How to Plant Asparagus

Things to Consider before Learning How to Plant Asparagus

With asparagus crowns you are going to be planting asparagus now not really knowing how well its going to do until its been in the ground for several years. By then you are going to be itching to eat your produce and very disappointed if you aren't getting a good crop! Conversely if you get it right you will be enjoying the best asparagus you can imagine (that is straight out of the ground)for years to come. So do your research and get it right!!

Asparagus care starts well before you touch a crown with a decision on what varieties to plant , how many plants you want to end up with and the preparation of your asparagus bed. Have a good read of the pros and cons of the various varieties and make some choices but don't decide completely until you've read further....

Before you even think about buying or planting asparagus you need to decide where you are going to plant them and how much space you are going to need, you may also want to consider what plants will be growing nearby and how they may work well with your asparagus. If you are going to grow asparagus you are going to be dedicating a patch of ground to asparagus growing for a long long time (think forever is probably easiest!). You also need to consider the time of year and you may need to plan in advance probably in the autumn for a spring/late winter asparagus planting.

So how much space? Well before that comes how many asparagus plants?

How Many Asparagus Plants?

 How much do you want to eat! I think that 1 pound of fresh asparagus is a really nice generous serving for a family of four as a side vegetable. Lets say during the season you want to eat asparagus every other day that’s 3.5 pounds per week with an 8 week cutting season – 28 pounds of asparagus to grow. How much your plants will produce will vary according to the variety you chose, how well you look after it, how patient you are in the first couple of years (DO NOT harvest too much too soon) etc.

So if we assume an average of 2-3 pounds per plant you might want 10 to 15 crowns to plant. Note that the F1 hybrids can produce up to double what some of the lower cropping varieties produce so you need to factor this into that 2-3 pounds per plant range. When planting asparagus you need to allow for a few not to take, say 10%, and then you need to think about whether you are going to want to freeze, share, give away, pickle etc. any surplus. Come back and read this again when you’ve thought about asparagus varieties as this may influence your thinking.

How much space?

Well after that digression I ask again how much space are you going to set aside for planting asparagus? Most sources advise planting crowns about 1 foot or 30cm apart. This may give you the optimum yield per crown. However, Hargreaves have conducted trials that suggest that 6 plants per meter gives the best yield per hectare. So if you want to get the most asparagus for the size of your bed plant closer with around 6 plants per meter while if space is not an object to maximise yield per plant go for about 3 per meter.  Whichever you go for plant crowns wide rows maybe 5’ wide. I will let you do the sums depending on your choice of planting density.

By the way if you are re-planting it is better to find a new plot than re-plant on your old bed to avoid the spread of disease.

Preparing your Asparagus Bed for Planting

The picture at the top of the page will give you an idea of how your plants are going to grow.

Ideally you have a patch of well drained good deep soil ph 6.5 – 7.5 which still retains the moisture in full sun, which doesn’t catch late frost and which you can dig really deep. Into this you are going to dig plenty of good compost. If only life were so easy….. of course you don’t have the perfect spot, who does?

You can get away with a little shade but there must be a reasonable amount of sun and full sun is best. If your soil does not hold moisture well dig in plenty of compost, if it is rather heavy again dig in plenty of compost.

If the ph is too low (too acidic) you can add some form of lime or wood ash and if the ph is on the high side (too alkali) you can add ammonium sulphate or sulphur. Adjusting the ph needs to be done carefully and well in advance so you might want to do a bit more research first, if you follow this link you will find more information. Adding compost and adjusting ph are best done well in advance of planting so getting this done in the autumn is a good idea.

If your patch is prone to frost you will need to keep an eye on the weather forecast and protect the bed with gardening fleece if you see a ground frost coming after late March - mid April.

You are not going to be able to dig this bed over for a long time once planted or you will disturb the asparagus plants' roots so make sure you get all the perennial weeds out e.g.. buttercups, dandelions etc. You might want to cover the bed with old carpet for 6 months prior to planting asparagus to really kill off any unwelcome weeds.

So lets assume you now have a bed the right size well dug over incorporating some good compost with the right ph in a nice sunny position.

A couple of weeks before you are ready to plant dig some fertiliser into the soil at about 90g/sqm.

Are you ready to order or buy your Asparagus Plants?

The roots of the asparagus are rather spidery with a crown where the spears will start to grow.

Before you start planting asparagus place the crowns in a bucket of water to rehydrate.

First dig a trench about 30cm wide by 20cm deep (1' x 9") where you are going to plant the asparagus roots. You will be planting the crowns about 45cm apart and if you have 2 or more rows the trenches need to be about 1m (3')between rows.

In the bottom of the trench add a ridge of soil about 10cm high. Now carefully place the crown of the plant at the top of the ridge spreading the spidery roots down the sides of the ridge.

Cover the crown and roots with about 5cm of soil. Keep the plants well watered.

We've shown you how to plant asparagus. if you've done it well 15 - 20 years of asparagus gardening has just begun!!

Questions About How to Plant Asparagus?

If you have questions we haven't answered about planting asparagus you may find the answer amongst our frequestly asked questions. Alternatively please feel free to ask your own question and we will see if we can help you.

---