Last edited by shiny on November 10, 2026. View history
Asparagus
How to sow asparagus: Transplant crowns outside, or start seeds indoors
Sun requirement for asparagus: Plant in Full Sun
Perennial spring vegetable often sown from crowns. The vegetable has a mild flavor with earthy undertones. When mature and reproducing, the plant creates tall, stout stems with feathery foliage and small red berries.
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For asparagus, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 6°C and a shortest growing cycle of 210 days at its best temperature, about 3465 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your asparagus will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
by oakandsage,
My raspberry are flowering!
Anyone whose english pea plants yield spherical peas must be a saint. I only get spherical peas if I miss a pod. In the evening I sit out in the garden and eat peas until there is nothing worth eating left on the plant. Then I am done…
raspberries
peas
asparagus
chard
kale
melons
rhubarb
carrots
dill
basils
squash
cherries
nectarines
apples
pomegranates
blueberries
A summary of nutritional data per 100g for Asparagus, green, raw.
| Energy | 88.0 kJ |
|---|---|
| Protein | 2.5 g |
| Fat, total | 0.1 g |
| Carbohydrate | 1.4 g |
| - Sugars | 1.4 g |
| Fibre | 2.2 g |
| Sodium | 2.0 mg |
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 210 to 270 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Asparagus officinalis L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Liliopsida Liliidae Asparagales Asparagaceae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: -1 °C, rest: -5 °C |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, organic |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
Resources outside Growstuff.
Photos
peas
trishf42 harvested 15.
View all asparagus seeds