The asparagus farmers in Saxony are in the starting blocks and are hoping for sunny weather in the coming days. "It also depends on whether we have the first asparagus for Easter," said René Heidig, head of Agrar GbR Naundörfel in the district of Meißen. If the weather is cool and rainy, asparagus fans will have to be patient. As a rule, 18 to 20 degrees are ideal for the plant to grow continuously and achieve good quality. In order to control the heating of the asparagus stems and thus the harvest quantity, the company's ten hectares of cultivation area are covered with foil. "When the sun is shining, it can get up to 30 degrees between the tunnel foil and the asparagus stem," explained Heidig. However, the sun has to shine for this to happen.
The farmers are currently in the process of covering the last areas with special foil - the work should be completed in the coming days. Heidig and his helpers have been busy building and covering dams since the end of February. "As we have sandy soil in the Elbe Valley, we haven't had any problems with waterlogging like in other regions," said Heidig. The foil is rolled up every year after the season, stored in the dark and rolled out again track by track in the spring. "The film can be used for more than 20 years."
