Asparagus plants live for a long time, often 15-30 years or more. They also take up a lot of space (although not as much as you'd think), so planting the right amount per person is essential.
A general rule of how much asparagus to plant per person
Plant 12 asparagus crowns per person to eat it fresh 3 times a week, or plant 25 crowns per person for daily consumption and preserving. Asparagus crowns are often sold in sets of 25, some retailers offer them in smaller bundles, but it is less common.
How did I determine how much asparagus to plant per person? I've been growing it myself for almost a decade and have also dug through a lot of research from university trials and talked with experts.
To help you determine how much you should plant, answer the following questions for yourself.
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How much asparagus do you want to eat each week?
For reference, a bundle of asparagus at the grocery store is about 1 pound and contains about 15-20 average sized spears.
Asparagus plants are harvested over 8 weeks during peak production.
- Each crown produces about 10 spears in that time frame, which is about a ½ pound (or half a bundle from the grocery store).
- 25 crowns produces about 12-18 pounds over that time frame (or 1.5 - 2 bundles / week).
Answer the following questions:
- How many spears do you eat for a serving (the standard serving size is 4-5 spears).
- How many of those asparagus bundles do you buy in a week? (a bundle is 15-20 spears).
- Do you plan to make recipes that use a lot of asparagus, like cream of asparagus soup? If so, that requires harvesting a lot of asparagus at once and you'll want to buy more crowns per person.
- Do you want extra asparagus to preserve for later use? If so, you'll want double the number of crowns per person.
How much space do you have?
Conventional advice suggests planting asparagus crowns 12-18 inches apart with 3-5 feet between each row. You don't have to be a mathematician to realize that sounds like it takes up a lot of space - and this is where most people give up and decide they don't want to plant asparagus in their garden after all.
But that advice is no longer relevant for the home gardener, especially with the modern asparagus varieties that are highly productive.
Asparagus crowns can be planted quite efficiently without affecting the yield or quality. You can actually plant 25 crowns in 36 square feet. Compare that to conventional spacing guidelines (12-18 inches apart with 3-5 feet between rows), which requires 100 square feet for 25 crowns.
Answer the following questions:
- To plant 12 crowns: Do I have 18 square feet for a dedicated asparagus bed? This could be a 4 x 4.5 foot or a 3 x 6 foot raised bed, for example.
- To plant 25 crowns: Do I have 36 square feet for planting asparagus? This could be a 4 x 9 foot bed.
- To plant 50 crowns: Do I have 72 square feet to grow asparagus? This would be a couple of 4 x 9 foot beds or four 4 x 4.5 foot beds.
- Short on space? Try planting You can also plant them a mere 5" apart in a single row, lining a flower garden border or the sunny side of a fence. You would only need 6 feet for a row of 12 crowns, 12 feet for a row of 25 crowns, or 25 feet for a row of 50 crowns.
See "How to grow asparagus in less space" for more information, including single row spacing allowing for closer plantings.
Am I willing to wait for peak production?
During peak production year (starting around year 7), you can expect the following harvests:
- ½ - ¾ pound per crown per season (about 10-15 spears)
- 25 crowns yields 12-18 pounds per season
- That's about 2-3 pounds per week (over 8 weeks)
Each crown will produce about 10 spears during its most productive years, which is about half a pound. You may even get up to ¾ pound per crown, according to some sources, like Utah State.
While I haven't found any actual data from farms or test fields backing up the claims of higher ¾ lb yields, it is possible that home gardening outperforms farms with our higher level of pampering.
Early years produce less while the plants get established. How much less? Based on data from several research trials at various universities (and my own growing experience), there appears to be a trend:
- Year 2: (first time you can harvest), has minimal yields
- Year 3: produces about 33% of peak (4-5 lbs per 25 crowns)
- Year 4-5: production continues to increase to 45-55% of peak
- Year 6: production is at about 66% of peak (8-10 lbs per 25 crowns)
- Year 7-8: peak production is reached
- Year 10 and later: production declines about 5% per year, according to farmers
Many farmers stop harvesting their asparagus fields after 15 years because product declines lose profitability. But the home gardener can continue to enjoy the harvest.
Answer the following questions:
- Am I ok with my harvest starting out low? This means I might not have excess for sharing, batch cooking, or preserving for 7 years.
- If I am not willing to wait, do I have the space to plant twice an many crowns per person? If I can't keep up with the harvest by year 7, do I plant to share or preserve it, or am I willing to pull some of the plants out of the ground (or raised beds)?
Are you buying high yield varieties?
All of the harvest yields provided in this post are based on asparagus varieties that produce well. Modern all-male, green asparagus varieties fall under this umbrella.
"Male hybrids can out-yield the old open pollinated, male/female varieties by 3 to 1. These male hybrids are not technically all male, but about 93% males, having about 7% female plants mixed in." (source: pdf)
Purple asparagus produce about 30% less than their green counterparts, but some people prefer their flavor since they have about 20% more sugar. The spears are purple on the outside and green on the inside.
They keep their purple color when raw or very minimally cooked. But heat breaks down their purple coloring and they turn green when roasted, grilled, or steamed.
Summary
Most people are happy with 12 asparagus plants per person, unless they want extra to share, to preserve, or to have a larger harvest sooner. In that case, those people opt for 25 plants per person if they have the space.
How many are you growing? Leave a comment with your opinion to help others decide!
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