Fall Harvested Asparagus

If you love asparagus, I want to share a secret on how you can extend your asparagus harvest from spring to fall. It just takes a little planning ahead and a minimum amount of additional work.

Asparagus is one of those crops that signal Spring is Here, and we always look forward to those wonderful tender spears. But sometimes by the time all of the other outdoor chores are done or at least a good dent put into the amount of work we need to do, and the vegetable garden is prepped and planted for spring and summer, the asparagus bed gets away from us. Which is what happened this year.

How to Revive a Neglected Asparagus Bed

A few years ago, I had written a post about How to Revive a Neglected Asparagus Bed. We followed the tips I wrote about then and we did good with the 20+ year old bed this past spring, getting it weeded and looking good, followed by a few good rain showers. But we never got around to putting the straw mulch done. We only harvested enough spring asparagus for a couple of meals before the weeds took over.

Using Mulch

I swear by the usage of mulch to help cut down on weed growth and aid moisture retention. It’s a wonderful labor-saving method to use in the garden! What few weeds do make it through the mulch are mostly shallow rooted and easily pulled.

We use straw because it has less weed seeds than hay, and to apply we shake it loosely along each row and around the plants. It ends up being about a 3″ to 4″ thick layer, however some rows I’ve put it on up to 6″ thick.

Even when I was doing mostly container gardening a few years ago, I used mulch around the plants in the pots as well. The weeds weren’t as bad in the containers, but the straw did help considerably with the moisture retention.

Fall Harvested Asparagus

I know you came here to read about Fall Harvested Asparagus, so here is the short and simple secret to fall asparagus.

Asparagus is a perennial crop that should only be harvested for a 6-week period in each growing season so the fronds can soak up the sun to nourish the roots. It does not matter which 6-week period, whether it is spring, summer or fall. Since we only harvested a few spears in the spring, we can now harvest fresh asparagus for 6 weeks.

For future reference, if you want to harvest fresh asparagus throughout the summer, divide your asparagus bed into sections, only harvesting from one section for 6 weeks, then let it grow. A week before harvesting from the next section, cut back the asparagus, water well and then watch fresh asparagus spears start popping up.

Hubby mowed down the standing asparagus and weeds, leaving the weeds and asparagus fronds laying in the hot sun for a couple of days. The cut down weeds don’t have to be removed. The next morning, he watered it well and spread-out fresh straw a few inches thick across the bed. Finally, he put the plastic chicken wire back up around the bed to keep the chickens and dogs out. It’s that simple! He has a riding mower, so he was able to do it quickly.

Within 3 days, we were harvesting asparagus which is just as tender as spring asparagus. The thin spears below are new spears from self-seeded young plants that we are letting grow this fall for a better crop next year. There are plenty of both medium and thick spears to enjoy.

Asparagus Recipes

Since it’s been a scorcher outside lately (we’re talking 95° to 100 ° with heat indexes 120° to 130°), Hubby has been firing up the grill outside and cooking enough meat for a couple of meals. In addition to a couple of chicken breasts and a couple of porkchops, he bundled a few asparagus spears together and wrapped each bundle with a thin slice of bacon held on with a toothpick. He then grilled the bundles on a medium heat grill, but off to the side a little to prevent the dripping bacon grease from causing a flare up, turning each bundle a quarter of turn about every 8 minutes or so until the bacon was evenly crisp. These bacon bundles can also be placed on a baking rack on a baking sheet and then roasted in a 350° F oven .

Through the years of growing our own asparagus, we have tried a bunch of recipes including these 10 Amazing Asparagus Recipes and they are equally delicious!

Let me know in the comments your thoughts on summer and fall asparagus harvesting. Please share this post on your favorite social media platform.

Happy Gardening!