🌱 Asparagus

Asparagus is a luxury crop that needs patience: plants take three years to establish before cropping, but a well-kept bed will produce tender spears every spring for 20 years or more. Freshly cut asparagus is far sweeter than any in the shops.

The British season is short, around late April to mid-June, and part of its pleasure. It needs a sunny, free-draining, weed-free bed, and it is best suited to medium or large plots. Choose all-male varieties for higher yields.

Varieties to try

Connover’s Colossal (traditional, reliable)Gijnlim (early, high-yielding, all male)Mondeo (high-yielding)Pacific Purple (sweet, purple)Guelph Millennium (hardy and productive)

Buy one-year-old crowns and plant them in March or April, in a bed prepared months in advance by removing every weed, especially perennial ones, and digging in plenty of compost. Dig a trench about 30 cm wide and 20 cm deep, with a ridge down the middle, and drape the crown over the ridge with its roots spread out.

Space crowns 30–45 cm apart, cover with 5 cm of soil, then fill the trench gradually as the shoots grow. Water in well. Raised beds help in heavy soil. Keep weeds out in the first years and mark the rows.

Top tips

• Remove all perennial weeds first.
• Spread roots over a ridge.
• Fill the trench in gradually.
• Use raised beds in heavy soil.

Keep the bed weed-free, hand-weeding gently as roots are shallow. Mulch with compost or well-rotted manure each spring. Do not cut any spears in the first two years. In autumn, when the ferny foliage turns yellow, cut it down to 5 cm and clear it away.

Asparagus beetle and slugs damage spears, so pick off the beetles by hand. Support the tall ferns with canes and string in windy spots. Feed with a general fertiliser in late winter, and apply a mulch of seaweed or salt-free compost in spring.

Top tips

• Keep weed-free by hand.
• Mulch each spring.
• Cut ferns in autumn.
• Pick off asparagus beetles.

Watch out for

Asparagus beetleSlugsViolet root rotWind damage to ferns

Do not harvest in the first two years. In year 3, cut spears for about 3–4 weeks, and from year 4 for six weeks, from late April to mid-June (ending by about 21 June). Cut spears when they are 12–18 cm tall, with a sharp knife 2.5 cm below the surface.

Stop cutting by midsummer to let the ferns grow and build up the crown for next year’s crop. Cut spears every day or two in warm weather, as they grow fast. Fresh spears are best eaten within hours of cutting.

Top tips

• Be patient in years 1–2.
• Stop cutting by 21 June.
• Cut every day or two in warm weather.
• Eat as fresh as possible.

Steam or boil spears for 3–4 minutes, or roast or grill them with olive oil and sea salt. Serve with butter, hollandaise, a poached egg or parmesan, or add to risottos, quiches and salads. The thicker spears are the most prized. Snap off the tough ends before cooking.

Fresh spears keep for 2–3 days in the fridge, standing upright in a jar of water or wrapped in damp paper. To freeze, blanch for 2–4 minutes, cool quickly and freeze on a tray, then bag. Frozen spears are best used cooked.

Top tips

• Snap off the woody ends.
• Stand spears in water in the fridge.
• Blanch 2–4 minutes before freezing.
• Roast with olive oil for a nutty taste.