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Mary Washington Asparagus
A variety of asparagus
How to sow Mary Washington asparagus: Transplant crowns outside, or start seeds indoors
Sun requirement for Mary Washington asparagus: Plant in Full Sun
One of the best-known heritage asparagus cultivars, grown from seed in Henry Harrington's Southland garden. The spears are green with a purple tinge and appear in spring, and it is easier to grow than modern cultivars. Seed is slow to germinate; grow seedlings on for a year or transplant to very well-drained rows. Leave the ferns until they die back in autumn, cut lightly in year two and expect full production by year three. Crowns can last up to 15 years with good drainage, sun and mulch.
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Mary washington asparagus facts
Lifespan
What are growing degree days?
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 Mary Washington 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 Mary Washington 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.
Growing Mary Washington asparagus
- Dig a trench and fill it with compost 2 weeks before planting out
- Water regularly at planting out every week
- Mulch the bed 4 weeks after planting out
- Cut down the yellow ferns 9 months after planting out
- Pick the spears at first harvest every week
- Stop picking and let the ferns grow 8 weeks after first harvest
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Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Asparagus officinalis L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Liliopsida Liliidae Asparagales Asparagaceae |
|---|---|
| Optimal temperature | 15 - 30 °C |
| Absolute temperature | 6 - 38 °C |
| Killing temperature | growth: -1 °C, rest: -5 °C |
| Optimal rainfall | 800 - 1200 mm/year |
| Absolute rainfall | 500 - 4000 mm/year |
| Optimal soil pH | 6.0 - 6.7 |
| Absolute soil pH | 4.5 - 8.2 |
| Crop cycle | 210 - 270 days |
| Max altitude | 2600 m |
| 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) |
| Optimal light | very bright |
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