Few garden harvests are as satisfying as picking your own asparagus spears, fresh and crisp from the garden. The flavour is sweeter, nuttier, and far more delicate than anything you’ll find in the shops. Planted once, it rewards you with decades of generous spring harvests. If you’re a food-loving family, growing your own asparagus is an investment in many delicious meals to come.
Here are our top 10 tips to get you growing your own asparagus:
1. Pick the perfect spot for your asparagus
Asparagus is a perennial, meaning it’ll keep producing year after year – for 20 years or more. Choose a sunny, open site with free-draining soil. Avoid spots where water pools after rain – asparagus doesn’t like wet feet.
2. Build a dedicated bed
This is one crop you don’t want to keep shifting around. Designate a bed just for your asparagus. A 1-meter x 1-meter space will house four plants – enough for a couple. A 1m x 2m bed gives you space for 8–10 plants, perfect for a family of four.
3. Prepare your soil well
Give your asparagus a great start by enriching the soil with plenty of compost or well-aged manure. If you’re building a raised bed with store bought soil, be sure to mix in compost to boost the microbial life in the soil. Asparagus thrives when the soil pH is around 6.5–7 – if it’s lower, add garden lime to sweeten it and reduce acidity.
4. Choose how you start
There are three options to start growing asparagus in your family patch:
• Seeds – These are the cheapest, but also the slowest. Sow in spring and harvest from year 3.
• Seedlings – These are available from garden centres in spring, also a 2–3 year wait.
• Crowns – These are bare-rooted young plants sold in winter. These are quickest to establish and give you a small harvest by year 2.
5. Plant crowns correctly
Dig a 30cm-deep trench or hole. Create a small mound in the center using the soil you’ve removed, spread the roots over the mound like a wig, and backfill so the crown sits just under the surface. Water in well to eliminate air pockets around the newly planted crowns. This helps the soil come into full contact with the roots, ensuring the plant can absorb moisture and nutrients efficiently. Surrounding with a layer of The Garden Family Sugar Cane Mulch will help insulate the soil in harsh summer and winter conditions.
6. No picking in the first year or two
As tempting as those spring spears are, let the plant grow into tall, ferny stems. This builds strong roots for future harvests.
7. Keep it moist and fed
Water your asparagus crops regularly through the warmer months, especially in the first couple of years. Asparagus is a heavy feeder, especially while establishing and during its active growth phase in spring and summer. For healthy, productive spears and long-term plant vigour feed with an organic balanced fertiliser like ActivGrow slow release fertiliser pellets.
8. Winter clean-up
When the ferny stems turn yellow and dry in winter, cut them back to ground level. Add a topdressing of compost or manure to recharge the soil for spring.
9. Harvest with care
By year two (or three for seeds), you can start picking the fruits of your labour! Harvest spears when they’re 15–25cm long using a sharp knife to cut just below soil level. Limit harvesting to 8–10 weeks to avoid exhausting the plant.
10. Males vs females
Asparagus plants are either male or female. Females will produce small red berries in autumn (don’t eat them), but both genders produce equally delicious spears. Males tend to yield more, but you can grow new plants from the seeds of female plants.
To shop The Garden Family Sugar Cane visit https://www.bunnings.com.au/the-garden-family-22m2-sugar-cane-mulch_p0583511
Click here for a delicious recipe – Creamy Salmon and Asparagus with Crispy Potatoes.
