After more than a month of waiting, my asparagus seeds finally started to germinate. They are truly some of the most unimpressive sprouts I have ever seen!
I’m growing two kinds of asparagus this year, Mary Washington from purchased seeds and wild asparagus from seeds Gintoino sent me.
Most people probably prefer to grow asparagus from crowns, but I can’t easily buy these around here. While I can sometimes find them, they are almost always unnamed varieties, possibly F1 hybrids, and I prefer to know what I’m growing.
If I thought waiting a month to see the first sprouts was a long time, I still have a lot longer to go. If you start with crowns you always first have to wait one year without harvesting, and the second year you can only harvest lightly. It’s only the third year you get a more or less normal harvest. But this is when you grow from crowns, and since I am starting with seeds, I’ll have to wait an extra year.
Starting with seeds I have a choice if I plant the seedlings out into a prepared asparagus bed, or grow them closer in a normal bed in order to grow crowns for transplanting. I haven’t decided which I will do yet, as I’m not sure how much garden space I’ll have.
Are those from my seeds? I’m so glad to see they are germinating! Now we will “only” have to wait 4 years…
Wow, i am not sure i have the space for asparagus, or the patience! Looking forward to seeing how these develop.
Hi Patrick. I love asparagus. I’ve tried twice to establish a bed from seed. I’m a poor bugger so crowns were out of the question, but there’s huge variation on seed cost too. I bought seed from http://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk/ at about 1p/seed and that’s excellent value. I found germination to be excellent but I just didn’t give the bed enough preparation and attention so the transplants got swamped with weeds – what can I say, I’m a lousy gardener. Anywho, it takes maybe two years longer, but for me seed is the way to go, and asparagus is a 20 year investment so what’s an extra year or two.
Simon
Luckily you have a 1001 other garden projects to keep your mind off of waiting for asparagus. They are pretty wimpy looking seedlings, but I’m sure with your expertise, they’ll become impressive and productive. I’m very curious to see the difference between Mary Washington and the wild asparagus and how they behave in your plot.
Me too – I wish I had the time and space! I love asparagus and can only imagine how delicious it must be fresh from your own garden. Good luck. I’ll keep watching how it goes.
Thanks for the comments everyone! And, yes Simon, I too am worried about them getting lost in my weeds.
Gintonio: I thought I saw your seeds coming up, but nothing yet… The picture is of the Mary Washington variety. We’ll give them a little more time…