‘A plant that won’t give up’: After April frost, asparagus farmers take stalk of season ahead

An overnight frost on April 20 set asparagus season off to a false start in Franklin and Hampshire counties, according to local farmers.

“It started off very strange,” said Wally Czajkowski, who runs his family farm, Plainville Farm, in Hadley.

For Czajkowski and other local asparagus farmers, the streak of summer-like weather in the 70s and 80s leading up to the frost caused the spears of asparagus plants to peek through the soil. When temperatures plummeted to as low as 22 degrees in the early hours of April 21, according to National Weather Service data, the spears froze, wiping out the first asparagus crop for many farmers.

David Wissemann, who runs Warner Farm in Sunderland with his father Mike Wissemann, described the early warm temperatures as a “tease” for the season. After the frost wiped out the early bloomers, Wissemann waited about 10 days before returning to the crops, delaying his typical start date of April 20.

“It popped the asparagus out of the ground, and anything above the soil at that time was wiped out,” said Dan Smiarowski, who runs D.A. Smiarowski Farms in Sunderland with his wife Penny Smiarowski. “Asparagus grows from the tip, so that’s why a frost is very damaging to the asparagus.”

At Plainville Farm, Czajkowski said the surprise frost was “devastating,” destroying about 200 boxes of asparagus.

The plant “needs warm days and warm nights to really grow,” Dan Smiarowski said. The vegetable first stretches its roots when soil temperatures pass 50 degrees, with 75- to 85-degree days and 55- to 65-degree nights as the sweet spot for asparagus, according to New Mexico State University.

Dan Smiarowski, along with other farmers, described the region’s climate and fertile land along the Connecticut River as the “ideal” environment for the green plant to grow.

“With local asparagus, it just can’t be beat,” said Teddy Smiarowski III, Dan Smiarowski’s cousin, who owns the Smiarowski Farmstand and Creamy in Sunderland and its farm in Hatfield. “If you get something from the supermarket from Peru, Mexico, that’s been shipped halfway across the world. Compared to something picked and sold the same day, you just can’t beat the flavor.”

“It might be cheaper to buy it from someplace else, but ours is so much fresher and it tastes really good,” Czajkowski echoed. “With the costs of everything this year, a little support for local farms goes a long way.” 

Although the frost delayed asparagus season for many local farms, farmers insist that the temperature swing will not sour the flavor or quality of the new crops of asparagus.

“We’re starting to see steady supply coming in, and what’s out there looks good. We’re optimistic about it,” Wissemann said. “May is totally asparagus season, so fingers crossed we’ll have it from here on into June.”

Wissemann is not alone in his optimism for the rest of the vegetable’s run.

“Right now, it’s growing beautifully. We couldn’t be happier and the quality is extraordinary,” Czajkowski agreed.

“As a farmer, you always have to be that way — you always have to be optimistic,” Dan Smiarowski said.

The asparagus farmers stressed that frosts and other climate curveballs are part of a farmer’s job. According to Czajkowski, asparagus is a plant with the perseverance to survive that unpredictability.

“It’s an amazing plant. Every time it pokes its shoot up, we come along and cut it off, and we do it for six weeks,” Czajkowski said. “Here’s a plant that won’t give up.”