I am eager to grow asparagus and did quite a bit of reading on the net. One question remain tho. for a family of two how bigger garden do you need to grow them? by the sounds of it you need a big space and it is hardly worth it. I am not to sure about how many spears are produced by a two year old crown. any advice would be appreciated.
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Hi Jeffie. I grow a bit of asparagus in a garden bed.I have 2 crowns that I planted 8 years ago.They produce a few spears every year and have never grown very big width-wise-I haven't looked after them particularly well. They have never filled out the 1 metre X 1.5 metre bed they are in. They are only about 50 cm wide at the most.I think the variety is Jersey Giant -but giant they are not. This winter I bought 5 more crowns and spaced them around the bed.
I've tried this before but found the trick is getting the new crowns to survive thru their first summer. I'm going to take better care of these ones. The old ones give us enough spears to add into a stir fry or salad. so a few more will make a meal-I hope.
Jeffie , 1m2 will easily be occupied by an asparagus 'crown' at full production ... (5-6 years after seeding)
Year 1 ... seeding no production
Year 2 ... plant out seedling (crown) no production
Year 3 ... let plant go to 'fern' immediately in Sept ... no production
Year 4 ... Harvest 1 month Sept~Oct then let go to fern .... 5 spears plant ?
Year 5 .. Harvest 2 months Sept~Nov .... 10 spears per plant?
Year 6... Harvest 3 months ... Sept~Dec ... 15 spears per plant?
Thereafter full production should continue for 10 years or more ...
Hope this helps , free draining soil is the key ... asparagus hate 'wet feet' and will rot out ...
HI thanks for the advice. I will keep all that in mind, I live on a farm so space is not a problem and I can 'forget' about them for a while. the sandy soil might be the problem. One more question, if I plant a square metre of asparagus how much in return can I expect from it? Roughly. This is the clincher for me. No use planing 10 plants and only get 10 or 20 back from them. I have no idea how to grow these things and if you can pick continueasly or once off.
Unless you have a huge surplus land area ,,,,, of very free draining / sandy soil , its a waste of space ...imo. You have to wait 5 years for a full growing season (Sept-Dec) of harvest ..... and think how many 'turns' at other delights you can get in that time! Up to you of course , and happy to advise as grew hundreds of acres of these in the 90s ... organically and 'the other way' .. Cheers
Replies
I've tried this before but found the trick is getting the new crowns to survive thru their first summer. I'm going to take better care of these ones. The old ones give us enough spears to add into a stir fry or salad. so a few more will make a meal-I hope.
Year 1 ... seeding no production
Year 2 ... plant out seedling (crown) no production
Year 3 ... let plant go to 'fern' immediately in Sept ... no production
Year 4 ... Harvest 1 month Sept~Oct then let go to fern .... 5 spears plant ?
Year 5 .. Harvest 2 months Sept~Nov .... 10 spears per plant?
Year 6... Harvest 3 months ... Sept~Dec ... 15 spears per plant?
Thereafter full production should continue for 10 years or more ...
Hope this helps , free draining soil is the key ... asparagus hate 'wet feet' and will rot out ...
C