When to harvest Asparagus in the UK
Asparagus is normally planted as one-year-old crowns rather than sown from seed — a bed then crops for twenty years or more — so the dates below are harvest dates, not sowing dates.
Harvest dates by region
Asparagus is grown to the calendar rather than to the frost, so the same dates apply across the whole UK and every region below reads the same. Where a plant's timings do follow the frost, Plot shifts them from the Midlands and Lowland Wales baseline using Met Office average frost dates.
| Where you are | Harvest |
|---|---|
| South West Coast and Cornwall | mid April to mid June |
| South Coast and Channel | mid April to mid June |
| Greater London (Urban Heat Island) | mid April to mid June |
| South East and Home Counties | mid April to mid June |
| East Anglia | mid April to mid June |
| Midlands and Lowland Wales | mid April to mid June |
| Wales and West Coast | mid April to mid June |
| Northern England | mid April to mid June |
| Scotland Lowlands and Central Belt | mid April to mid June |
| Scotland Highlands and Islands | mid April to mid June |
| Northern Ireland | mid April to mid June |
| Channel Islands and Isle of Man | mid April to mid June |
Growing notes
Do not cut any spears for the first two years after planting crowns (three years from seed) - the plants need that time to build up reserves, and cutting early permanently weakens the bed. From the third year cut for six weeks from mid-April, then eight weeks in later years, and cut the ferns down only when they yellow in autumn.
At a glance
- Spacing
- 40 cm between plants
- Row spacing
- 45 cm
- Plants per m²
- 6
- Yield per plant
- 0.5 kg
- Sun
- Full sun
- Frost tender
- No
- Grows in a container
- Yes, 30 litres or more
- Minimum soil depth
- 30 cm
- Balcony rating
- 1 out of 5
What usually goes wrong
- asparagus beetle
- slugs
- frost damage
- root rot in wet soil
Companion planting
Grows well near
Keep away from
Related guides
Timings cross-checked against RHS guidance for asparagus.