Asparagus Growers: anyone else having issues with the heavy rain this year?

[alrashid2]

We've grown asparagus at my home for 6 years now with little to no issue. Once in a while a bad couple weeks with beetles or aphids but otherwise it's been great!

I was getting excited this year with a historically wet spring, as every other plant has grown twice as fast here! But my asparagus doesn't seem to be happy.

I'm not getting many spears and the ones that do pop up have rotten, brown, mushy spear heads.

Anyone else experiencing this? My asparagus are in 6" raised beds. Not really sure how to help drainage without disturbing the crowns. Thanks all

 

[Phaedra]

I did suffer a bit, too. Although I am in Germany, we have a wet autumn, a wet winter, and then a wet spring...The first batch of spears were in terrible shapes especially we have frost in consecutive nights.

Now the second flush arrives, and the spears look much better. I didn't harvest as many as previous years - just let them grow and see if they will store more energy for the next seasons.

 

[Branching Out]

We've grown asparagus at my home for 6 years now with little to no issue. Once in a while a bad couple weeks with beetles or aphids but otherwise it's been great!

I was getting excited this year with a historically wet spring, as every other plant has grown twice as fast here! But my asparagus doesn't seem to be happy.

I'm not getting many spears and the ones that do pop up have rotten, brown, mushy spear heads.

Anyone else experiencing this? My asparagus are in 6" raised beds. Not really sure how to help drainage without disturbing the crowns. Thanks all

May I ask what area of the country you are gardening in please?

 

[flowerbug]

they do not like soggy, that's about all i know of them. when found in the wild here growing along the ditches they grow near the top of the bank. so that indicates they really don't want soggy...

 

[Dahlia]

they do not like soggy, that's about all i know of them. when found in the wild here growing along the ditches they grow near the top of the bank. so that indicates they really don't want soggy...

When I lived in Northern CA I lived in a house that had volunteer asparagus coming up from the previous gardener who lived there. It was so cool as I have never tried to grow it intentionally.

 

[ducks4you]

Over my 5 acres of property I can see divits and dips, high points and low points.
Every time there is a heavy rain you can see the low points.
I have my asparagus along the back of my garage and I don't have any gutters, so it can pool water there.
Still, it isn't really a low spot AND it gets a lot of sun, even though it is west facing, plus it drains pretty well.
So many gardening beds don't get enough sun, so heavy rains, even in a raised bed will not drain.
This post from an obvious "lurker" reminds me of my recent SIL's FB post about somebody cooking a meal in their crock pot, then showing a photo of the bottom of the crock breaking off on top of their stove...after 6 hours of cooking.
OBVIOUSLY it was a rapid change in temperatures, something that those of us who hot water bath/pressure can cringe to think about, since you lose jars and produce and have to clean up a big mess.
IF your asparagus isn't doing well, you could move some of it to a more sunny spot that doesn't pond after a rain, and probably do ok. Also, EVERY BED needs composting and amending. My asparagus has some good amendment. Where I planted the 2024 cucumbers needs amending and that's why the plants had a short season. The plants tried their best but didn't have enough good food, like the 2022 and 2023 Fall planted cucumbers in my Heavily amended big garden had.
I Thought my asparagus wasn't doing well, but then I forgot about it and saw that it takes maybe 4 years of patience to get a good crop. I also was breaking off spears this summer that came up, much like my Magnolia Jane flowers sporatically during the summer.
I also thought that I had killed off all of the clearance purple asparagus plants I bought at SeedsNow, until I saw small shoots, so I protected them and I look forward to harvesting Those in a few years.
I plan to extend the asparagus bed to cover the entire back of my 4 car garage in the future.
I LOVE PERENNIALS bc they will love you back!!