Many people have a love-hate relationship with asparagus. I heard years ago that asparagus were easy to grow, but I never thought they would be as easy as they are. Asparagus are long term crops, producing after its first year for and lasting for up to 20 years. Don’t worry if you live in a frosty area, as they are frost hardy.
Asparagus prefer light soil, as the spears need to be able to easily push through the soil's surface. Consider a space in the garden where they can grow for a long time. I built a special raised bed just for the asparagus. Before planting the crowns, prepare the soil to the depth of a spade, and dig in liberal quantities of compost and a general garden fertiliser. If you have acidic soil, then a light dressing of garden lime will be needed. Set crowns 15-20 cm deep and 30-50 cm apart at the bottom of a trench. Then fill in the trench with 5cm of soil, filling in the remainder of the trench as the asparagus starts to grow. Water regularly, and give liberal dressings of a high nitrogen fertiliser, such as Oderings Garden Replenish, in summer to encourage vigorous top growth. Cut down the dry yellow fern in winter to ground level, mulch deeply, and fertilise again to encourage spears in spring.
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