asparagus: an all-male cast

IT SHOULD COME AS NO SURPRISE, since it’s true so many other places still: In the asparagus rows, males are in charge. ‘Martha Washington’ and ‘Mary Washington’ were names you used to see most often in catalogs, but no more. Their weakness: The Washington strains include both male and female plants, and the males are far more productive if what you want is lots of spears. Who doesn’t?

In the mid-1980s, Rutgers University, a state institution in New Jersey, began a program to improve asparagus performance that focused on the extra productivity of the male plants. The resulting strains, most of which have the word Jersey in their names, are what you want to grow if you’re going to plant asparagus. They waste no time or energy on seed production and go right to the task of making spears. They can be harvested more often (about every two to three days in a productive, established bed) and yield about 20 to 30 percent higher than the old varieties.

But asparagus tests the gardener, asking for an excavation followed by a lot of patience. Whatever kind you’re planting, you have to dig a trench about 12 inches wide and deep (some people say 8 inches is deep enough). Since asparagus is best planted in early spring, when dormant roots are sold by mail, prepare the bed the previous fall or in earliest spring. Order roots, or crowns, by mail for the freshest possible plants; they will be either one or two years old when you get them.

To prepare the bed, first test the soil pH by following the package instructions on a home test kit, or by taking a sample, according to their directions, to a local soil lab. For asparagus, you are aiming for a pH within the neutral range, or about 6.5 to 7.0. The lab report will indicate how to amend the