Some interesting facts
Planted as a crown, asparagus takes two years to properly establish. It can then be productive for 10 years or longer. A perennial plant, it is the young spears that are cooked and eaten.
Once the harvesting season is over the spears are left to grow into ferns. When these ferns die down in the autumn, the energy is returned back into the crown and stored ready for the following year.
Asparagus comes from the Greek ‘asparagos’, meaning shoot or sprout. It can grow incredibly quickly – in ideal conditions an asparagus spear can grow up to 10 cm in a day. In the East, the translation of its name is ‘European bamboo’.
