Easily grown in any good garden soil. Prefers a rich well-drained sandy loam and a sunny position. Prefers a pH of 6.5 or higher, though it tolerates a pH in the range 4.3 to 8.2. Asparagus is often cultivated as a luxury vegetable, there are some named varieties. Well-tended plants can be long-lived, an asparagus bed can last for well over 20 years. Asparagus is a good companion plant for tomatoes, parsley and basil. When grown together, tomatoes help to protect asparagus from the asparagus beetle. Asparagus is said to repel the nematodes that can infect tomatoes (see the report below on the plants other uses). A good bee plant. Dioecious. Male and female plants must be grown if seed is required.

Young shoots - raw or cooked[2, 5, 15, 16, 27, K]. Considered a gourmet food, the shoots are harvested in the spring. We find them very acceptable raw in salads, with a hint of onion in their flavor. They are normally boiled or steamed and used as a vegetable. Male plants produce the best shoots. Do not over-harvest the plant because this would weaken it in the following year. The shoots are a good source of protein and dietary fibre. Roasted seeds are a coffee substitute.

Seed - pre-soak for 12 hours in warm water and then sow in spring or as soon as the seed is ripe in early autumn in a greenhouse. It usually germinates in 3 - 6 weeks at 25°c. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them on in a sunny position in the greenhouse for their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer. Division in early spring as the plant comes into growth.

Fertile and sandy soils by the seashore and along river banks.