Asparagus, whether green or white, is becoming increasingly popular. We give tips on planting and growing asparagus in your own garden.
Although the official name is vegetable asparagus (Asparagus officinalis), the short form asparagus, which actually refers to the entire genus, has usually become common in our country. Its origin is believed to be in North Africa or the Near East. Earlier forms of asparagus may be one of the oldest cultivated vegetables. According to written records, the Chinese and Egyptians used asparagus 4000-5000 years ago. Although it was used more as a medicinal plant for coughs and bladder problems at that time, thanks to the progress made by breeders, it was ultimately able to assert itself as a vegetable plant.
Synonyms: God's herb, asparagus (CH), sponge root (CH)
Grow asparagus yourself
Asparagus can be grown in the Home Garden. However, growing asparagus requires skill and some patience. However, both are rewarded with tasty sprouts! In most commercial cultivation, asparagus is planted with annual rhizome plants. Special asparagus propagators buy seeds directly from the breeders, sow them in beds and then cultivate the young plants for a year. In the spring of next year, the plants will finally be dug up before they sprout and sold to asparagus production companies. These plant the rhizomes in rows at the desired spacing and depth.
Few companies choose to plant small plants grown in greenhouses. For this purpose, the seed is sown in earth press pots in the greenhouse at the beginning of April and the small plants are planted in mid-May. The small earth pressed potted plants require significantly more care and also have few reserves in case something goes wrong. In principle, this method is also possible in your own garden, but the amount of care required speaks for the young plants and, in addition, you only need a year for the rhizome plants until the first asparagus harvestwait.
Asparagus likes it sunny. The soil should be sandy-loamy and not too heavy. Since asparagus is cultivated in the same location for several years, you should ensure a good supply of nutrients before planting. Since the soil has to be loosened anyway, you can mix in plenty of compost, manure and horn shavings in the previous year. If you want to harvest white asparagus, you should either dig a 30 cm deep and 30 cm wide ditch or pile the soil up accordingly. You can also add about 200 g per running meter of phosphorus and potassium. Plant 25-33 cm apart.
If you have bought young asparagus plants, you can put them in the ditch in spring and cover them with about 10cm of soil. When the first shoots appear in spring, add more soil. However, the top shoot tip should always look out of the ground. With white asparagus, the rhizome is about 20-25 cm below the ground. With green asparagus it is only 15 cm. After a year, the asparagus can be harvested for 10-14 days, after two years, 4 weeks are possible if the asparagus plants develop well. The plant first needs time to grow and to store enough energy in the fleshy storage roots. The quality of the young plant is essential here. High-quality young plants weigh at least 70 grams and have well-developed storage roots, as well as strong shoots in the crown. If some roots are already rotten or rotten upon delivery, you should complain about your delivery again immediately. Inferior young plants grow poorly and a poor harvest is still annoying years after planting.
Summary of key data for the cultivation of asparagus:
White asparagus:
Plant density: 3 to 4 plants per meter; thicker varieties tend to be planted closer together
Row spacing: 1.5 to 1.6 m
Planting spacing: 25-33 cm
Planting depth: 20-25 cm
Green asparagus:
Plant density: 3 to 4 plants per meter; Planting in offset double rows is possible
Row spacing: 1.5 m, more with double rows
Planting spacing: 25-33 cm
Planting depth: 10-15 cm
During the summer you should atwater once in a while during a long dry period. Depending on the region, asparagus flowers between mid-June and the end of July. Modern varieties are purely male and do not set berries, making them more productive and long-lasting. The red fruits of the asparagus should not be eaten as they are slightly poisonous. Although asparagus can stand in one location for 10 years without any problems, it needs sufficient nutrients for a good yield. In autumn, it is always advisable to work compost and slow-release fertilizer into the soil. Young plants can be fertilized three times with blue grain (25 g per square meter) in the first year. The first fertilization takes place directly after sprouting, the second in early June and the last in mid-July.
In the second and third year, the asparagus has a strong growth of storage roots and needs more nutrients for it. Two doses of 50 g blue grain or a comparable NPK fertilizer (Entec-Perfekt) per square meter are recommended. Fertilization with individual components is also possible, the requirement is 12 grams of pure nitrogen in the year of planting, 16 grams in the 2nd and 3rd year and from then on 6-8 grams per year and square meter. If necessary, lime can also be applied at intervals of 2 to 3 years. Depending on the soil, a pH value of 5.8 to 6.5 should be aimed for. The heavier the soil, the higher the target pH value.
Tip: Alternatively, you can feed your asparagus with a primarily organic organic fertilizer such as our Plantura organic universal fertilizer in autumn and with compost or green manure during the season.
In our article Cultivating asparagus properly: watering, green manuring and damming you will find tips and tricks from the experts to achieve a good yield.
Asparagus varieties: Choosing the right variety
Asparagus can be divided into white and green asparagus. While the former, which is also known as white asparagus, is harvested before the asparagus sprouts reach the surface, green asparagus is harvested above the soil layer. Although any white asparagus variety can also be used to produce green asparagus, there are varieties of green asparagus that contain little anthocyanin. Although this plant substance has positive properties on our metabolism due to its antioxidant effect, it also intensifies the taste of the asparagus. Lovers of mild green asparagus should therefore prefer to use anthocyanin-free varieties, but the plants are somewhat more susceptible to fungal diseases. Additionallythere have been violet to purple asparagus varieties for several years, which are also harvested above ground. These are particularly suitable for raw consumption, they lose their attractive color when cooked.
- Argenteuil: French, old-population variety with a good yield; very aromatic.
- Mary Washington: A very popular variety for green asparagus, especially in the USA; fast growing and tasty.
- Ramada (F1): All-male new breed from Baden-Württemberg with a very early and high yield; good thickness (16-26 mm) and high quality of the poles; Robust variety for the home garden, excellent taste.
- Ramires (F1): Modern, all-male variety with a very early and high yield; good diameter of the stalks (16-26 mm) despite the very early harvest time; ideal asparagus variety for the home garden (3-4 plants per meter) with excellent taste. Also works well as anthocyanin-rich green asparagus.
- Rapsody (F1): pure male asparagus variety with high yield; also tolerates heavy soil well; Rapsody lends itself to deep planting, which delays harvest; if you combine an early asparagus variety with Rapsody, you can harvest tasty asparagus over a long period of time; particularly he althy and robust herb, also makes a good green asparagus.
- Steineo (F1): good variety for white asparagus; good taste, high yield, medium thick stalks.
- Steinivia (F1): Green asparagus free of anthocyanins, good variety for the home garden, avoid wet soils, with a high yield and good taste.
- Violetta (F1): violet/purple asparagus (green-white inside) with very good taste; also ideal for the home garden. Particularly suitable for raw consumption, e.g. in salads. Most purple varieties are tetraploid and therefore have softer cells, which means they are less stable. It may sometimes be necessary to tie up the asparagus.
Worth knowing: A good source for buying high-quality young asparagus plants is Südwestdeutsche Saatzucht (www.suedwestsaat.de/spargel). It is best to send an inquiry directly to the propagation company in Möringen/Stendal using the contact form: [email protected]. The plants will be sent by parcel.
Can't decide which flavor to use for yourshould choose garden? Have a look here: Asparagus varieties: Overview of tried and tested & new varieties.
Harvest and store asparagus correctly
In the first few years at the location, you should take care of the asparagus plant, because they first have to develop their storage roots. If you use seeds, you can harvest in the third year at the earliest, if you plant rhizome plants, a short harvest of 10-14 days is possible after just one year. But you can also do without it, especially with white asparagus, the large amount of work for the dams is hardly worthwhile for the short harvest and is often left out even by professional growers.
Depending on the vitality of the plant, it can be harvested four weeks in the following year. A year later, at 6 harvest weeks, one speaks of the first full harvest. Vital plants can now be harvested for about 6-8 weeks each year, but never longer than until St. John's Day (June 24th). Late varieties can usually be harvested until St. John's Day. With earlier varieties and on early plants, the harvest must be stopped beforehand. The plants need the remaining time to regenerate.
You can find more about harvesting and storage here: Asparagus: Harvesting and storage of the precious vegetable.
Yield expectation, number of plants required for self-sufficiency:
You can expect 8-12 spears of approx. 40-55 grams per season from a vital white asparagus plant in full yield, i.e. approx. 400-500 grams. With green asparagus approx. 250-300 grams are realistic. However, this yield is spread over 6 weeks. In order to be able to regularly harvest the required quantity for a family of four to eat asparagus, 30-50 plants are recommended.
Instructions for harvesting white asparagus:
If the soil is very loose, you can see on the surface where an asparagus is trying to find its way to the surface. Carefully uncover the stalk and carefully pierce the stalk with a sharp knife or asparagus cutter. Remove the pole, backfill the hole with soil, and level the dam with a trowel.
Instructions for harvesting green asparagus:
Harvesting green asparagus is a little easier and less expensive. The spears grow out of the ground, gradually turning green and can be cut off just above the ground at a length of 15-25 cm. You should use as sharp a blade as possible for the cutand use a clean knife so that the cut heals quickly and no diseases can settle in. Even if the storage of asparagus is technically no longer a problem today, the spears should be eaten as fresh as possible.
Asparagus from Peru is transported by ship to Germany for weeks under optimal conditions (temperature, humidity, inert gas) and looks visually appealing. However, the taste is mostly bland. In your own garden you should always harvest as much as you can use directly. Asparagus can be stored in the fridge for up to a week. To do this, you should wrap the rods in a damp towel or newspaper. After two or three days, the cloth should be moistened again.
Asparagus: ingredients and use
With less than 20 kcal per 100 g, asparagus is very low in calories and is suitable for a low-carb diet. It contains a lot of potassium and some vitamins from the B group. Similar to garlic, the typical taste and smell comes from sulfur-containing compounds. Green asparagus generally contains more valuable ingredients. The green sticks contain more vitamins C and A.
White asparagus is usually boiled in water and then served with butter or Hollandaise sauce. When it comes to green asparagus, there are hardly any limits to your own creativity. It can be boiled, fried or grilled. Green asparagus is also very good in salads.
Asparagus: Pests and Diseases
Especially in commercial cultivation, there are numerous diseases and pests that must be taken into account. In your own garden, asparagus is much less likely to be attacked by diseases.
An infestation with botrytis, for example, makes the above-ground stems pale and leads to death. If the humidity is high, botrytis spreads quite quickly. In the morning hours you can also see the mold growth with the naked eye. The infestation slows down significantly once the weather turns sunny and dry.
Stem and foot disease (Fusarium) can be clearly recognized by spots (pink to brown) on the shoots of the plant.
Another Fusarium strain can cause root rot. The asparagus herb usually changes color early in the summer and then dies off after a while.As soon as parts of the plant are infested, they should be generously removed and disposed of in the residual waste.
Asparagus rust and Stemphylium can also cause the asparagus herb to die prematurely. The plants can no longer store as much sugar in the roots and are therefore less efficient. It is recommended to remove the dead asparagus in autumn, as there are pathogens in the dead shoots and they can otherwise hibernate. Robust varieties are best suited for the home garden and should therefore be selected.
The robust varieties not only cause less trouble, you also get good yields and do not have to resort to chemical pesticides.
Asparagus fly and asparagus aphid attack the plant as pests. These usually weaken the asparagus, making it easier for other diseases such as rust or fusarium later in the year.
You can find a detailed article on this subject and how to protect your asparagus here: Asparagus: diseases, pests and crop protection.
About the guest author:
As a graduate engineer in agricultural science, Felix Grebhardt is responsible for sales and marketing at Südwestdeutsche Saatzucht GmbH. The company is a family-run medium-sized plant breeding company based in Rastatt. Asparagus cultivation has a long tradition in the company and can be traced back to 1912. In addition to his job, Mr. Grebhardt passionately grows various types of kiwi, persimmon and figs in his garden.
Further information: www.suedwestsaat.de/spargel
A heartfelt thank you goes to Mr. Grebhardt for his valuable contribution to the creation of the article and to the hard-working photographers at Südwestdeutsche Saatzucht.