Overview

Transform your garden into a productive edible landscape with these premium millennium asparagus crowns. Known for their exceptional vigor and high yields, these 2-year-old bare root plants are a favorite among both home gardeners and commercial growers. The Millennium variety, developed by Prof. David Wolyn, has rapidly gained popularity due to its hardiness and reliable production of tender, flavorful spears. When you plant these millennium asparagus crowns, you’re investing in a perennial vegetable patch that will provide delicious harvests for decades. These robust plants are an excellent choice for anyone looking to establish a long-lasting and prolific asparagus bed in their garden.

Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis ‘Millennium’) is a perennial vegetable prized for its delicate flavor and nutritional value. These bare root crowns are a mature starting point, ensuring quicker establishment and earlier harvests compared to planting from seed. The ‘Millennium’ cultivar is particularly noted for its ability to adapt to a wide range of soil conditions, including heavier soils, and its consistent production of high-quality spears. Enjoy the satisfaction of harvesting your own fresh asparagus right from your backyard.

Key Benefits

Investing in millennium asparagus crowns brings a wealth of benefits to your garden and your plate. These crowns offer a reliable and rewarding gardening experience, ensuring a bountiful harvest year after year.

• Exceptional Yields: The Millennium variety is celebrated for its high productivity, meaning more delicious asparagus spears for your family to enjoy each season. This cultivar consistently produces a generous crop once established.
• Superior Flavor & Texture: Experience tender, crisp, and flavorful asparagus spears with a delightful subacid taste. These gourmet-quality spears are perfect for roasting, steaming, grilling, or fresh in salads.
• Disease Resistance: Millennium asparagus exhibits excellent resistance to common asparagus diseases, contributing to healthy growth and sustained high yields. This reduces the need for interventions and makes growing asparagus plants easier.
• Wide Adaptability: These crowns successfully grow in a broad range of soil types, including heavier soils, making them a versatile choice for many gardens. They are adaptable to various climates within their hardiness zone.
• Long-Lived Perennial: Once established, an asparagus bed can produce for 15-20 years or more, offering a continuous supply of fresh vegetables with minimal annual effort. These large garden asparagus roots form a robust base for decades of harvests.
• Early Production: As 2-year-old crowns, they are more mature than younger plants or seeds, allowing for a quicker establishment and potentially a light harvest in the second year after planting.
• Cold Hardiness: Suitable for USDA Zones 3-8, these plants are cold-hardy and can withstand challenging winter conditions, ensuring reliable regrowth each spring.

Plant Care & Growing Tips

Proper care for your millennium asparagus crowns will ensure a thriving and productive asparagus patch. Asparagus prefers a sunny location with at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day. Prepare your asparagus bed by digging a trench approximately 6-8 inches deep and 12 inches wide. Create a mound of soil at the bottom of the trench, and spread the roots of each crown over the mound before backfilling with soil. Space plants 12-18 inches apart within the row, and allow 3-5 feet between rows for optimal growth and access. This spacing allows the large garden asparagus roots to expand without competition.

Millennium asparagus thrives in well-drained soil with a pH level between 6.5 and 7.5. Amend heavy clay soils with compost or sand to improve drainage. Keep the soil consistently moist, especially during the first year of establishment, but avoid waterlogging. Once established, asparagus is relatively drought-tolerant but will benefit from regular watering during dry spells. Fertilize in early spring with a balanced slow-release fertilizer or compost. For robust asparagus plant care, remove weeds regularly to prevent competition for nutrients and water, as young asparagus plants are easily outcompeted. Do not harvest any spears in the first year after planting to allow the crowns to establish a strong root system. In the second year, a light harvest of spears (2-3 weeks) can be taken, increasing to a full harvest period (6-8 weeks) from the third year onwards. In late fall, after the foliage has yellowed, cut back the ferns to about 2 inches above the ground and apply a layer of mulch to protect the crowns over winter.

Growing asparagus plants successfully also involves understanding their long-term needs. These plants require patience in the initial years but reward gardeners with a long-term, low-maintenance food source. Watch for common pests like asparagus beetles and address them promptly with organic pest control methods if necessary. Ensuring proper drainage and air circulation will help prevent fungal diseases. With consistent care, your high yield asparagus bed will become a highlight of your garden for many years to come.

Size & Details

This offering includes 10 individual millennium asparagus crowns, each a robust 2-year-old bare root plant. These crowns are shipped without soil, ready for immediate planting upon arrival. When mature, Millennium asparagus plants typically reach a height of 3-5 feet with a spread of 1-2 feet. The spears themselves are known for their thickness and uniformity. Expect a light harvest in the second year after planting, with full production beginning in the third year and continuing for 15-20 years or more. The 2-year maturity of these crowns provides a significant head start for establishing a productive asparagus bed, accelerating your journey to enjoying fresh, homegrown high yield asparagus.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q: How big do these asparagus crowns get once planted? A: Once established, these millennium asparagus crowns will produce ferns that typically grow 3-5 feet tall and about 1-2 feet wide. The edible spears themselves are known for their thick, uniform growth.
• Q: Is this an indoor or outdoor plant? A: These are outdoor perennial vegetable plants. They are designed for garden beds and thrive when planted directly into the ground where they can establish extensive large garden asparagus roots.
• Q: How much sunlight do Millennium asparagus plants need? A: Millennium asparagus requires full sun, meaning at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day, to produce a healthy and abundant crop of spears.
• Q: What condition will the asparagus crowns arrive in? A: Your millennium asparagus crowns will arrive as bare root plants, meaning they are dormant and shipped without soil. This is the optimal way to ship and plant asparagus for successful establishment.
• Q: When is the best time to plant these asparagus crowns? A: The best time to plant asparagus crowns is in early spring, as soon as the soil can be worked and after the danger of hard frost has passed. This allows them ample time to establish before summer heat.
• Q: Is it difficult to care for Millennium asparagus? A: While they require some patience in the first couple of years, asparagus plant care is relatively straightforward once established. They are low-maintenance perennials that reward gardeners with many years of delicious harvests.
• Q: How long until I can harvest the asparagus spears? A: You should not harvest any spears in the first year to allow the crowns to establish. A light harvest can begin in the second year (2-3 weeks), with full harvest (6-8 weeks) commencing from the third year onward, providing high yield asparagus.
• Q: What USDA Zone range are these asparagus crowns suitable for? A: Millennium asparagus is highly adaptable and cold-hardy, suitable for growing in USDA Zones 3 through 8, making them a versatile choice for many regions.
• Q: Can I grow these in containers? A: While theoretically possible, asparagus, especially varieties known for large garden asparagus roots, thrives best when planted directly in the ground where its extensive root system can develop without restriction. Large, deep containers would be required.
• Q: What kind of soil do these asparagus plants prefer? A: They prefer well-drained soil with a pH between 6.5 and 7.5. They are notably tolerant of a wide range of soil types, including heavier soils, as long as drainage is adequate.