Perennial vegetables: when to plant them
Asparagus and globe artichokes stay in the bed for years, and the month you plant them decides the harvests that follow. The sheets give the timing for north, centre and south.
Asparagus and globe artichokes stay in the bed for years. The month you plant them decides the harvests that follow. The first year is for the plant to root; the real picking comes later.
Asparagus, for the RHS, is planted from crowns in March and sown from February to April. From seed the harvest waits 3 years, from crowns 2. In Campania crowns go in from late February to early April and young plants from April to June. In Sicily the transplant is in spring, after frosts. Globe artichoke, for the RHS, is sown from February to May and planted out in May and June, with at least 5 large leaves. In Campania offsets go in during September and dormant buds from mid-July to late August. In Sicily planting runs from July to September. Those are two ways of starting: seed inside the RHS window, pieces of plant in the south in summer and early autumn.
You choose the bed and leave it to them: they do not sit in the annual rotation of tomatoes or brassicas. The detail by region is on the two sheets.
Frequently asked questions
When is the first asparagus cut?
Not in the planting year. From crowns the sheet has you wait 2 years, from seed 3. Crowns, for the RHS, are planted in March, as soon as they arrive.
Asparagus from seed or from crowns?
Crowns shorten the wait: 2 years instead of 3. Seed, for the RHS, runs from February to April, indoors in February at 13-16 °C. In Campania crowns go in from late February to early April and young plants from April to June.
Is artichoke planted in spring in the south too?
The RHS sows it from February to May and plants it out in May and June. In Campania offsets go in during September and dormant buds from mid-July to late August. In Sicily planting runs from July to September.
Can I move them to another bed each year?
Not if the planting is the perennial one. You choose the bed and leave it to them. The starting month, on the two sheets, is what decides the harvests in the years after.
Other categories
See also: Planting calendar · Guides