Herb. No. 205 · Asparagaceae
Eurasian wetlands and coasts; a temperate perennial bed worldwide.
Native · Europe · West Asia · Africa
Native Also grown
LegalGentleplant
Asparagus
Asparagus officinalis
Fruit & vegetableHarvestCompanions
A patient perennial — you wait two years, then eat the spears for a month each spring for twenty more.
Asparagus is a Eurasian perennial grown for the young shoot. Traditional European spring vegetable. Culinary cooked spears are the path. The red berry on the autumn fern is not food. A new bed is a delayed gratification. After that it is a hedge that pays in April.
Flavor
Green, a little sulfur, grassy-sweet. White spears are the same plant, blanched under a mound.
Parts used
Young spear
Helpful
- A twenty-year bed
- The first real vegetable of spring
Cautions
- Two years of waiting
- Berry is not food
- It makes some urine smell — harmless, genetic