Martha's Head Gardener Just Shared His Asparagus Harvesting Method—and It's Giving 'Legally Blonde'

It's an exciting time in Martha's garden as she and her team are busy harvesting her early spring plantings. Her head gardener, Ryan McCallister, recently shared an update on Instagram, showing how he harvests the asparagus sprouting on the farm, and his method is one you might be familiar with.

To harvest the spears, which he likens to "zombie fingers," he grabs a stalk, bends it, and snaps it off. People in the comment section pointed out that his method is reminiscent of the iconic scene from Legally Blonde when Elle teaches Paulette a move designed to attract a man's attention: "Bend and snap, oh my god, the bend and snap works every time," she says in the 2001 classic.

As Martha has previously shared on her blog, every spring, she and her team harvest bunches of asparagus. The edible shoots, commonly called spears, rise early in the season from underground stems called crowns. These perennial plants take at least a few years to become well established. "I made sure an asparagus crop was planted when I first bought my farm," she writes.

Martha has two varieties planted on the farm: Purple Passion, which produces purple spears with a mild, nutty flavor and is reputedly sweeter than most other asparagus varieties, and Millennium, a productive plant that produces high-quality spears that are tender, green, and delicious.

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She points out that asparagus needs lots of room to grow because the crown and root system can develop to be about 5 to 6 feet in diameter and 10 to 15 feet deep. On the farm, the asparagus is planted in furrows that are at least 8 inches deep and a foot wide. When planting, the roots should be splayed to direct the growth outward and not downward.

Asparagus beds require consistent soil moisture during the first growing season. Once established, the plants are relatively low maintenance, according to Martha. An asparagus bed should receive a minimum of eight hours of full sun daily and be well-drained.