Asparagus Planting & Growing
Reading Time: 5 minutes
Get started with asparagus planting, a long-lived garden perennial that can last for over 20 years with proper care. Discover the basics of asparagus care, along with a quick and easy asparagus recipe.
by Jenny Underwood
Asparagus is a perennial that, once established, can last up to 25 years in your garden. This makes it a gift that continues to give year after year with just a little maintenance after the initial planting. For this reason, it’s essential to carefully consider where you want your asparagus to grow as it’s not an easily moved plant (unlike berry bushes, for example). The asparagus roots grow deep (many times 4” or deeper).
You have two choices to get an asparagus bed going: planting roots or starting your seeds. Both methods have benefits, so you may do like I did and do both! By planting the roots, you’ll get to harvest two years sooner. Roots are often only males, so you get thicker stalks with no seeding. However, starting your own seeds allows for more choices on the varieties you grow. You’ll also get a mix of male and female, so your plants will continue to propagate themselves, which means you’ll naturally get more asparagus each year without additional work on your part. This is great if you have lots of room for your plants to roam but not so great if you’re limited on space (or don’t need that much asparagus).
To start your asparagus by roots, you’ll need to buy them from a reputable nursery or farm store. Check your gardening zone to see when you should plant out your roots. Roots are more expensive and, in my area, cost between $1 to $1.60 each. Prepare your soil by loosening well and removing all weeds. Dig a deep hole where you can fully spread out the roots and position the crown right below the surface. Fill in with rich, loose dirt. Water with a fish/seaweed emulsion or other good fertilizer. In a few weeks, you’ll notice the sprouts coming up. It’s one of the first green things to pop up in your garden in the early spring. Don’t pick any asparagus the first year. In the second year, you can pick a few stems that are bigger than your pinky. In the third year, you may harvest anything bigger than your pinky. Stop harvesting once they start growing smaller and allow them to grow and fall over on their own. Leave the tops on until they are dead and brown; then, you may trim them off. This will just promote a stronger root system and overall plant.
Seeds are a bit more difficult to start, but they’re well worth it, in my opinion. They’re much cheaper than roots at $3 for a package of 50 to 100 seeds. I was able to choose several different heirloom varieties. Again, check your gardening zone to see when the seeds should be started. The seeds must be soaked before planting for 24 to 48 hours. I used 1/2 pint canning jars with lids for this. I just wrote on the lid which variety was soaking. After the soaking time, I removed the lid, placed a paper towel in its place, screwed the ring back on, and drained the water off. These will then be planted immediately in a tray filled with seed-starting soil. Dig tiny, shallow furrows and cover lightly with soil. It can take quite a while for these seeds to sprout (sometimes a month or more), so be patient. I place a cover on my trays and set them somewhere warm. Keep the soil moist but not saturated. After your seeds start to sprout, remove the cover and place it under a grow light. After a few weeks under a grow light, they’re ready to be carefully transplanted into your permanent spots. You can also do what I did: plant them in rows in raised beds to grow for a few years and then transplant them to permanent beds before their root systems have grown too deep.
It can be helpful to mulch your asparagus as it will sprout multiple spears from one root, making it more difficult to weed between them. I love to plant mine in my edible borders, which are already mulched with wood chips. These will grow quite tall (upwards of 6 feet often) at the end of harvest, so planting them where they won’t negatively impact other plants is a must. Also, if you prefer a tidy garden, you may want to put these somewhere on the edges where they won’t detract from the rest of the garden. I love their look, but it’s definitely on the wild side come late summer and fall.
To harvest the asparagus spears, you can simply snap them off right above ground level. You’ll want the top to be still tight and not spread out. Any woody part of the spear will need to be removed and the parts you eat should snap easily. These are delicious when coated in olive oil with salt and any preferred seasonings, then wrapped in bacon and broiled for about 8 minutes. Another easy recipe is to sauté chopped asparagus in olive oil with onions, mix with cream cheese and shredded cheese, and serve with crackers or chips. Asparagus can also be pickled to preserve it for winter use.
For the last several years, I’ve been starting more seeds each spring, and now, several hundred plants have been established. My plan is to start several “wild” gardens in part of my forest edges that will then produce for years and years to come. This is a wonderful way to provide your family with a sustainable, delicious food source.
A few varieties I recommend are Mary Washington, Colossal, Purple Passion, and Jersey Giant. Give growing asparagus a try this year; I know you’ll be glad you did!
Jenny Underwood is a homeschooling mama to four lively blessings. She makes her home in the rural foothills of the Ozark Mountains with her husband of 20 years. You can find her reading a good book, drinking coffee, and gardening on their little fifth-generation homestead. Keep up on her blog here.
Originally published in the March/April 2025 issue of Countryside and Small Stock Journal and regularly vetted for accuracy.
