One of the first things we did the first spring we lived at Locust Grove Farm was to plant an asparagus bed. We planted 50 crowns in two rows about two feet deep. Our high PH southern Ohio soil is perfect for asparagus and by the third spring we were picking asparagus every day for a month. We ate it fresh of course, but also froze enough to have the other eleven months of the year.
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| Asparagus fern from August cutting with bindweed growing everywhere. |
A few years ago around the first of August, I accidentally mowed over a few of the ferns. Within a day or two fresh green asparagus spears appeared in their place. I'd read that you could cut the ferns down in early August and get a second crop and here was proof. We harvest so much asparagus in the spring that I decided a second crop was not really necessary and have always just let the ferns grow, When the ferns dry and turn golden brown in the fall, mow them down and add them to a compost pile.
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| Single plant, then weeds, then the rest of the row. |
But this spring with the cold and the rain, the asparagus crop was late in coming and skimpy as well. Weed were a bigger problem then usual which was a concern. I ate fresh asparagus sparingly and froze as much as I could. I decided then and there to mow the ferns in August and see what would happen. The result was a small but very tasty second crop which I enjoyed fresh and shared with family. The ferns grew back very quickly and have stayed green with no signs of fall color here in October.
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