Asparagus help needed

I hope I haven't wasted my time with what i have done so far! I have been reading on here for a while trying to find my answer. I received asparagus seed, and decided to plant it. Back in Early March I planted the asparagus seed in a plug tray in my MIL's greenhouse. I now have tiny, tiny little ferns up, but they are very thin. Now what? Do I plant them and then move them next year, or do I throw them away, and buy established crowns next year? I can find plenty of planting instructions on the crowns, but nothing on the seed itself. I probably should have researched BEFORE I planted them.

Buy the crowns and be patient. I have never heard of anyone growing from seed. Wow you must be patient.

I started a packet of asparagus seed in late Jan or early Feb of last year. I started with a moist paper towel and a small bowl. The seed went in there and the bowl was placed in a sandwich bag. I put this on my back porch (it was still pretty cold out there). I literally forgot about it till March or early April when I ran across it. Sure enough there were little plants starting, thank goodness for the plastic. These I carefully transplanted to a tray where they stayed for a month or two. I then divided the tray into a couple of 3 gallon pots. By the end of the year the spears were about the size of pencil leads and that is being generous.

Fast forward to this spring. I took them out of the pots and ended up with about 60 roots. The largest ones went into the garden. I know it is recommended that you dig a special bed for them but I didn't have time and the ground was too wet. I mixed in a little compost/ well rotted manure into the soil and planted them about 8-12" apart. The smaller ones went back into containers about 5 or 6 to a pot. All are up now and they are much larger than they were last year.

This is an experiment for me. I too had never heard of anyone planting them from seed which was part of the attraction. I'm always up for a challange. If I had wanted asparagus anytime soon I would have planted the roots. I didn't baby these like I probably should have so mine may take longer to get to 'eating size'.

You can see a picture on the 2005 post here http://www.kerrysgarden.us/?cat=53

Well, I guess I will transplant them to a few gallon pots, and keep them in there all year. I wasn't aware I wouldn't be able to put them in the ground this year. The trick for me is going to be getting them out of the plug trays without breaking them . They are sooo spindly.

You can plant them directly into beds. It just takes a year or two longer to get asparagus than with crowns. But if you keep the weeds out, they will do fine. It has been a few years, but I have done it and it is not that difficult. Bed preparation is the key, whether seedlings or crowns.

Farmer,

I bought crowns this year and planted them out in a nice bed. I had started with the ditch method where you plant the tops 6 inches down with the idea that as they grow, you fill in the ditch. I then read that you can just plant them deep and not have the ditch so I filled it in. I haven't seen sprout one yet and am a little worried. I planted 6 2nd year crowns about 2 months ago.

Should I take the extra dirt off?

Thanks,
jacqueline

You might try gently moving the cover dirt from one or two crowns. I would think that in your zone they would be up. The downside to planting things too deep is suffocation from lack of oxygen. (Yes- Plants take in oxygen when they are not undergoing photosynthesis.) Six inches is about maximum for oxygenation of the roots. It also takes awhile to warm up deep. Hopefully that is the major reason they have not began to put up shoots.

I hope so! Thanks Farmerdill.

Yes you can put them right in the ground. I chose not to be cause I wanted to use the space they would be taking up last year. Now that they are larger I have a better handle on what I have to work with.

Jacqueline,

I planted 2 year crowns last Spring, and I remember waiting a very long time for spears/ferns - close to 6-7 weeks, I think. I remember thinking the that the crowns were "dead" or that I had planted them too deep. I even dug a few up to examine them and removed some mounds of dirt from above the crowns. I was a few days away from digging them all up and reclaiming the garden space, when the spears poked through. This Spring I sampled my first Asp and It was well worth the wait! I have never been more patient with a vegetable crop!

Thanks bug! I didn't realize they would require so much patience! :) I'll be waiting for next year anticipating those spears!