[Brassica Blaz]

this is my asparagus in its second season from one year old crowns and there romping away and look pretty good.the temptation to pick some is gnawing away at me.im sure i read in a book that i could take a couple of spears from each plant.do you think i could or would this affect the crop for next season.?

[JayG]

Anyone who claims to have actually resisted the temptation to at least sample a spear or two is either not 100% truthful or needs to go to gardener's relaxation classes - it depends to some extent on variety and growing conditions (although belatedly finding out that you have eaten the last spear the plant has the strength left to produce that year is not a good plan!) 

Have a nibble! 

[mattwragg94]

ooh i was just researching this for you (looking at old threads) but jay beat me to it, anyway from what ive read on previous posts you can harvest 1-2 spears per plant in the second year.

[Brassica Blaz]

ooh i was just researching this for you (looking at old threads) but jay beat me to it, anyway from what ive read on previous posts you can harvest 1-2 spears per plant in the second year.

sluurrp!.

[mattwragg94]

yep lucky you hahaha - thats it the next time im at the shops im buying some.

[chriscross1966]

Hoping to get some from mine this year .... sown from seed three years ago, planted out from pots last year.... just starting to show now.....

[gavinjconway]

I planted seed a few months ago and now have them in the GH... I'll plant out when the early spuds are out..   

Here is a fab recipe.... simmer for 10-15 minutes then blitz in the liquidizer for a few secs with butter to make a lovely thick sludge... add on top of hot toast or freshly baked buns or slurp onto steak.. delicious..

[Salmo]

A betteralternative to restricting yourself to 2 spears per plant is to restrict picking to 3 weeks from when the first one appears. In that way you do not have to keep count or mark where you have picked.

[Brassica Blaz]

i been bought an asparagus knife for my birthday.its about 15" long with a serrated tip at the end.ive read that you have to cut about 4" below the surface of the soil.this to me seems a bit worrying wont the knife go into the heart of the root system and damage it.?

[DD.]

4" is way too low, I've never seen this recommendation. About 1" down is the norm.

[JayG]

Sounds unnecessarily long for an asparagus knife!

The most important thing is not to damage the crown when you cut the spears, which obviously depends on how deep the crowns are beneath the surface.

Cutting at or just below the surface should be safe, deeper is OK only if you know exactly how deep your crowns are.

[TerryB]

i been bought an asparagus knife for my birthday.its about 15" long with a serrated tip at the end.ive read that you have to cut about 4" below the surface of the soil.this to me seems a bit worrying wont the knife go into the heart of the root system and damage it.?

It sounds as if you have a commercial growers knife.
When picking a field of asparagus you don't want to be bending over with a small knife at each plant.
I cut about an 1in below but push my finger into the soil first to be sure I don't damage any that have not yet shown.

[gavinjconway]

On the farm when growing up in Zimbabwe we grew loads for the local market and on my own plot in latter years I had a patch about 20mt x 20 mt.. I never had a knife... just snapped them off at ground level so the whole spear was green and not incipidly white from below the soil level..    you gotta eat them green...