As the first spears begin to grow, gradually fill in the trench until it is completely full. Cover with 2 to 3” of the soil that you dug out to make the trench and water thoroughly. Place the crowns in the bottom of the trench with the buds pointing up, spaced about 12 to 18” apart. If you want, mixing an inch of compost into the soil at the bottom of the trench can be beneficial to the asparagus getting established. Make sure the trench is wide enough to easily accommodate the roots on the crowns you are planting.

Planting & CareĪsparagus crowns with roots spread out at the bottom of the trench.Īsparagus crowns should be planted in a trench about 10” deep, slightly shallower in heavy clay soils. The purple color does fade during cooking however. There are other male cultivars, which are generally more productive than the mixed male and female selections, available but this one adds the extra bonus of having purple-colored spears that are quite attractive. This means that it will not produce seed which can rob some nutrients from the parent plant and also lead to weedy seedlings popping up outside the row. ‘Purple Passion’ is one that I particularly like because it is a male cultivar. Buying from a nursery or other source allows you to choose your cultivar too. In addition, it is possible that the plant may be infected with a disease that you do not want to bring into your garden. Well-established plants can be very difficult to dig up, resulting in significant damage to the crown buds and roots. It is best to get the crowns from a reputable source rather than trying to dig plants from a ditch or even a friend’s garden. Unlike most vegetables, asparagus is a perennial plant, usually planted as 1-year old crowns that you would purchase from a nursery, garden center, online or from a catalog. Perhaps here is another way to utilize the GPS functions on your smart phone! Also remember not to collect asparagus on private land without the permission of the landowner.

It’s almost like going Morel mushroom hunting – but finding them before someone else has is even more challenging! Once you find a patch, devise some way to mark its location so you can come back to it again later. They can be hard to find, growing down in the grass. The trick is to find the young tasty spears before someone else does. After a few years, plants grow large enough to be harvestable. Birds will often eat the asparagus fruit then later spread the seed in their droppings as they sit on a fence along the side of the road. Some people enjoy “hunting” asparagus on back roads in the countryside. It is one of the first vegetables to be ready to harvest in the garden and being a perennial, it comes back year after year. Asparagus is a favorite vegetable of many people who cultivate it in their gardens.

Morel mushroom hunting s dakota