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How and When to Harvest Asparagus in the UK

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How to harvest asparagus is simplicity itself if you have a sharp small knife, the important question is when to harvest asparagus. That question is not so simple.

HOW TO HARVEST ASPARAGUS

When you decide to harvest an asparagus spear, take a sharp knife and cut the stem just below soil level, about 1cm below is ideal. Don't cut the stem off much lower than this, if you do you may damage the asparagus crown below which is also near soil level.

Asparagus Spears

After harvest asparagus looses sugar and moisture content quickly and this why shop bought asparagus never tastes as good as asparagus which has been harvested from your garden / allotment and eaten on the same day.

The flip side to the advice given above concerns the speed at which an asparagus spear grows. If you are a beginner at growing and harvesting asparagus, believe me, they grow astonishingly quickly! Don't be surprised if your asparagus spears grow 15cm / 6in in one day in ideal conditions.

An ideal length for harvesting asparagus is 15cm / 6in to 20cm / 8in long. Given the paragraph above and the previous sentence, it's clear that when you asparagus bed is producing spears you will need to inspect it each day for harvest purposes.

Asparagus will store best if is it stored in a jar of water (3cm / 1in of water), very loosely covered covered with cling film and stored in a fridge.

WHEN TO HARVEST ASPARAGUS

The year in which you begin to harvest asparagus is the first date to determine and it differs depending on whether you planted asparagus crowns or planted asparagus grown from seed.

To illustrate, if you planted asparagus crowns in 2026, do not harvest any spears in 2026 or 2027, just let them produce spears and then die down in winter. In 2028, harvest a maximum of three spears per plant. In 2029 (and for the next 15 years or so) harvest as may spears as you like but stop harvesting spears in the first week of June in average UK areas.

Exactly the same applies to asparagus grown from seed with a couple of exceptions exception - the start date for harvesting. Do not harvest any spears in 2026, 2027 or 2028. In 2029, harvest a maximum of three spears per plant. In 2030 (and for the next 15 years or so) harvest as may spears as you like but stop harvesting spears in the first week of June in average UK areas.

The reason for the delay in harvesting is to allow the asparagus roots to fully develop. The root system of asparagus plants are their "power house".

Full ongoing care instructions for asparagus can be found by clicking here.

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