Asparagus Recipes Are The Crowning Glory Of Spring (2024)

FAQs

What to do with asparagus in early spring? ›

The first chore in the spring is to cut off the dead asparagus foliage at ground level. Early spring is also an excellent time to fertilize the asparagus planting. Apply 50 pounds of barnyard manure per 100 square feet. Lightly till the manure into the top 2 or 3 inches of soil with a rototiller or spade.

Asparagus is harvested from late February to June. While widely available most of the year, its peak season is from April to May. By the end of June, asparagus is at the end of its season in most locations.

Steam-roasted Asparagus

Soak the asparagus in water for 5-10 minutes to draw out sand lodged in the tips. Swoosh them around a few times to unsettle grit.

In spring, spears will start to emerge from the soil. The first spring, a year after planting the crowns, do not harvest any spears. Allow the spears to become ferns and build the strength of the crowns.

While asparagus is luckily usually found year-round in grocery stores, like most produce, it has a peak season. You will find the best asparagus during spring. Asparagus season usually starts around late February and goes until June, but the peak months are in April and May.

It is not necessary to trim asparagus. On some spears, especially fresh, pencil-thin stalks, the woody ends may tenderize once cooked. But on larger stalks, the ends of the asparagus are often woody and dense—Which makes them difficult to chew, no matter how soft the asparagus is after cooking.

Harvest of mature stands should stop about 6-8 weeks after initial spear emergence, once the spear growth and emergence slows down significantly, or when spear width is less than pencil size. In Minnesota, this is typically in late June. Far northern locations may stop harvest later, because their season began later.

Answer: The asparagus foliage can be cut back to the ground after it has been destroyed by cold temperatures in fall. However, it is generally recommended that the dead foliage be allowed to stand over winter.

The general advice is either to do it in early spring before the spears emerge, or after the harvest is finished for the year.

They will grow right through the mulch, and the mulch will help keep weed growth down. Once all danger of frost is past in the spring, you could rake the mulch off to the side, which will allow the soil to warm up faster and the spears to emerge sooner.

What to do with asparagus after season? ›

After the end of the harvest season, allow the shoots to develop into ferny growth to build up the roots for the following year's crop. The foliage will grow 4 to 6 feet tall. Keep the plants watered, weeded, and mulched all summer. Starting in year 3, fertilize the plants right after the last harvest.