Marianne's Response
Reasons for why asparagus isn’t growing large
We have a 3-year-old asparagus bed. It is producing shoots, but they are very small, about the size of a pencil. We did cover it well before winter with compost from the chicken house. The compost was well aged, at least a year. It is somewhat dry in our area, I have watered it a couple of times.
Posted by mary markham on April 23, 2014
Marianne's Response
I am going to guess that the small size of your asparagus is due to lack of moisture in the soil and also the youth of the roots. Sounds like you did the right thing improving the soil and adding high nitrogen chicken compost but you will not see the results until next spring. Meanwhile harvest only about half of the thin young shoots this year so the plant builds up strength. Make sure the asparagus beds gets at least one inch of water a week during the summer. A soaker hose will be most efficient way to water this vegetable. Next spring I predict a multitude of tender green shoots.
Keep growing,
Marianne Binetti
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