Space 30cm apart, with 85cm between rows.
Asparagus are traditionally grown in beds 30cm wide.
The brilliant thing about Asparagus is that they just keep coming year after year. You don’t have to start again each season, preparing the bed and putting them in. Asparagus are perennials. They grow and produce every spring and summer, die back in the autumn and winter, then return from their rootstock (known as crowns) in the spring. They can keep producing for 20 years!
Raised beds are ideal for asparagus. They like the deep well drained soil, and the spears are easy to cut!
Soil Preparation
Dig in plenty of well-rotted farmyard manure or garden compost 3 weeks before planting.
Remove the weeds and scatter some general fertiliser onto the soil.
Planting Asparagus
Water the soil in the pot a few hours before planting.
Dig a hole slightly larger than the pot. Gently take the asparagus out of the pot by holding on to the top of the soil and tipping the pot upside down.
Place the plant into the hole so that the top of the root ball is level with the surface of the soil. Gently press the soil down so that the plant is firm.
Water the newly planted asparagus.
To make an asparagus bed spade a few cm of soil around the growing asparagus plant from the edge of the bed, on either side of the asparagus, so that there is a mound either side of the plant. The bed should be 30cm wide. Repeat this process every 2 or 3 weeks until the bed is a 15cm high mound. The idea is to get a long mound 30cm wide with a row of asparagus plants down the middle. This will give room for a 55cm path to run between 2 beds. The path is essential to avoid walking on the bed. A 30cm wide bed is just wide enough to stretch over to cut the asparagus.
Looking After the Asparagus Bed
The spears should not be cut in the first year. Let the spears grow into ferns. These will feed the roots (crowns) so that they become big and strong.
Weed the bed by hand because tools may damage the shallow asparagus root. The bed must be kept solely for the asparagus. No other crops should be planted, and the bed should be kept weed free. Keep weeding over the winter to prevent weeds becoming established.
Prune The Ferns
In the autumn, and every following autumn, when the ferns have started to go yellow or brown, cut the ferns down to 5cm above the ground.
Feed the asparagus with a general-purpose fertiliser in autumn.
Mulch after cutting ferns down by covering the bed with 5cm of well-rotted farmyard manure or garden compost. The mulch will retain the moisture in the bed and suppress the weeds.
Harvest
The Asparagus spears should not be cut in the first year and cut very few in the second year.
Harvest the asparagus spears when they are 12cm long above the ground.
To harvest use a sharp knife and cut the stem 7cm beneath the soil. Push the knife down close to, and parallel with, the stem and cut diagonally. Be aware that there will be new spears growing very close which are easily damaged.
Traditionally, harvest stopped on the shortest day in June. But now later varieties have been developed, the rule has changed for them. Stop cutting when they start to slow down and produce weaker stems, usually after 6 or 8 weeks. The plants need time to feed and build up their roots (the crowns) before winter.
White asparagus are grown very differently. They are kept in the dark, (under a dustbin or in a dark shed), so the light does not turn the stem green. White asparagus are more popular on the continent, particularly France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain and Greece.
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