Transplanting asparagus is difficult, but worth it for the best growth from your plants. Transplanting asparagus should be done when the crown is dormant. Use a garden shovel to feel around each asparagus plant for roots. Once you can get under the root system, gently pull up until the plant is free.
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Untangle roots using your hands or a garden fork, being careful not to cut the roots. Then, you’re ready to plant your asparagus in its new location with loose, well-draining soil, plenty of sun, and adequate space that will keep your plants healthy for two decades of growth.
Reasons for Transplanting Asparagus
If you move into a new home and don’t want to leave your established asparagus plants behind, you might want to transplant your asparagus plants to a garden at your new home.
Learn how you can prolong the life of your overcrowded asparagus patch using these tips to ease the process of transplanting. Transplanting Asparagus. Transplanting asparagus is exactly what you do when you buy crowns to plant rather than planting from seed. We cover this process on our page on planting asparagus.However this page is all about transplanting established plants or lifting and transplanting your own young plants.
Photo by Daderot licensed under CC0 1.0.
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More importantly, some gardeners choose to transplant asparagus to better locations within their own gardens as their plants become more established and need extra care. The first garden plot you choose may not always be the best one for asparagus, since they need loose soil, plenty of sun, and an area free of any disturbances from other plants or gardening.
Experts advise not transplanting asparagus unless you feel you must, to give them a better location.
When Should You Transplant Asparagus?
Asparagus should not be transplanted at random times through the year. The plant lays dormant until spring. It’s best to transplant your asparagus during its dormant season, before its root system - or crowns - begin to sprout again. This will help you avoid a tangled root system that can make your asparagus even more difficult to transplant.
However, Mother Earth News suggests that you can transplant in the fall if you don’t mind taking on a stronger root system. This tends to yield the most production from your plants, while spring transplanting can delay the process.
How to Transplant Asparagus
More so than many other plants, you will need the right tools to complete the process of transplanting asparagus. Since their root systems are so difficult to break through, heavy duty tools will help you complete the process successfully.
Most gardeners will benefit from using a shovel and a garden fork. You also may want to use a garden hose toward the end of the process to help hose off clumped soil from the roots so you can more easily break them apart.
Make sure that you also have compost available for when you move the asparagus plants to their new location. Your asparagus plants’ new spot should be weed-free and with prepared soil before you transplant.
Finding the Root System
The most difficult part of transplanting asparagus is dealing with the roots. These strong, massive root systems entangle themselves and the soil they’re in, which can prove to be difficult when you try to dig up your asparagus plants for transplanting.
You’ll want to be careful about how you dig into the ground near your plants so you don’t hurt the root system. First, look for the dead foliage from last year’s plants to help you find the location of each crown in the soil.
Make a large circle in the soil with your shovel going around the dead foliage, but without prodding the shovel around too much so that you chance cutting the roots. Continue to shovel until you can get underneath the crown.
Once you are well under the root system, it’s best to use your garden fork to pull up the plant, trying to keep as much of the root system intact as possible. For more extensive root systems, you may need to continue following the roots in the ground and digging around them to avoid harming them.
Break Up the Plant Roots
Since you’ll likely pull up several entangled asparagus plants, you’ll need to break them apart before you transplant them. This will allow each plant to thrive with their newly-separated root systems.
Untangle roots much as you would a string of Christmas lights, with a little extra force for heftier root systems. Try to save as many plants as you can, but it’s likely that some smaller ones won’t survive the untangling process. In that case, work toward saving the healthiest, most established root systems.
To help you see the root systems more clearly, you may want to gently spray the roots with a garden hose to remove clumps of soil. Shaking or scraping off the soil isn’t recommended, as this could damage the crowns or plants.
This video from ehowgarden demonstrates how to gently break apart your asparagus plants’ root systems:
Choose the Best Spot
Asparagus needs excellent, loose soil for its extensive root systems to grow. It also needs sun and a well-draining location, so make sure that your new garden area or bed is adequate to meet the precise needs of your transplanted asparagus.
An important thing to remember is that asparagus can survive for two decades. Make sure your new location is the perfect one to keep your asparagus in for that long, as frequent transplanting can harm your plants.
You’ll need large, wide areas for each of your saved asparagus plants to accommodate their root systems. Make sure you have enough space in your garden area to plant each one at least 18 to 30 inches apart to avoid further root entanglement and competition.
Replanting Your Asparagus Plants
After you’ve dug up your plants and prepared the new location, you’re ready to replant your asparagus. First, add compost to the bottom of each of your dugouts for the new plants and then mound up some soil.
Place an asparagus crown on top of a mound, allowing the roots to fall over the sides of the mound. The roots for each plant should be spread widely for adequate growth, and the pointed end of the asparagus plant should be facing up.
Move the soil back over the crown and roots, packing it down firmly over the roots. Thoroughly water your plants, leaving the soil moist.
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Young, tender asparagus spears emerging from the soil.Unlike tomatoes, peppers and other annual vegetable plants in the garden, asparagus is a perennial. And once established, the crowns will continue to provide a delicious crop for 20 years or more.Here is a look at how to plant, grow and maintain your asparagus beds, and start enjoying the home-grown difference! How To Grow Asparagus Preparing The Planting SpaceTo grow a lasting crop of healthy asparagus, it all starts with picking a good location, and preparing the soil correctly.Asparagus performs best in a sunny location that receives at least 8 hours of full sun. They will tolerate partial shade, but the more sun, the better. One of our favorites to grow – purple asparagus!Asparagus needs loose, fertile soil that drains well. And with a long crop cycle of 20+ years, asparagus beds need to be filled with nutrients from the start.That means working in generous amounts of compost before planting. Compost is the absolute king in helping improve soil’s fertility and structure.For every 5 square feet of planting space, work in the equivalent of (2) 5 gallon buckets of compost.
Planting – Selecting Your PlantsAsparagus plants are either male or female. When it comes to growing in the garden, male varieties are usually the preferred choice.Male plants tend to grow larger, and have higher spear production levels. Although there are a lot of varieties to choose from, we have had a lot of success growing Jersey Giant, Jersey Knight and Purple Passion at the farm. Female asparagus plants will produce berries as the plants grow late in the year. Producing these takes a lot of energy from the plants, resulting in smaller spears the following year compared to their male counterparts.Not only are they heavy producers, they have outstanding flavor as well.
And our purple passion variety makes for quite the conversation piece at the dinner table! (We have included seed/crown links later in the article) Growing Crowns or Seeds?Asparagus can be grown from seed or crowns.
Of the two, crowns are the far better and easier choice. Crowns are easier to plant and maintain than asparagus seed.Crowns are the roots of 1 to 2 year-old asparagus. They produce an edible crop much quicker than seed. Not only does it lead to an earlier harvest, they are much easier to maintain in the beds as well.Seed crops, with their small, early growth, are difficult to keep weed-free during the early years. And nothing impacts a crops production levels like competing weeds! Planting AsparagusPlanting asparagus is best done using the trench method. To plant, begin by digging a trench 6″ deep and 8″ wide in the soil.Next, place crowns at the bottom of the trench, water in, and cover with about 2″ of topsoil.
Allow about 18″ between crowns, and 12″ between rows. Mix in generous amounts of compost to the soil and in your planting trench.As the crown begins to grow through the soil, keep adding a few inches of soil, filling in the trench slowly.
Eventually, the trench will be filled in completely over the course of a few weeks.This trenching and fill in process allows the asparagus to develop deep roots in the soil. All of which leads to years of excellent crop harvests.Asparagus Crown/Seed Links: – – Maintaining The Crop – Mulching & FertilizingThe biggest key to growing asparagus successfully is keeping beds weed free. Weeds and grass compete for valuable nutrients, and a weed-filled bed will result in smaller, less productive harvests.
Mulching your asparagus beds year round will lead to fewer weeds, and larger harvests.Keep beds covered with a thick layer of mulch to help suppress and eliminate weeds and weed seeds.We use either straw or shredded leaves to mulch and keep our beds weed-free throughout the year. A two to four inch thick layer will work well to keep beds under control. FertilizingBecause they are a perennial crop, asparagus plants benefit greatly from added nutrients over time. The best time to do this is in the fall, and is easily accomplished with a top dressing of compost around plants.Simply pull back the mulch in late summer, and spread a few inches of compost around the base of each plants. These nutrients will work slowly into the soil to help re-energize the soil and crowns. Nothing improves soil like compost!Beyond that, there is little need for maintenance other than removing weeds. Once established, your asparagus beds will provide you with years of fresh and amazing tasting crops each spring!Here is to growing your own delicious crop of asparagus this year.
And even better, enjoying the fruits of your labor for years to come! For more vegetable gardening tips and secrets, check out our on the blog.Happy Gardening, Jim & Mary.As always, feel free to email us at [email protected] with comments or questions.
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