[Yabba]

Like *really* early!

Ok, earlier today I chopped all the fronds off my asparagus as it'd finally succumbed to the weather and turned brown. My intention was to tidy up the bed and then throw a load of chicken ... urm, manure over the bed as a feed/mulch around march which, from reading, is when you're meant to do it.

The problem is I've got new spears growing on about 1/4 of the plants already, which has kinda thrown me a tad as I don't know what to do next!

As far as I know, again from reading, asparagus isn't frost hardy and shouldn't be growing until about mid april, so what should I do with these plants? Should I fleece them to protect them from the frosts and leave them growing, should I just pick these spears and hope that the plant works out that it's still january, should I slay a few snails and offer them to the vegetable gods as a way of saying thank you?


This is there third year, grown from seed, so I can only lightly crop, just in case that makes a difference to the answers.

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[Trillium]

Yes, fleece these really early ones as they will be damaged by frost. I vouch from firsthand experience. Other than that, you can still feed them now, just replace the fleece when done.

[Yabba]

Cool, I'll fleece the lot. Should I pick the spears that are growing as part of my "light cropping" or just leave these plants alone until next year? I've waited this long so 12 more months won't hurt .... to much

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[Trillium]

Glad you mentioned the plant age. You can take about 1 spear per crown this year, 2 if the crown seems very healthy and large, and leave the rest. They really do need the energy to keep building up strong roots. Next year you can take almost all you want - until about the beginning of July when you must stop to let some fronds grow for that old root feeding time.

You'll need to do slug control if that's a problem for you - doesn't matter who gets to eat the fronds, they still need to grow this year. Manure lightly around the plants, never up close, and a sprinkle of veg fertilizer (if you use it) will also help. The fertilizer will help strengthen the roots so don't worry about any taste since you're not eating much of it this year, right? 

[Kristen]

Bit of a tangent, but my Asparagus plants were eaten last year - I thought it might have been Pheasants.  They were in 2L pots, raised from seed the year before.  It was just before I was about to plant them out, and after planting I put some Debris netting over them for a month to let them get away without being eaten. I plan to do the same this year - not wanting to share them with anyone/thing else!

[Yabba]

Shoot the pheasants and serve them on a bed of asparagus

I think I'll just fleece, take the spears that are already showing/growing and leave the plants to do there stuff ... *really* don't want to f*** up 3 years worth of patience

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