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How to grow asparagus and best varieties
Asparagus is expensive in the shops so it's well worth the space it occupies in the garden. Discover our best asparagus varieties and tips for how to grow them.
Asparagus is a real spring treat. It's a perennial veg, which means that it crops year after year.
Once established, you can expect 10 plants to yield about 3kg of spears over a six-week period for up to 20 years.
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How to grow asparagus: month by month
| January | February | March | April | May | June |
| FEED | PLANT/HARVEST | HARVEST | HARVEST | ||
| July | August | September | October | November | December |
| CUT DOWN | CUT DOWN |
Full testing results for asparagus
Which? members can log in now to see the full results and detailed reviews of which are our Best Buy varieties. If you’re not a member, join Which? to get instant access.
| Variety name | Overall rating | Cropping window | All male | Uncooked appeal | Appearance | Aroma | Flavour | Texture | Cooked spear quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 'Ariane' | |||||||||
| 'Backlim' | |||||||||
| 'Gjinlim' | |||||||||
| 'Millenium' | |||||||||
| 'Mondeo' | |||||||||
| 'Pacific 2000' | |||||||||
| 'Pacific Purple' |
The more stars the better. OVERALL RATING Ignores price and is based on flavour and texture 50%; overall quality of the spears 20%; appearance 15%; aroma 15%
Planting
Preparing the bed
Grow asparagus on well-drained neutral or slightly alkaline soil that is free of perennial weeds, such as dandelions, or in raised beds. Dig in plenty of soil improver. For a quicker first harvest, plant one-year-old crowns in April.
Learn how to make your own garden compost
Spacing
Allow 40cm between the plants in a row, and 90cm between rows. Dig a trench or hole wide enough to spread out the roots, place the crown on a mound 10-13cm below the soil surface, with the roots radiating out to the sides. Cover with loose soil. It’s best to leave your first major harvest until the plants are three years old.
Mark your plants with our Best Buy plastic-free labels
Caring for your plants
In March, apply a balanced-fertiliser or mulch of soil improver to established beds. Keep the asparagus bed weed-free; it’s best to weed by hand because you might damage the shallow roots with a hoe.
Discover our recommended soil improvers
How and when to harvest
Harvest in: April-June
Cut the spears when they are 10cm long and have a tight bud. Use a sharp knife and cut 2.5-5cm below the soil. Stop cutting spears of two-year-old plants in May to allow the ferns to develop further, and in mid-June for established plants.
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In autumn
Cut the dead ferns down to ground level in October or November and clear away the debris to remove asparagus beetles hibernating there.
Try our Best Buy secateurs
Common growing problems
Asparagus beetle
This handsome red, yellow and black pest is slender and 8mm long. It's easy to spot, unlike its dull-grey-green, caterpillar-like grubs. You might also notice the brown eggs on the spears. They are flask-shaped and laid on end in groups in June. The adults and larvae graze on the foliage, sometimes completely stripping the plants of leaves. This weakens the plants and could reduce the crop.
Often they are only a minor nuisance, and you can pick off enough beetles and larvae by hand on a small patch to prevent them from doing much harm. Alternatively you can spray with a suitable insecticide.
Getting rid of the beetles' overwintering sites will help keep their numbers down. Clear away, shred, compost or burn old ferns at the end of the year. Remove plant rubbish, stones, planks and any other cover that beetles could use around the asparagus plot
How we test asparagus
Our panel of tasters, who are trained to identify and rate the individual components of taste, assessed how appetising the spears were both uncooked and steamed (the best cooking method to retain their colour).They were looking for bright and fresh-looking spears that were straight and firm, evenly sized and with tight tips. Spears should smell grassy and green when uncooked and develop a slight hint of pea when cooked. But they lost marks if the taste or smell had a tinge of compost about it. We looked for varieties that had a fresh asparagus flavour, moderately sweet, with a slight bitterness. Spears should be firm but tender when cooked, ideally without woodiness, grittiness and astringency.