selection for your area, or ask a successful local grower.

Harvesting is integral to a quality product.  As market growers, selling direct to the customer, we are more interested in quality than poundage.  So instead of cutting the spears below soil level, we break them off.  They tend to break so that the entire spear is tender and edible.  In inexperienced hands, knives can also damage the crown, but almost anyone can be taught to break them.  We try to keep the spears all about the same length and facing the same way in the harvest basket to make bundling them easier at the packing area.  We bundle in 1 pound bunches, but your market may need something different.  Refrigerate below 41 degrees to maintain quality.

Labor is a significant expense.  O’Daniel estimates it takes 1 hour per acre per day, rain or shine, nice, hot or cold.  There’s lots of bending as well.  It doesn’t sound like a lot until you multiply it by several acres and think about doing it every day for several weeks! If you don’t have the labor available in your family, it can be a challenge to find it.

White asparagus is produced by eliminating light.  It used to be done by hilling up soil or straw over the row.  Currently, a lot of work is being done using black plastic over hoops.  It can be over one row or taller hoops over several.  In New Zealand, the farmers used 5 meter wide frames.  They found that the white asparagus was sweeter, tenderer, and, surprisingly, they got higher production.  In a local Wild Oats last week, white asparagus was twice the price of green, so if you have a market for it, you might want to try a few rows.

Even a few rows of asparagus can be a good addition to your market garden.  Nothing tastes better than those first few spears eaten raw as you pick under a warm spring sun.  And it’ll warm your heart when you see those customers running to your booth to buy your premium product.  So think about adding some “Sparrow Grass” to your offerings! ï ¹

Paul and Alison Wiediger are the owners of Au Naturel Farm in Edmonson County, Kentucky. Their book about high tunnel production, Walking to Spring, is available from GFM for $15 plus $5 shipping. See page 2 for book ordering information. They can be reached at wiediger@msn.com.