Is Growing Asparagus Worth It?

Time is a painfully finite resource. For most of us in Barrington, so is gardening space. 

An important aspect of gardening is deciding  how to allocate these scarce resources.  If you're thinking of planting asparagus, here's a few things to consider.

Since this is a perennial plant, you need to dedicate a permanent spot in a sunny location. Expect to wait three years for your first harvest.  Crowns are planted in the fall, but the first sprouts to come up must be allowed to grow, gather energy, and send off shoots. 

By the third spring, the plants will be well -established, but you must leave some of the spears to mature and put out new shoots. Asparagus requires a considerable amount of space. You need to plant the crowns at least one foot apart.

Asparagus does not like competition, so you need to keep your beds absolutely weed free.  Mulching is strongly recommended. Asparagus requires careful watering, feeding, and attention to soil pH. 

You need a fairly large bed to produce more than a few spears. If you don't mind spending the time and you're a fan of asparagus, it's hard to beat the flavor of a just-picked spear.  I picked my first asparagus of the season this morning. It is sweet, crisp, with a complex and subtle flavor -- far better than the grocery store offerings and noticeably better than farmers' market asparagus.

This vegetable is like sweet corn in that the flavor quickly fades and changes after picking.  Asparagus spears can grow as much as six inches in one day. If you're gardening with children, they'll enjoy watching the rapid, almost magical changes.

The plants must be allowed to go to seed, but I don't consider this a disadvantage. The airy, ferny summer foliage is very attractive, and it turns a pleasant yellow in fall.  

When you're eating the first spears of homegrown asparagus, it's hard to make a dispassionate judgement on whether or not it's worth planting. If I had a large garden plot and could devote a bigger area to asparagus, I'd definitely grow  a patch. But if I had to do it over, I probably wouldn't plant it in my Barrington yard.