An Asparagus Primer, or Asparagus: The Lazy Gardener's Vegetable

Since it's a perennial and easy to grow in most places, asparagus is a perfect permaculture plant. I've read that the crowns can last as long as 30 years!

Planting the crowns is a little bit... different than the usual annual veg seed-sowing. But you can learn from my mistakes and successes! Over at Brunette Gardens, we've got a primer for first-time asparagus growers.

As you can see in the image above, we use wood chips as mulch, just to extend the recent topic over in the forum post All the Great Things About Wood Chips. They work wonderfully! We've used cedar, pear wood, and oak.

And to comment on this thread discussing how many asparagus crowns you need, I'll share that we planted 40 for 2 of us, and that amount provides enough to eat but not preserve for the winter. We're considering adding more.

You are reading my mind.  I'm planning to put in an asparagus bed instead of a flower bed but I'm looking at doing some companion planting with it to make it seem more decorative.  This was awesome.  Thanks for posting it!

Lisa Sampson wrote:You are reading my mind.  I'm planning to put in an asparagus bed instead of a flower bed but I'm looking at doing some companion planting with it to make it seem more decorative.  This was awesome.  Thanks for posting it!

You're welcome, Lisa! Glad it's helpful.

Lisa Sampson wrote:You are reading my mind.  I'm planning to put in an asparagus bed instead of a flower bed but I'm looking at doing some companion planting with it to make it seem more decorative.  This was awesome.  Thanks for posting it!

I planted early daffodils down the middle of my 4-foot-wide asparagus bed and they have been great companions. The daffodils are blooming while I harvest asparagus so I get to enjoy them up close during their whole bloom. By the time the asparagus has leafed up and blocked all the sun from reaching the middle of the bed, the daffodil leaves have died down for the summer anyway. Any very early bulbs would work.

And yes, this post was awesome.

I'd add: Asparagus is very high yield compared to the amount of work but it's low yield for the amount of space it needs. So if you've got plenty of space, it's a great investment. And it's especially valuable if you live in a place like I do where a) asparagus is rare, exotic, and not available; and b) fresh vegetables are not available in the market in winter and early spring.

I had to plant asparagus from seed as I couldn't get crowns here. I planted mostly Jersey Knight seeds from Johnny's. These are supposed to be mostly male, but now that they are established, they seem to be mostly female, and the self-seeding is becoming a weed problem, so this summer I'm putting little markers at the base of all the plants with seeds, and am thinking of roguing them out this winter.

Also by the way, starting from seeds doesn't seem to take significantly longer till harvest than starting from crowns, and is a fraction of the price. But buying all male crowns would avoid the seeding problem.

Rebecca Norman wrote:

I planted early daffodils down the middle of my 4-foot-wide asparagus bed and they have been great companions. The daffodils are blooming while I harvest asparagus so I get to enjoy them up close during their whole bloom. By the time the asparagus has leafed up and blocked all the sun from reaching the middle of the bed, the daffodil leaves have died down for the summer anyway. Any very early bulbs would work.

And yes, this post was awesome.

I'd add: Asparagus is very high yield compared to the amount of work but it's low yield for the amount of space it needs. So if you've got plenty of space, it's a great investment. And it's especially valuable if you live in a place like I do where a) asparagus is rare, exotic, and not available; and b) fresh vegetables are not available in the market in winter and early spring.

I had to plant asparagus from seed as I couldn't get crowns here. I planted mostly Jersey Knight seeds from Johnny's. These are supposed to be mostly male, but now that they are established, they seem to be mostly female, and the self-seeding is becoming a weed problem, so this summer I'm putting little markers at the base of all the plants with seeds, and am thinking of roguing them out this winter.

Also by the way, starting from seeds doesn't seem to take significantly longer till harvest than starting from crowns, and is a fraction of the price. But buying all male crowns would avoid the seeding problem.

Thanks, Rebecca! Cool idea on the daffodils. And good to know re: seeds.

This is a good thread ... all except calling asparagus "The Lazy Gardener's Vegetable".  That's not a good selling point!

Lisa Brunette wrote:

Planting the crowns is a little bit... different than the usual annual veg seed-sowing. But you can learn from my mistakes and successes! Over at Brunette Gardens, we've got a primer for first-time asparagus growers.

Here's an updated link for that post on asparagus:

This fall, plant the lazy gardener's vegetable: asparagus