The plan was to get the two 3 gallon pots of asparagus I started from seed last year planted out into the garden this spring. I had a spot picked out at the back edge that would hold about 75 plants just fine. Well as per usual this time of year the ground has been too wet to dig. I checked on the containers this morning and found that a few of the crowns were already sending up spears. Tiny little things but about 5x the size they were last year. So… I separated them into two piles. I ended up with about 65 crowns. The 25-30 largest crowns went into the garden and another 35-40 smaller ones went back into pots, half in a large barrel and the other half back into 3 gallon pots 5-6 per pot. I’ll baby these this year and hopefully they will have some size on them by next spring.
I didn’t get the garden spot as prepared as I had wanted to. It was really still too wet to do a lot of digging. So, I mixed in a bag of manure that I had left into the individual holes I dug for each, and watered them in. I think this fall I am going to go ahead and prepare the bed for next spring to accept the small crowns I am growing out in pots this year.
Kerry, From seed! I’m impressed. Asparagus is a wonderful spring gift that gives from Mother’s Day to Father’s Day. A few years and you will be enjoying them for many springs to come.
I know I could have had less of a wait by planting roots but I liked the challange of trying to grow it from seed. Some years back I had a small asparagus plot. There is nothing like fresh.
Asparagus has been something I wanted to try for years. Not sure I have the room for it. Starting them from seed is quite the win from what I understand. Most I have seen started their plot from roots. Kudos! Great blog btw.
Thanks. I like a challange.
The seed that almost wasn’t. In early February last year I put the seed in a wet papertowel and placed it in a covered bowl and literally forgot about it for a couple of months. I had put it on a back porch and didn’t find it till March April. By then they had sprouted.
I’m not sure if anything will come of this…time will tell.
Iam soo glad i found this web site.I had put some Asparagus seeds in my garden few months ago(iam soo glad i did it)but i did not get any plants until 1 month ago.i was soo suprised when i saw lil plants and happy..beacuse my son loves to eat Asparagus 🙂 .funny thing is my friends they dont belive that Asparagus.beacuse they said its hard to grow in california.now its 3 inc tall…the most importent thing i belive is for that water,good soil and MIRICAL GROW..:)..trust me!
You are the only other person I’ve heard of growing asparagus from seed. Glad you posted. Please do keep me updated on how they grow for you. I don’t expect to be able to harvest any for another two years.
We had asparagus growing wild at the river property here in Idaho. When the fall came and the seed berries on the mature plants turned red, I picked them brought them home, smooshed them (to release the seeds) and planted them in a 2 gal pot. With everyday watering they popped up like crazy. Now there is about 60 little plants.. if you could call them that. They look like very minature asparagus…some thin as a sewing needle. They grew over 1/2 ” each day and now at 7 or 8″ s they want to lean over. It’s november, I’m not sure how to treat them. Do they need trimming back or just seperation into different pots..I have no clue…Help anyone?