Asparagus

Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) is a delicacy and a long-lived perennial in one — a bed established once will crop for fifteen years or more. Plant one-year-old crowns into deep trenches in early spring; for white asparagus you mound up ridges, green asparagus is grown without them. Patience is the key: the first spears are cut only in the third year, but from then on every spring from April to St John's Day (24 June). Once the harvest ends, let the ferny foliage grow to feed the roots for next year. It wants deep, free-draining soil and full sun.