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Vegetable Gardening

Growing asparagus seed this year to plant next year?

9 years ago

I just got in three packets of asparagus seed in a round robin trade... All three are Mary Washington. I think between the three are about 60-75 seed.

Now I'm wondering what's the best way to grow it. Ideally, I would like to container grow it this year, and plant in the crowns in 2016.

I've read that it can be wintersown.. and that it can be chilled, soaked, and started in the spring. Or wet stratified, or toss the seed in the fridge now and plant in soil later.. And a whole bunch of other stuff too about direct seeding, and planting in bed in the same year.

But I really want to grow decent crowns this year, and give myself time to really set up a good bed this year... then plant in good crowns next year.

So how do I go about doing this? How should I treat my seeds now? I have half gallon, one gallon, three gallon, and five gallon containers I can use to grow out seeds this year. What I do not have is garden or yard space to plant them into the ground this year.

And since I am taking the time to really do up the bed for next year.. any particular advice? The two areas I'm thinking about building most are rather different- one is in full sun, loamy sandy, and rather moist- I would be tearing up a chunk of lawn by a ditchside that is wet enough to grow cattails. The second area is full sun to dappled shade in the afternoon, mostly sand with some loam, and much drier- it's on the back 40 where prairie meets woodland kind of verge. Either way I have a year empty chicken coop to stir into the tilling and some horse manure that can be tilled in as well, so it will be getting extra nutes. And either way the bed will be 6 feet wide by 20-40 feet long, depending on how the bed is situated.
I'd rather a longer bed personally- our household can easily eat 60-80 asparagus a year between fresh, freezing, dehydrating, and canning/pickling.

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Comments (4)

digdirt2
9 years ago
one is in full sun, loamy sandy, and rather moist- I would be tearing up a chunk of lawn by a ditchside that is wet enough to grow cattails.

That is the one I would pick. Gus prefers regularly moist soil. Have you read through all the other posts here about growing asparagus from seed, why it isn't the method of choice, the low germination rate of seeds, the weeks it takes to germination, about how long it take to reach production size, etc. For example you will not get "crowns for several years. Tons of info available.

But if you want to try it anyway then all I can tell you what I do as discussed in the thread just below yours. Small shallow plastic cell pack containers, a good soil-less potting mix, shallow planting, heat mat set to 65 degrees max, keep well moist, and wait. You'll get about 40-50% germination if lucky in approx. 6-12 weeks. Transplant deeply into 1 gallon pots when 6" tall and keep well fed and well watered until next year when the bed is ready.

our household can easily eat 60-80 asparagus a year between fresh, freezing, dehydrating, and canning/pickling.

That isn't much as 8-10 spears is the average serving for one person per meal and it will be several years before your plants produce more than 1-2 edible spears per plant. So plan accordingly.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Asparagus discussions
beesneeds
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for the information Dave. And thanks for providing the search link, I always forget about the search link.

I had heard/read that starting from seed is less desirable, but I figured since I got in the seed I would use it- and give myself some time to get the bed set up. I figure if by the time the bed is ready to go, if I'm not happy with what I got from seed, I can get crowns of another sort at the time. I'm patient, and figure I probably won't see anything till at least 2020.

I also figured that the wet area in the sun would be the best spot, but I wasn't sure. It's big enough that I can probably expand it a bit more as time and need go on. That drive is about 200 feet long, but I figure the usable area is more around 150 feet long- and of that I figured starting out with a 20-40 foot long patch was reasonable. Maybe I'll end up with two patches, one from seed starts, and one from crowns.

Reason I figured around 60-80 pound a year is because my husband and I can go through 30-40 pound a year. I pick it up by the 10 pound bag when the local farm starts selling it in the spring. Now that I have mom and sis living with us, and they love asparagus too, I figured the increase. But then, if it were free out of my garden instead of buying it, we might end up eating more than we currently do. So maybe 60-80 pounds is too conservative an estimate.
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digdirt2
9 years ago
ahh 60-80 pounds! You only said 60-80 asparagus in your first post. No mention of pounds. :)

Dave
beesneeds
Original Author
9 years ago
Whoops. I didn't realize, lol. Typo on my part in my OP. Yes, 60-80 pounds, not 60-80 asparagus. 60-80 asparagus would so not be enough.

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