Asparagus

[Tigerhair]

Anyone grow this? Is it worth it?

[Shirley]

I haven't grown it - but it is on my list of things to plant. My reasoning being that I like it... and it's expensive to buy... !

Got to look up planting conditions yet though but someone said it should grow up here in Scotland.

[Wombat]

I got a couple of crowns form a friend about years ago and grew it until it karked it! Never did much good but then again I didn't fuss over it at all. Funny thing is, I thought I didn't like asparagus because found the tinned stuff vile, but have had the fresh stuff on a number of occasions since and found it to be nice. So, next spring..........

Nev

[Millymollymandy]

I've thought about growing it too but you have to wait for years before you can harvest it! Mind you I could afford to wait as I never buy it anyway because (1) the price is silly and (2) it's often tough.

I like the white variety best - but I never came across that until I moved to Holland, where it is very popular.

[ina]

(ggrrr, quote button won't work...)


Shirlz, it does grow amazingly well here. The farmer down the road sells it every summer for £1 a bundle, so that's one thing I won't even consider growing myself! Just not worth it for the small quantities I would need.

And Mandy: In Germany green asparagus is also the exception, white being the rule. White asparagus is more difficult to grow, it is grown on (or rather under) ridges, and harvesting needs a bit of experience, too, as you are cutting it sort of in the ridge.

Ina

[kevin m.]

I grew the variety 'Conover's collossal' from seed- it took three years for the plants to be big/strong enough for a proper cutting,but it works out a lot cheaper than buying 'thongs',as the roots are known as (the mind boggles doesn't it! ).
Plants from thongs usually take two years to reach harvesting size.
Whatever method you use,once established,an Asparagus bed can go on cropping for 15-20 years.
I have mine planted in a 12 foot by 3 foot raised bed,and apart from weeding and mulching,it pretty much looks after itself.
There's nothing like the taste of FRESH,TENDER home grown Asparagus,and at the danger of sounding nationalistic-I think that ENGLISH Asparagus is the best in the world- far better that the Spanish or Peruvian stuff that you see in supermarkets after it's notched up the airmiles to get here!

[Chickenlady]

When we took over our current allotment, it had an established asparagus bed on it! When the asparagus is ready it is a real treat. I know it takes time to establish a bed, but if you have the space I would say it is definitely worth it.

If you offered my kids fresh asparagus from the allotment or chocolate, they would probably choose the asparagus...(I say probably!)

[Andy Hamilton]

Actually I totally forgot until now Dave has grown asparagus and he wrote about it as (I think) the first article that he wrote for the site.

http://selfsufficientish.com/may.htm