Characterisation of Mary Washington asparagus:
Morphology:
Height 50-150 cm. It is a perennial, dioecious, tufted-rooted, rarely male-flowered. The heart root is thin, the storage root is thick. Both root hairs. They penetrate 2-3 m into the soil.
Its underground shoot is the rootstock (rhizome). Its lateral buds develop into the shoots that are used, the asparagus shoots.
It can be cylindrical, conical, obtuse or pointed. The apical part of the asparagus shoot is the asparagus head, which has scale-like leaves. The colour is white but turns green, purple, yellow or pink when exposed to the open air. The stalk and the short stalked side branches that develop on it are glabrous.
Requirements of Mary Washington asparagus:
Heat requirements:
Asparagus seed germination optimum is 25 C°, a heat-loving plant.
Water requirements:
Water requirements are high at the beginning of its development and average later on.
Soil requirements:
Prefers deep, D-DNY slopes, light, chalky, neutral to slightly alkaline soils. Peat soils are suitable for non-mature asparagus grown for canning.
Growing Mary Washington asparagus:
Sowing:
Sow in March in the open ground at a soil temperature of 5°C.
In March:
150 cm x 40 cm row and sow at stake spacing.
Planting in a permanent place:
Plant in May-June in a permanent place.
Harvest:
Can be harvested from 2nd to 3rd year after planting in June.
