How to Winterize Asparagus: A Step-by-Step Guide to Fall Garden Bed Prep

Gardeners often grow common asparagus for its beautiful lush branches that complement any flower bouquet. Not everyone knows that asparagus is an edible early vegetable.

Young fleshy shoots that emerge from the ground after the snow melts are used for food. They contain a complex of vitamins and beneficial compounds: vitamins B1, B2, B9, C, E, A, PP, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, proteins and carbohydrates, asparagine. In order for asparagus growing in the garden not only to decorate the flower garden, but also to produce a vitamin harvest, the plant must be provided with proper care in the autumn and winter.

The importance and features of proper care of asparagus in the fall

It is no coincidence that asparagus is not cheap on store shelves. To provide proper care for a plant, it is important to know its biological characteristics.

Common asparagus is a dioecious plant. – has male and female flowers on different individuals. The shoots of female plants are tastier and more nutritious.

How does asparagus overwinter?

Winter is a testing period for any perennial crop. In winter, asparagus develops vegetative buds., from which vegetable shoots subsequently develop. In the Moscow region and regions with harsher winters, the plant requires shelter in the form of raised beds of mulch.

How to prepare asparagus for winter

The first-year crop, obtained from seeds, already has a well-developed root system by autumn. Autumn preparation of plants for wintering is a set of measures, including preparation of the soil and the plants themselves.

Pest inspection and control

Many pests and diseases are visible on plants with the naked eye. Sick plants differ from healthy ones by depressed growth, the presence of spots or spots on the stem, and drooping shoot tips.

The culture is affected by such fungal diseases:

1. Rust. Caused by a rust fungus that overwinters on the plant and in the soil. Yellowish round spots with black dots in the center appear on the plant. Plants planted on soils with high groundwater levels and poor drainage are more susceptible to the disease.
2. Root rot. A fungal disease to which no asparagus variety is yet resistant. At the beginning of the disease, browning of the root collar is observed. The appearance of the disease occurs due to pruning of roots when transplanting young plants.
3. Cercospora blight. The leaves are covered with white or dirty gray spots with a dark coating of sporulation. The disease progresses in cold and wet weather.

The crop has much fewer pests:

1. Asparagus fly. Causes damage to young plants and old plantations. It is not the adults that are dangerous to plants, but its larvae that eat young, succulent shoots. As a result, plants slow down, their stems become deformed, turn yellow and become unedible. Every 5 days during the period of insect activity, plants are sprayed with Methylparathion WP and Folition 50 EC.
2. Asparagus leaf beetle. Beetles and their larvae cause harm. In early spring, adult insects eat shoots and leaves. The larvae destroy the tops of shoots, leaves, flowers and berries. To destroy the pupae, the beds are dug deep.After cutting the shoots, spray with Karbofos.

After making sure that the asparagus is healthy, they begin to further prepare the plants for the winter. Affected plants are removed and burned.

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Loosening, hilling

Loosening makes the soil more breathable and moisture-absorbing. Good soil aeration activates the rapid growth of the root system and normal respiration of plant sprouts located underground.

The procedure is first carried out in early spring, as soon as the soil thaws.. Subsequent loosening is carried out regularly, after each watering or rain, so that a soil crust does not form. Loosen the soil under the plants for the last time in the fall, after cutting the shoots.

All weeds are cut off between the rows with a hoe, and weeding in the beds is done by hand.

For more tender, bleached stems hilling is a mandatory procedure. They begin to plant asparagus in the spring of the third year. By this time, the plants will have grown, become stronger and will be ready to reap the harvest.

Several hillings are carried out per season:

1. After the snow melts on the asparagus beds, it is easy to distinguish the planting sites of plants sleeping underground by last year's shoots. A mound of 30 cm high is made from a mixture of peat and humus near the main stem of the crop.
2. If, after a long period of rain or inaccurate watering, the mound has eroded and settled, the procedure is repeated and hilled up to the required height.
3. As the shoots appear and grow, the fertile substrate is periodically added.

If you prefer green shoots of the vegetable, you don’t have to do the hilling.

Fertilizer application

Asparagus is demanding on the level of soil fertility. Lack of necessary nutrition is one of the main mistakes when growing it. For this reason, the culture does not produce the desired quantity and quality of products.

Feed asparagus throughout the growing season:

1. When planting a new plantation, in the fall, dig up the area to a depth of 30 cm (bayonet shovel) and apply organic fertilizers: rotted manure (cow or horse) - 6 kg per m² on sod-podzolic soils (Moscow region). On sandy loam the rate of organic matter increases to 12 kg per m².
2. In the spring, after the snow melts and the soil thaws, the plants are fertilized with humus at the rate of 10 kg per m². Additionally, for mature bushes (from three years of age), complex mineral fertilizer (“Nitroammofoska”) is applied - 30 g per m² land.
3. During the spring-summer period, plants are watered with an organic solution (one part fertilizer to 6 parts water). If bird droppings are used, then to prepare the solution, one part of the droppings is dissolved in ten parts of water. The frequency of fertilizing is once every 3 weeks.
4. In autumn, superphosphate is added to the soil (300-500 g per 10 m²) and 40% potassium salt. This will help the asparagus recover and gain strength before wintering.

Dry mineral fertilizers are scattered over the soil surface and sealed during loosening. They prefer mineral fertilizer mixtures in the form of granules.

Important! Any liquid fertilizing is carried out after watering so as not to burn the roots of the plants.

Watering

Asparagus grows wild in the arid steppes of Asia and South America. and is considered a drought-resistant plant. Do I need to water it in my garden? The rule for watering asparagus is: it is better not to water than to overwater.

Experienced gardeners believe that 7-10 waterings throughout the summer are sufficient for the crop. It is best to navigate by the condition of the soil in the garden bed: if its top layer is 2-3 cm dry, you can irrigate it.

Asparagus seedlings have a high need for waterthan adult specimens. Until the seedlings become stronger and develop a powerful root system, they are watered as soon as the top layer of soil has dried slightly. The same regime is followed for two weeks after planting asparagus in open ground.

Reference. To protect the soil from evaporation in the heat and prevent the growth of weeds, cover the bed with a mulch layer (10 cm). Sawdust from deciduous trees, peat, humus or a mixture thereof are used as mulch.

Trimming

In a leafless state, the plant will overwinter more easily and will devote all his strength to planting future sprouts. When to prune perennial asparagus before winter? Pruning is carried out before the onset of frost, when the autumn weather is still warm. In the Moscow region, the best time is early October.

To work you will need a clean and sharp pruning shears.. All shoots are cut off. Sick ones are removed completely, and healthy ones are cut at a level of 3-5 cm from the ground.

In addition to the autumn cutting of shoots, During the season, plants are pruned in case of:

1. Use of young seedlings for food. Ripening shoots need cutting every 3-4 days. To determine whether the seedlings are ripe, it is enough to look at the soil at their base: in ripe ones, it rises in a “slide” and cracks.
2. Sanitary cutting of diseased or dry shoots.

Sick shoots are burned after pruning., and the plantation is treated for diseases.

Attention! Do not overuse cutting branches for bouquets.Heavy pruning weakens the plant, making it incapable of forming thick shoots. It is better for beauty to have 2-3 separate specimens in the flowerbed.

Shelter for the winter

Asparagus is a cold-resistant crop. It can withstand frosts down to –25°C if there is sufficient snow cover. In the Moscow region and northern regions of Russia, it happens that frosts strike, but there is no snow yet. In such cases, the surface roots of asparagus will die without shelter.

Cover the plants, guided by the meteorological forecast, mid-October-early November. Mulching the plantings with humus and covering the top with pine spruce branches or thin spunbond is suitable as insulation.

Read also:

How to quickly and tasty cook canned asparagus

What is good about frozen asparagus and how to cook it

Rules for successful preparation

Here are some tips for preparing asparagus in the fall. So, should be carried out:

1. Pruning and inspecting plants for diseases.
2. Preventive treatment with complex fungicide – “Fitosporin”, “Topaz”, “Topsin”.
3. The last feeding is in the form of superphosphate and potassium salt.
4. Hilling and mulching the plantation with humus.
5. Before the expected frosty night, cover the plantation with covering material.

How to care for asparagus in winter

In winter, the plantings sleep under the snow. But this does not stop some rodents from hunting and feasting on the bark of fruit trees and tasty rhizomes of dormant perennials.

Inspect the snow cover regularly. Near the asparagus plantings, trample the snow and lay out bait for moles and mice. If there is little snow cover, or the weather is windy and frosty, throw snow from the paths onto the beds.

Tips and tricks

Experienced gardeners recommend:

1. When feeding crops, give preference to organic matter. It does not salinize the soil.
2. Feed the plants after each cutting to encourage further growth.
3. Asparagus does not like transplanting, so take your site selection seriously.
4. One- and two-year-old seedlings may die if their young shoots are cut off too much. For maximum yield, wait 3-4 years.

Conclusion

Asparagus requires a lot of attention and care. But by caring for it according to the rules, you can get a stable vegetable harvest for 15 years. And if in winter you want to prepare a dish with a vitamin plant, you can separately select 3-4 copies and use them only for winter forcing.