Organic Gardening How To – Grow Organic Asparagus
We just love fresh organic asparagus. Asparagus is one of those vegetables that you can prepare in so many different ways and it is always delicious. Surprisingly to many, growing your own organic asparagus is an easy Organic Gardening How To. After reading this short article, I believe many more families will start there own asparagus gardens.
A key to remember when growing your own asparagus is that once you have it planted, you need to wait until the third year before you harvest your first batch. We know, it’s hard to wait to wait, but this plant needs time to strengthen itself. Besides, once you do begin harvesting, you will be amazed at how quickly the spears will grow back – almost weekly! And another thing, these same plants will keep producing for the next 15 to 20 years, and we have even heard reports of 25 years.
It is difficult to raise asparagus from seeds and we do not recommend doing this. Instead buy your asparagus plants as starters from a reputable dealer. We use Gardens Alive and are very happy with the quality of product and with their speed of delivery. Each plant delivered to you is a series of 8–12” long bare roots attached to a “crown”. There are many varieties to choose from, but most commercial gardeners are now going with the Organic Jersey Knight Asparagus or the Organic Purple Passion Asparagus. We recently chose the first one because it is a heavy producer, producing quality spears 7–9” long and up to 2cm. thick. They are much sweeter than most of the green varieties of asparagus.
Organic asparagus can be planted in any month from March through October, with March, April, and May being the ideal months. Some gardeners recommend planting them in raised beds, but this is not necessary as long as your soil drains well. Asparagus prefers sandy, compost soil. Cultivate your soil before planting. The asparagus root systems need to be planted about 12” below the surface, with the crown facing up. Spread the roots straight out and evenly from the crown. Keep each plant about 12” apart. An Organic Gardening How To is to spread a small amount of organic fertilizer in the base of your holes or rows. We used General Use Bat Guano 8-3-1 from Arbico Natural Fertilizers for this. Arbico Organics has a wide variety of plant care products for organic gardeners. Initially, cover the root systems with only about 2-3” of soil. Too much soil will make it difficult for the stalks to penetrate. Once the stalk is about 6” above the soil level, another 3-4” of soil can be added.
At the beginning, water your plants daily. After a couple of weeks, this can be reduced to 2-3 times per week. Our organic asparagus plants penetrated their first layer of soil in 5-7 days and after a 1-1/2 weeks we were adding a second layer of soil. Normally, you will have about two stalks coming out of each plant, but this can vary. We had a couple of plants with four stalks and one even had seven. The quantity of stalks coming up from each plant will increase in the second and third years of growth.
Another Organic Gardening How To is to decide how many plants you want to plant. This really depends on how many people are in your family and how often you want to eat asparagus. If you want to eat it frequently, or maybe you want to pickle some (see Pickled Asparagus), you probably want to plant about 50 plants for each person in your household.
As your plants continue to grow taller, at 12-15” they will start to form little, thin limbs. This is called “feathering” and this enables the plant to accumulate carbohydrates and starches. Eventually, these will turn brown and will fall off or they can be trimmed off. Do not cut the stalks – nature will do its’ job.
In the spring, three years later, you can start to harvest your own delicious asparagus spears. Typically, you can start harvesting sometime in April and you can continue to harvest until late June. To harvest, you need to cut the stem of the plant 1-2” below the soil level. Cutting can be done with a sharp knife or a pair of scissors. Around the beginning of July, discontinue cutting. The stalks need to grow and “feather” out so they can accumulate energy for the plant before the coming winter.
As we discussed earlier, the beauty of organic asparagus is its’ wonderful, nutritious taste. It can be cooked so many different ways. It can be blanched, baked, roasted, pickled, or grilled. Or, it can be eaten raw. It can be a salad, a side dish, a main course, a dessert, or a garnishment in a drink. In the summer, we just love an iced cold Bloody Mary served with a pickled asparagus. Following is a simple video recipe that we believe you will enjoy. It is called Fresh Lemon Roasted Asparagus. It is made with fresh organic asparagus, fresh lemon, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and chives. Bon Appétit!
We hoped you enjoyed this Organic Gardening How To!
