How to grow them
Dig a trench 30cm wide and 20cm deep, make a ridge along the bottom and spread the crowns' roots over it like a spider. Cover with soil. Keep the bed completely free of weeds. Do not cut anything for the first two years.
Fruit and perennials
Asparagus
Two years of patience, then twenty years of spears every May.
- Buy as
- Crowns
- Space
- 40cm between plants, 45cm between rows
- Position
- Full sun
- Rotation
- Permanent bed
- Difficulty
- A challenge
The year
Plant
Harvest
When to pick
Cut spears 2cm below the soil when they are 15cm tall, from mid April. Stop on the longest day and let the fern grow to feed the crowns.
What goes wrong
Problems, and what to do
Asparagus beetle
Red and black beetles and grey grubs strip the fern. Pick them off.
Weeds
It cannot compete. Hand weed: hoeing damages the shallow roots.
Good neighbours: Tomatoes, Parsley.
Same family
More from fruit and perennials
StrawberriesThe plants crop well for three years. Peg down runners to make new ones for free.
RaspberriesA row will crop for ten years. Autumn-fruiting kinds are the simplest: cut everything to the ground in February.
BlackcurrantsOne bush gives four or five kilos of fruit, and it asks for almost nothing.
GooseberriesThe first fruit of the summer, and happy in a shadier corner.
RhubarbPlant it once in a corner and it will outlast your tenancy.