Stately asparagus is certainly one of the most elegant of all vegetables. And when properly prepared – grilled, roasted, steamed or added to a dish – it’s a treat for the palate, as well as the eye. This wonderful veggie is also a delight for the home gardener – as long as you’re a little patient, since it can take some time before the big harvest.

The plumy tops of asparagus plants supply the nutrients needed to produce an abundant crop of spears the following spring.

Photo Credit: Gerald L. Klingaman

To harvest your asparagus, just snap the stem off when the spears reach 6-8 inches long, but before the nose of the spear begins to separate.

Photo Credit: ©Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard

Blanched (or white) asparagus has been more popular in Europe than in the American market. Nutritionally, it’s about the same as green asparagus.

Photo Credit: Gerald L. Klingaman

Garden asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) is a long-lived herbaceous perennial belonging to the lily family that grows from an extensive underground crown. Each spring, leafless shoots emerge bearing a much-branched feathery top that grows 6 feet tall. (While asparagus lacks true leaves, photosynthesis is carried out in needle-like branchlets known as cladophylls.)

Seed-grown asparagus plants are dioecious, producing either male or female plants. The nodding yellow-green flowers are about ¼ an inch across. Female plants produce pea-sized red berries that birds relish. Because male plants have little responsibility in procreation, they tend to produce more robust spears in the spring and are most often cultivated. More than likely, however, you won’t be dealing with asparagus seed – you’ll purchase crowns (the root system of a 1-year-old plant).

Asparagus is easy to grow in the vegetable garden, or clumps can be added to the back of a flower border to create a ferny backdrop for annuals and perennials. To prosper, the plant should have a deep, well-drained soil and plenty of sunlight. If properly sited, an asparagus planting can remain productive for 20-30 years.

The secret to growing fat asparagus spears is good soil preparation before planting – as well as a dose of patience. (Giacomo Castelverto, an Italian in exile in England in 1614 due to problems he stirred up during the Inquisition, complained about the small asparagus spears the English grew. In his manuscript, The Fruit, Herbs and Vegetables of Italy, he pointed out that Italian farmers planted crowns in a trench and then filled the trench with a mixture of sieved soil and cattle horn shavings.)

We still use trenches for planting asparagus, but now we substitute 13-13-13 fertilizer for the cow horns. Your trench should be 18 inches wide and 9 inches deep with the plants’ crowns planted 18-24 inches apart. Simply spread the roots of each plant in the bottom of the trench, then cover them with a couple inches of sandy loam soil. As the plants grow that first summer, the trench is gradually filled in. (Of course to get away with planting that deep, it’s critical that the soil be well-drained.)

Now comes the hard part – waiting. Asparagus can’t be harvested until the third spring after planting, and even then, that first harvest should only last 2 weeks. But once your planting is well-established, harvest time can last for up to 6 weeks. Just snap the stem off when the spears reach 6-8 inches long, but before the nose of the spear begins to separate. Each crown will produce about ¼ a pound of asparagus, so a sizable planting will be needed to keep you in asparagus heaven throughout the spring.

Weed control is the biggest challenge for most would-be asparagus gardeners. Mulching and careful use of selective weed control lessens this problem.

So if you’re looking for an elegant addition to your dinner table, consider adding asparagus to your garden. Whether it finds a home in your vegetable patch or among your perennials, its beauty and taste is sure to please.