Monster Aparagus Growth Spurt

It is hot. hot. hot. out there. So hot that nothing much is growing. My grass is a brown patch in a sea of brown-ness.

Earlier, in spring, things were a lot more green. I planted asparagus late in the season last year, and it's been coming up great as of this year. Next year will be the first harvest. Asparagus takes a long time to establish, but will keep coming up for about 10 years.

The rate of growth on an asparagus fern (yes, they are ferns) is phenomenal. On week 1 I noticed a beautiful purple spear sticking out of the ground (I got a special purple asparagus breed). Isn't she pretty?

At this point this spear was 6-8 inches in length. I came back two weeks later and it was over 3 feet tall and putting out fern branches. It had also lost most of its purple color and was now more the traditional green.

That's an amazing growth rate! In the warm season, asparagus can grow up to 1 cm per hour. That's right, I said per hour.  My asparagus ferns are now around 5 feet tall, but it's so hot that nothing much is growing right now. In the fall, the ferns will die and turn golden in color and I'll mulch them into the soil.

Next spring is harvest time, and I plan on having lots of well-established and yummy asparagus from my own back yard.