The snap and taste of fresh asparagus spears -- when the dew still
moistens them early in the morning -- is a unique sensation. Garden fresh asparagus is nothing like what is available in most grocery stores, and far removed from what comes in a can. 

Fresh asparagus is sweet, tender, and takes but two to three minutes to cook. It is high in sugar content which turns to starch if stored for any length of time. Hence it often is stringy and tough if it is not locally or home grown.

My first attempt to grow asparagus was eighteen years ago. I bought a
package of asparagus seed, and planted them exactly as I did I carrot
seed, figuring that carrots grew downward and asparagus grew upward. Whilst chatting with a seasoned gardener, I bemoaned the fact that the company must have sent me bad seed, as I didn't see any fat green shoots popping out of the ground. He  doubled up with laughter and proceeded to tell me how it takes at least three years to establish an asparagus bed; how I should have bought 'crowns', dug a trench ... and on and on.

Planting asparagus requires an investment of time and liberal amounts of patience but the payoff is that a well cared for asparagus bed that can last decades. Fifty plants (crowns) is recommended for a small family. Crowns are the size of a quarter. Under the crown, long fleshy foot-long roots hang like the tentacles of an octopus. From the top of the crown,
little tips start to emerge in the spring. These produce the asparagus
spears that shoot out of the ground. The first year, these shoots will be thin as a miniature reed of grass. The second year, they will fill out to the size of a pencil and by the third year some will be plump as your thumb.

Asparagus beds need sunlight and good drainage. Work in lots of manure
and seaweed. If you can till in a green manure crop such as buckwheat or
clover the year before planting, so much the better. Also, asparagus has
a sweet tooth and thrives in soils with a high PH (6.5 to 7).

As tempting as it may be, do not cut any asparagus the first two years. The spears will open and grow into ferns which provide the roots and crown with the food reserves for the next season's growth. Early each spring, spread compost or fertilizer over the rows, and do a very light tilling, churning up the first couple inches of earth while incorporating the old dried ferns back into the soil. As asparagus is a heavy feeder, another round of fertilizing nutrients should be applied
yearly in late July or August.

You can 'officially' harvest in the third year. Expect your first feed by the end of May. Harvest 2 to 3 weeks the first time around. The next year, harvest for 4 to 5 weeks. After this you can harvest until the spears start to get thin. You can cut the spears with a thin sharp knife either just below the soil or at ground level -- or use your hands to
snap the spear at its base.

An excellent variety of crowns that come ready to plant are Viking: KB-3, grown and certified by C.O. Keddy Nursery Inc. in Kentville, Nova Scotia (902) 678-4497. They can deliver in amounts from 10 roots to over 1000.

Now, it must be time to wander out to the garden and figure out where to
place that new asparagus bed.

Country Gardener Issue #2: Asparagus Tips, first published in April, 2001. Designed & maintained by Outdoor Nova Scotia, Liverpool, N.S. BOT 1KO. Material protected by copyright. Last revised: December 29, 2001