How to Prepare Your Garden for Asparagus

Vegetable gardens provide spring, summer and fall growth and production and generally last for only one to two seasons. Some plants, such as asparagus, last through multiple seasons to grow for over 15 years. Long-lived plants require more careful site selection and soil preparation, though. Prepare the soil early and plant asparagus carefully to enjoy years of harvests.

Garden fork
Organic compost
Fertilizer
Spade

Instructions

- 1
  Plant asparagus just before the last frost in spring, when temperatures hit 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit. This hardy perennial survives spring frosts even in its first year. Begin soil preparation as soon as the soil dries in spring.
- 2
  Prepare a 10- to 15-square-foot asparagus plot at the edge of the garden. This vegetable comes back year after year, so use a site that gets full year-round drainage and sits out of the way. Put asparagus in sites with at least four to six hours of sun every day.
- 3
  Dig furrows 5 to 6 inches deep and 12 to 18 inches wide, with 10 inches between rows, for asparagus planting. Sprinkle 0-46-0 or 0-20-0 granular fertilizer into the bottoms of these trenches for immediate root growth. Mix the fertilizer into 1 inch of soil.
- 4
  Drop 1-year-old asparagus crowns into the trenches at every 9 to 12 inches. Cover the crowns loosely with 2 to 3 inches of soil.
- 5
  Water the rows with 4 inches of soil to establish the planting.

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