Allotments 4 All

I have a bed with Cito which is now 17 years old. I want a new bed in full production by the time the Cito bed is retired at 20.

I have started some investigations and hope to order a replacement variety in the autumn.

Any recommendations pls?

This is a case of who has tried more than one variety for comparison?

I'm prepared to believe that everyone loves what they have!!

My Cito is ok .. I would not say that I loved it though.

My impression, mostly from talking to a couple of other growers on our site, is that varieties have improved in the last 10 or so years .. hence my question.

Cito is actually my favourite, My yeild is terrific,the taste is good and I have never had any problems with it.It is the one I suggest to people . Fuuny old world eh Xx  Jeannine

Point is, favourite over what others, Jeannine?

Martha Washington, my first change from Collossal.... nice but not so prolific.
Larac, ... excellent flavour but the beds tailed off rapidly after about 6 years
Jersey Knight...I liked this one   and in a mixed bed I would grow it again but as a solo it was a bit late for me.
Connovers Colossal. No problems, but in my mixed bed the spears were very thick and I prefer them a wee bit finer.
That is as far as my experience goes but I found the Cito out yeilded the others and was the earlier than  even Colossal  so it did what I personally wanted.

Always ready to learna bout new types though XX Jeannine

To refine the question .. does anybody have experience of cultivating all male varieties that have become popular in recent years, eg Jersey Knight Improved or the Dutch lim varieties (names typically end in lim)?

Has anyone tried the new purple type that you can apparently eat raw. Can't remember the name, but they were mentioned in the paper a couple of days ago as they have just started to be grown commercially.

Sounds like Pacific Purple .. not sure that is available to gardeners yet?

If any one has any advice on Pacific Purple I would be interested. My Grolim bed is only at year 3 and in advice of the forum I have cropped it lightly this year to let it get really established - although what I have had (compared to CC on previous allotments and the commercial grower up the road  has been brilliant - really thick spears and very tasty.

I am all set to plant a second bed on my new allotment and was looking to try Pacific Purple - but really need to find someone who grows it already and can confirm the good press it's getting.

Having spent about 30 quid on asp crowns since last oct i can honestly say NOTHING has come up - jersy giants, pacifit purple, collosal - i wish i could meet the cito to be honest but i havent seen it at the garden centres.

thanks Suzanne and Jeanine.

OliveOil - you can get Cito from Suttons Seeds.

Pacific Purple is available as crowns from Thompson and Morgan  and Mr Fothergill had Purple Passion  seeds it's cousin  XX JeannineXX

Never tried Cito, but we have Gijnlim (Is that Grolim - spellings seem to vary?) and Backlim, which is brilliant: thick stems & very prolific. I'm toying with putting in another bed.

Went to our PYO the other day (where he has acres of asparagus) & saw that he has just established a new field of purple. One to watch, perhaps?

Well you all peeked my curiousity so I have ordered 10 plants of Pacific Purple, cheaper than T&M  £13 something including delivery. I figure my bed is big enough to take these as well. XX Jeannine

I've just put in Jeune Ma de Poupre (purple) (also misspelled, I'm certain) and some wild asparagus crowns from seeds of Italy. So I'll let you know in two years' time! Sorry not to be more helpful  :)

I'm growing Gijnlim which I planted on the last day of March this year,they are growing well with two or three spears coming off some plants already and upto three and a half-four foot tall.I got my 1 year old crowns from here...http://www.asparagus-in-kent.co.uk/growyourown.htm...and they were two foot across,some of them more,best crowns I've ever seen,I would highly recommend this company as they have great customer service too.
  If anybody has grown this variety I would be very interested in hearing how their getting on. :)  cheers

Thank you, Jeannine. Some experience!!

My only clash with Jersey Knight was an offer last year of 'instant success'. Even put the ad on here in deep suspicion.

Shame I cut the address off in error or they would have been sued!!

Close call Tim. I like the |Jersey family.  on the whole I once said I would do a combined bed with all 6 of them but I never did . I saw an an ad yesterday for a thing called a topsy turvy planter for growing spuds,    and other things in.  You hang it up ,the foliage grows down and the roots stay in the top bit. XX Jeannine

Trevor_D .. I have located the Limseeds web site. It seems to have refreshingly open descriptions of the pros and cons of its different varieties

http://www.asparagus.nl/uk/hybriden.html

I notice that Gijnlim and Groslim are in fact different varieties. Gijnlim seems to be the one with the highest yield.

Vegging Out - thanks for the details of the supplier - it is always good to know of outfits that have provided good service.