With respect, I have to differ with Tom. The "myth" is well researched and documented. ;) Sure you will get spears the first year but if you harvest them you will also stress the crowns and deprive them of the benefits of that extra year of growth in their new environment. The end result is often reduced health and production over the life of the crown. One has to choose between the usual goal of planting an asparagus bed - long-term perennial health and years of production OR a super-fast harvest at the cost of long-term production. We have several beds with ages ranging from 2 years to 15 years or more. With care I fully expect the older beds to keep right on producing abundantly for several more years because they were first allowed to get well established before any harvesting was done. Dave

yea wait ... first i think of soil compaction.. you simply standing and working in your beds.. i know OH has a lot of heavy clay.. and tromping around your beds early .... MIGHT lead to cement later in the summer ... next.. it would depend on how far you want to divide .. and the potential for heave.. as the ground goes in and out of thaw ... if you are simply halving a giant piece.. you can probably get away with it.. but if you were dividing down to single plants.. you might find them all above the surface in a few weeks ... i too am anxious to get out there.. but there is plenty to do .. cleaning up a lot of stuff.. before i spend too much time actually walking in the beds .. or making cement ... actually.. the first thing i had to do when i moved here with a 3 year old.. was build a sandbox.. so the kid would stop digging up everything i just planted .. lol ... make any sense?? you know.. what it really comes down to ... i dont trust mother nature ... she will mess with you gratuitously .. i still expect her to throw winter at me, with a vengeance .... it may not happen ... probably not ... but i trust her as far as i can throw her. .. ken ps: i though you were a guilt momma.. lol ... and i was wondering what you were guilty about.. lol ...

I do not think you lost anything by sowing so early unless maybe you sowed seeds like peas and beans and corn that may rot sitting in water so long. Good Luck

Time to get the screens ready in the front porch. My front screen porch faces west and does a very good job of curing garlics, onions, tulips, etc., on old window screens. This year's tulips are just about ready to bag up. (Nice 300-400% increase in blooming size bulbs in the Triumphs - Interesting how they cluster around the blooming stem like a hardneck garlic's cloves do, but with a 'soft neck'. I probably dug them a little early - just after blossom drop, but I wanted them cured up and out of the way by the time garlics come in, and it looks like that will happen.) For the time being I am snacking on scapes as I do the rest of my weeding. I didn't get the garlic mulched this year, but it wasn't actually needed either. The local Cub supermarkets have laid in their yearly supply of "Mexican purple". They do this every year from the new crop of south of the border, replacing their normal Cali-whites for a while. Those in the know stock up on this more flavorful offering. Being a Creole it keeps pretty well, too. I picked up a handful of bulbs against next fall's planting. (I realize that I am a little far north for the Creoles.) Not meaning to advertise here, but around this area anything offered that is not some kind of Cali-white is quite rare. Most folks don't realize there is anything else, and there generally isn't from regular grocers.