Winter Asparagus Chores

I finally got to the asparagus patch!

After harvesting delicious asparagus spears for about six weeks, I let the rest grow, form pretty ferny fronds, and die back.  Asparagus needs to be allowed to die back before pruning to feed the roots for next year's spears (the same thing as with bulbs such as daffodils, the leaves feed the bulb).  Once the spears start to get small, don't harvest more.  I know the stores offer "baby" asparagus spears, but that is just bad for the plant!  Asparagus takes literal years before you should harvest any at all!  But, once established, plants can produce for 20 years. 

Some gardeners cut back their asparagus in the spring, before new growth, others in fall.  I wait until December (late December this year!).

This is my asparagus patch last week... 

This is the same patch yesterday afternoon...  There is still some stubborn garlic growing.  I have it almost eradicated. 

Once you've cut them back, you can see last years dried "stems," and can easily pull out. Don't yank this year's bunch!  You can see the difference between the new cuts (fresh looking interior) and the old ones, which are dried and dark brown.  I pulled out the weed by the way!

The one between my fingers is from 2016, the one below this year's. 

The same one showing how easily it slid out of the soil.  (Sorry about my dirty Band-Aid!) 

The last thing to do preparing an asparagus bed for winter is to layer on some nice manure!  My bed is about 3' x 4', and took a large bag of steer manure, about 2" - 3" thick.  Don't dig it in, even come springtime.  That would damage the asparagus roots.  You can't dig around in an asparagus bed!  It doesn't get really cold here, so I don't add a layer of straw mulch, which is done in colder locations.

This bed was here when I moved here in 2011.  It is the one and only edible planted by the home's original owner.  Hard for me to fathom owning a house with a large yard since 1962 and not planting more!