Hi Al, harvest 2/3 of the fattest spears over the period of a month, then stop and let it all grow out. Fat spears are not older or more tough, they come out of the ground fatter.

My asparagus is only in its second year and you're supposed to wait 3 years to harvest. Can't wait! I love asparagus. Luckily when it's in season, it's pretty cheap in the stores nowadays.

I literally just licked the butter off my chin from some I harvested today. I'm only getting about 6 or 7 spears every couple of days, yet, so I'm eating it absolutely fresh picked at whatever time of day I pick it. I did pick a skinny one today but I think that whole plant is going to be skinny this year and I've decided to leave it until next year. This is year 3. Yeah!!!!!!!!

Totally agree with you, Gil, on your advice. The fatter, the better, too. The fat ones are the sweetest and the most tender. I bought some last month just so that I could remember what the store bought tasted like. There is absolutely no comparison.

Shauna

I've always heard/read that you should quit harvesting your asparagus when the sprigs are about the size of a pencil. One thing about asparagus, it gets better as it gets older. My parents have a patch that's about 40 years old, and its been really amazing for the last 7 or 8 years. They give me asparagus by the grocery bag. Mom's accusing Dad of planting new ones. Mine has a lot of years to go before it gets like that! It would help if I would quit rearranging things, and just leave it in one place.
Connie

Oh, Connie, a grocery bag of asparagus! Now that's what I'm aiming for!lol The other day, I picked off about 30 spears and thought that was great. I'm even getting a few baby plants here and there too.
I usually pick the larger spears until around the middle of June.

Laurie

Mmmm a whole bag... LOL.

Actually, thicker spears are more indicative of the gender of the plant than the time to stop harvesting. Asparagus is either male or female; male asparagus plants produce thicker spears (and less of them), while female plants produce more but thinner stalks and also produce seeds which can overcrowd the bed. From some mail order sources you can pay extra to receive all male crowns because the thick spears are more desirable.

Thanks, Gil. I had no idea that the reason they were thin was because they were female. Now why didn't my dad tell me that when I was doing all the picking for all those years that I was growing up. (He probably did, but we only retain ? percentage of what our parents teach us?) I'm so glad that we all have each other on this forum.

Seeing as my bed is so young, would I be smart to take out these female plants and replace them now with male plants? I coincidentally have all four at the end of the bed that are all female. All of the other eight plants are male. I thought that it had something to do with the drainage of my garden. DUH!

Shauna

Thanks for the information guys!!! I only have 2 crowns of asparagus and they produce a variety of thick and thin stems. I bought them already potted up from a greenhouse, so I must have a mixture of male and female plants together. The crowns have doubled in size since I planted them so I am definately not going to try to separate them. I guess I will be harvesting both.

Cheers Al

Oh, I guess I worded that wrong - male plants have more thick spears on average than females. But both are likely to have a mix especially when young.

The real clincher is when the females produce seeds after you let them grow. They look like funny little berries.