ASPARAGUS? YES, IT'S WELL WORTH THE WAIT!

Asparagus requires a little patience initially, says Rob Smith, but your patience will be rewarded with crops for many years to come

- Rob Smith

If there is one gourmet crop that I love to grow in the kitchen garden, it has to be asparagus. With its incredible harvesting potential, totally divine taste, and ability to crop for up to 20 years, what’s not to love?

As asparagus is a perennial vegetable, it’s not the quickest to start cropping and can’t be harvested in the first year like annuals such as lettuce. However, once your asparagus bed is up and running, it is easy to maintain and hardly takes any looking after apart from weeding.

Before deciding to create an asparagus bed there are a few considerations that need to be taken into account, otherwise your efforts could end in disaster rather than success. The main thing to consider when planning to grow asparagus is space as your plants will need a permanent bed to themselves for the duration of their life. This means you won’t be able to use it for any other crop and so it will reduce the available space you have for year-round growing.

GETTING THE SOIL RIGHT

The bed also needs to be well-draining. If it is not naturally this way inclined, you can add grit and organic matter, or build a raised bed to grow in (this is what I’ve done with great success) and include lots of organic matter and topsoil/compost. Also, note that asparagus beds may need garden lime added to them to create a growing medium that’s around pH 6.5-7.5. The easiest way to alter the pH of your soil is to grow in raised beds and add the correct soil to the bed rather than trying to constantly alter the soil in the garden.