Mary Washington, Asparagus

Heirloom Asparagus | QTY: 25 Seeds

Asparagus should be in everyone’s garden.  Or even flower bed!  Besides those thick, tender, luscious stalks in the early spring, asparagus then grows upward and forms lovely, airy ferns that float in the air.  Grandma had them in her flower beds, in Detroit.  We ate plenty of asparagus, come spring.  Then, we got to enjoy their pretty foliage all summer and fall.  The birds enjoy their bright orange, round seed pods all winter too.   We sell the old fashioned Mary Washington, which has been around for many decades and is the variety that has gone wild, due to birds depositing seeds hither and yon.

Start indoors about 8 weeks before your last spring frost.  Transplant outside into a well tilled bed of soil, fertilized with plenty of rotted manure.  Do not harvest until the third year to allow the roots to strengthen and develop.

-Jackie Clay Atkinson