When to stop cutting asparagus?
Had our last cut of asparagus three days ago. So there goes another year… and probably just as well. We’d eaten it every other night for 5 weeks. Sick of the stuff.
Technically, you can keep cutting until June 21st. But I never do. If you cut all the way to mid-summer, you weaken the plants and they don’t last as long.
So how do I decide when to stop? Well, this may sound a bit surreal… but I just, kind of, know when. You sense it. The spears produced by your asparagus bed start getting that little bit thinner than they were at first. Plus they slow down. You can almost feel the roots taking a huge breather, trying to gather their strength to keep putting up shoots.
I never put them to the test. The longer the roots get to grow unchecked this year, the thicker and juicier the spears next spring. And the plants will last at least 20 years.
I am hoping to start an asparagus bed next year. I know it will be a few years before I can harvest but it will be well worth the wait!!
June 13th, 2013 at 8:16 pm
It’s SO worth the effort, Tanya. Fresh asparagus, just cut, tastes so much sweeter and better than anything you can buy in the shops.
June 13th, 2013 at 8:34 pm
Oh how jealous I am. We lost all our asparagus two years ago to flooding on the plots and the introduction of New Zealand Flatworm. I truly don’t believe I could get fed up with it, it’s so yummy!!!
June 15th, 2013 at 12:56 am
New Zealand Flatworm?@???
What the bloody hell is that???
June 15th, 2013 at 2:05 pm
It’s a carnivore worm (wraps itself around earth worms, secretes fluids that dissolve the earthworm which it then ingests). It looks even more disgusting than it sounds.
Introduced to N Ireland by way of imported pot plants, it was once feared it would destroy N Ireland agriculture, by wiping out the native worm population and thus ruining soil structure.
June 16th, 2013 at 11:41 pm