Asparagus is in season

Asparagus is in the season, but growing organic asparagus requires a lot of hard work and determination from the growers. The main difference here is not only that you have to let the plants grow for three years prior to the very first harvest, you also need to take out bad weeds manually.

 Julie, from Jardins Glennora, manually removes weeds from asparagus crops as opposed to a conventional method of simply spraying the crop to eradicate bad weeds. Julie, and some of our other asparagus growers (like Monsieur Basilic, Ferme Biophile Senc, Jardins Glennora, Fermes Jacques & Lucille Machabée, The Green Barn Farm) have small asparagus crops as it is a lot of manual labour to harvest and care for these bright green delicious veggies. On the Marketplace, you’ll find a few asparagus kinds, each unique and each delicious.

We chatted with Julie to get some of her insightful know-how on growing organic asparagus. 

- So I know that growing organic asparagus is a complicated procedure. Can you tell me what are the challenges?

-  Asparagus has a long life and it can easily produce for a good 20 years! All it needs is a field where it'll be able to grow for a long time. The key here is to be patient as when you first plant asparagus from a small bulb, you have to let it grow for two to three years before that very first harvest.

- Oh, that's awesome!  Are the quantities limited?

-  Well, for us it’s not the main crop so we have a smaller portion of land dedicated to asparagus. We do have some exciting news though, we’re preparing to plant our sensitive crops like zucchinis, melons, tomatillos and ground cherries. A lot of exciting stuff is coming soon!

- So can you tell us what is the difference between growing organic or non-organic asparagus?

- Well, one of the main differences is in the weed control. In organic growing, we remove them mechanically or manually as opposed to a conventional method, where they simply spray the crop to eradicate all weeds. When it comes to the insects, we will also put in a lot of manual work, where we will either cover the plants or trap the insects.

- That does sound like a lot of work.  So what special asparagus variety do you have?

- We grow a variety called Millenium. We planted them three years ago and are now enjoying the harvest. One more thing I would add is that you can't store asparagus for too long because it is a fresh market vegetable. It can also be pickled in beautiful mason jars for the dose of vitamin c in the cold winter months!

So as Julie mentioned, a lot of exciting stuff is coming soon, meanwhile don't miss your chance to grab some organic asparagus for those gourmet omelette brunches! Check out what we’ve got for asparagus on our Marketplace and happy eating!