Topic: asparagus help

[laura G]

I would love to grow asparagus but after seeing the prices of crowns i have bought a packet of seeds, unfortunately they dont have any real instructions on them. My question is does anyone know when is the best time to sow them (i do have a cold greenhouse). also does anyone know how long the seeds stay good for as the packet i bought was out of date  ???

I know that if you grow it from seed that you wont get a good crop for three years, but i am just curious what does it look like if you leave it, does any one have any pictures?

Thanks Laura

[asbean]

Hi Laura - I sowed asparagus seed a couple of years ago to supplement my stock. I sowed them in early March and they took about four weeks to germinate (older seed I believe could take longer and germination rate will be lower).   I didn't have a greenhouse or polytunnel then, so would have started them indoors on a windowsill, transferring them to and from the plastic greenhouse thingy until the weather was reliable. When they outgrew the pots I put them in the ground.

The ground has to be VERY well prepared - plenty of muck dug in and it has to be weedfree.

The life-cycle of the asparagus is this:  in about late April the spears start to appear.  In the first three years leave them in, don't be tempted.  After that, cut them just below the surface as they appear and eat them.  But only a couple from each plant in the first couple of years of picking.   First year of picking - pick for four weeks, after that pick for the season, we normally pick for 8 weeks.  After you've finished picking let all the spears continue to grow to their full height (they will need support, I put canes round the outside of the bed and held them in with a clothes line tied to the canes). They will turn yellow/brown in the autumn, then cut them down to just above ground level, weed and mulch well and wait till April.  This growing of the spears is important, as it puts strength back into the plant for subsequent years.

Each year you will find that there are more and more spears, it spreads quite extensively, don't be tempted to dig around as you might damage them below the surface!

[saddad]

You could try sowing them now in a frame... naturally seed are dropped now...
 ;D

[Clayhithe]

after that pick for the season, we normally pick for 8 weeks.  After you've finished picking let all the spears continue to grow to their full height

Traditionally you stop harvesting on 23 June.
This is the longest day of the year.

Apparently,  asparagus is sensitive to day-length.

[artichoke]

I've grown asparagus from seed and from cheap crowns in Woolworths etc, and I really believe now in buying good quality F1 hybrid male crowns. When you think they last for 20, 30 years or more, 80p - £1.60 per crown, plus postage, really does not seem that expensive. About 7 people grow asparagus around me, and they always comment in May/June on my thick, numerous spears, and I tell them they are 10 Backlim and 10 Gijnlim male F1 hybrids, costing in 2001 a total of maybe £30. They complain that they get nearly nothing from theirs, and I can see why. I got bare root plants in March and planted them at once, and have never looked back. I have grown asparagus since 1968, and my mistakes were when I moved house a couple of times and tried the cheaper methods.

My seedlings from packets in the past were variable: poor to rubbish. My cheap un-named crowns were the same. Go for the best when growing a longterm crop like this, especially when the bed needs such careful clearing out and maintenance. It just isn't worth it unless you get really succulent spears as your reward. The male plants have hardly any berries, so they don't waste their strength maturing them, and you don't get fiddly little seedlings all over the place that come to nothing. I forget where I got mine, though it could have been the first on the list below. Good luck!

http://www.crown-nursery.co.uk/fruitcat/sfruits.html#asparagus
http://www.blackmoor.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=594
http://www.suttons.co.uk/pd_283748_Asparagus_Crowns_Gijnlim_(Pack_of_10).htm

[artichoke]

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0207/asparagus.asp

[Suffolklad]

I grew asparagus from seed 3 years ago, the most expensive seeds in the catalogue - £7 for 10 seeds.
Only 5 germinated, and I got sent another free packet - I got 7 from that one  ;D

This year we harvested an amazing crop from them, starting in mid April.

I have now built a polytunnel over the asparagus bed, and had to cut them down 6 weeks or so ago when I built it. Most of them immediately regrew and there are now 6' high luxurious ferns !!
I think they are a bit confused about the time of year. I'm not really sure what to do with them, so am just leaving them alone.

I'm hoping that they will give me a really early crop each year, to be followed by my outdoor bed  ::)

[Weed-Digga]

You could try sowing them now in a frame... naturally seed are dropped now...
 ;D

I got a packet of 'Matha Washington' for 50p in the sale and have sown them now. The instructions are :

Sow outdoors in mid-Spring (Oops) in a well prepared seed bed. Soak the seeds in warm water for 48hrs before sowing 2 in deep 3 in apart. Seeds ca also be started under glass. When large enough to handle, thin out to 12in apart and grow on for a season. The following Spring, transplant to a well prepared, deeply dug seed bed which has had plenty of well rotted manure added. Do not cramp the roots. Do not harvest until the plants are 3 yrs old. Cut down and compost foliage in Nov to remove eggs of asparagus beetle.

I have grown mine in a propogator, covered in a layer of vermiculite and they will over-winter in the greenhouse. Intend to plant them into a 2ft deep, 8ft x 4ft next year.

I think you might as well give them a go now, if you hang on to them until Spring, they will only be even more out of date!