🌱 Plant it once, then wait five years

You do not plant an asparagus seed and wait for a vegetable to appear. A grower usually plants a crown, and Penn State Extension says exactly what one is: “Crowns are developed root systems with a fairly defined storage organ and growth buds.” It goes into the ground deep — “the asparagus is planted in an 8-inch deep furrow with a W-shaped configuration at the bottom” — and the furrow is filled back in over the season. Extension calls the crop “a perennial crop”: the plant stays put, and the spear you cut in spring is a shoot pushing up out of that stored-up root system.

Basis: Penn State Extension, “Asparagus Production” (updated February 11, 2021): “Asparagus is a perennial crop that lends itself well to small-scale and part-time farming operations.”; “Crowns are developed root systems with a fairly defined storage organ and growth buds.”; “Whether planting crowns or transplants, the asparagus is planted in an 8-inch deep furrow with a W-shaped configuration at the bottom of the furrow.”

The waiting is not vague. It is published as a schedule. Penn State Extension: “The length of time for harvesting asparagus each year increases gradually until the plants reach full maturity (five years).” The first year after planting, a grower may cut for about seven days. The second year, about 14 days. The third, about three weeks. The fourth, 30 to 36 days. And in year five, when the planting is finally grown up, six to seven weeks. Read that as a person rather than a table: the first spring, you are allowed one week of dinners out of a field you spent a year preparing.

Basis: Penn State Extension, “Asparagus Production”: “The length of time for harvesting asparagus each year increases gradually until the plants reach full maturity (five years). The first year after planting, asparagus can be harvested for about seven days; the second-year harvest period lasts for about 14 days; the third-year harvest period is about three weeks; the fourth-year harvest period is 30 to 36 days; and by year five (when the plants have reached full maturity) the harvest period is approximately six to seven weeks.”

Then, after all that patience, the season itself is a sprint. Extension: “When growing under seasonal temperatures, asparagus should be harvested every day since spears can increase in length by as much as 2 inches per day.” Every single day. There is a target size — “Generally, spears are harvested when they are 7 or 9 inches in length and green in color” — and one strange trick: “Excluding light when spears are emerging will produce blanched, or white, spears.” White asparagus is not a different plant. It is the same plant, kept in the dark.

Basis: Penn State Extension, “Asparagus Production”: “When growing under seasonal temperatures, asparagus should be harvested every day since spears can increase in length by as much as 2 inches per day.”; “Generally, spears are harvested when they are 7 or 9 inches in length and green in color.”; “Excluding light when spears are emerging will produce blanched, or white, spears.”

Here is what turns an asparagus field into a one-way decision. Extension’s advice is blunt: “Avoid planting asparagus in fields where it has been grown in previous years.” The reason is the plant itself — “Asparagus is a self-allelopathic species—it produces and releases toxic chemicals that inhibit and suppress the growth of young asparagus transplants or crowns” — and there is a fungus waiting too: asparagus is “extremely susceptible to Fusarium root rot,” and “The Fusarium fungus can survive up to seven years in infected soil, and soil fumigation is not effective in reducing long-term soil populations.” A worn-out asparagus field is hostile to new asparagus. This crop cannot simply be shuffled around the farm the way corn and beans are.

Basis: Penn State Extension, “Asparagus Production”: “Avoid planting asparagus in fields where it has been grown in previous years. Asparagus is a self-allelopathic species—it produces and releases toxic chemicals that inhibit and suppress the growth of young asparagus transplants or crowns. In addition, asparagus is extremely susceptible to Fusarium root rot, a disease caused by a fungus that will weaken the plant. The Fusarium fungus can survive up to seven years in infected soil, and soil fumigation is not effective in reducing long-term soil populations.”

And the American asparagus map has been shrinking. Extension reports that “U.S. acreage is currently less than one-third of what it was 20 years ago due to increased imports from Central and South America,” and names where what is left sits: “The largest asparagus-producing states are Michigan, California, New Jersey, and Washington.” It is also, mostly, a crop of very small growers: “Asparagus is produced on 4,900 farms in the United States and 75 percent of those farms have one acre or less.”

Basis: Penn State Extension, “Asparagus Production”: “The largest asparagus-producing states are Michigan, California, New Jersey, and Washington. Asparagus is produced on 4,900 farms in the United States and 75 percent of those farms have one acre or less. U.S. acreage is currently less than one-third of what it was 20 years ago due to increased imports from Central and South America.”