First Year Asparagus

[Holly Daze]

Hi all

I planted 23 asparagus crowns in raised beds. Two crowns did not come up. The rest have produced spindly spears - a couple per crown. Two questions. Do you think the crowns that did not produce are dead and will the spears will get fatter over the years. We are not planning to harvest for three years. The varieties are Mondeo, Pacific Purple Pacific 2000 and Ariane.

We bought the crowns from the RHS and Thompson and Morgan.

Thanks.

[Gillykat]

Whereabouts do you live and when did you plant them? I'm in Alnwick, NOrthumberland and just planted five Stewart's Purple last month and each crown (marked by a short piece of cane poking up) has started to send up a single skinny spear. Perhaps your's just need a few more weeks to 'wake up' once it gets warmer

Just a thought: Nothing has been eating your spears? I arrived at my plot one morning and noticed that one of my spears which had been a good five inches tall the previous day had been nibbled down to less than an inch! I've now got my bed surrounded by a chicken wire fence to deter the bunnies

[Holly Daze]

Aha, gourmet bunnies! We live in Northampton. I planted the three from the RHS in October and the rest at the end of February. They came up pretty quickly as they are in a raised bed. Wood pigeons are our problem so we covered them with netting.

[Trouvere]

I'm growing Mondeo and Pacific Purple. The first two years, the spears were pathetically spindly. This year, most of them are fatter than my thumb and they just won't stop.

[Holly Daze]

Brilliant! That’s what I wanted to hear. Thanks.

[It never rains..it pours]

I planted that selection 2 years a go and am harvesting this year untill they get to pen size. However only half mine lived when first planted and had to add others, so you have done well. They grow exponentially over a couple of years from the spindly things you see now. One thing I have done previous years is cane and tie up any tilting stems so to keep them producing energy as late in the year as possible. You may also get some seeds on the Arianne as they arent male only, here I quickly take most off when they first appear but its optional. Cant say Im too impressed with the purple , cant see the taste advantage and yield is about half the others

[Holly Daze]

Thank you for your advice. These are going to be the most expensive asparagus spears on the planet, but you can’t beat harvesting your own stuff. We shall see.

[fishpond]

Unlike shop bought ones, I like my homegrown ones raw.
You can't beat them for taste either.
You just need to be patient.