Asparagus. sigh...

[w33blegurl]

OK...so I am on attempt number two with asparagus. My first bed gave up nothing but horrible woody stalks and not many of them so after 5 years they got dug up and I planted some strawberries instead. Which are doing very well!

Attempt 2 on plot 2, did much better prep this time taking far greater care to get rid of the perennial weeds, planted about 15 crowns last year and a selection (maybe half) of them threw up some good looking spears. Left them be and had high hopes for this year. I've seen 4 spears from 3 plants.

What am I doing wrong??? I realise it was a yukky wet winter and maybe that has done for a fair few but our soil is pretty free draining (think dust bowl in the summer) so they should not have been too water-logged. Could it be they really needed even more drainage and I should have added more gritty stuff?? I am willing to give this another try since I have the space so please hit me up with your top tips and varieties! Might I get better results growing from seed than buying crown? Any and all help appreciated!

[penny]

Hi I have grown ginlim on heavy clay for the last ten years, it does fairly well 20 plants gives as much as we can eat, the soil is not ideal and we stop picking in early June to let it build up. The main problem is nasty red and black beetles.

[It never rains..it pours]

Having done both, seeds and crowns, I found doing seeds has produced better results. Plus seeds don't carry any fusharium risk which can reduce bed life and also can select the most vigerous plants, both of which can't do with crowns. I planted 20 gijnlim seeds on boxing day 2016, planted 19 (15 of which were notably more vigerous and the difference is still clearly evident) in the bed in may 2017 and have taken 2 spears per crown this year. Crowns planted autumn 2016 only 50% survived but have also allowed picking 2 spears per crown this year. All crowns now have good fern growth. Things I found is they don't like acid soil, need watering during the early years, need feeding well (dung, etc in trench bottom, npk fertilizer, seaweed, boron on ferns if on deficient soil), don't plant too deep initially then mound up soil on them once ferns are up.

[w33blegurl]

Thanks both. I think then I'll give the seeds a go, its a long term investment so a year or so longer to wait for plants really wont make a difference. Is it worth liming the soil in the same way I'd do for cabbages when it gets to planting out??

[It never rains..it pours]

Im not sure you loose one year with seeds, if plant in December and grow on in a conservatory or similar till plant out, like I did. As got as much off my from seeds as from the 1 year crowns this year (thats the 50% of crowns that survived). If you have to lime for cabbages then you should lime for asparagus as it needs the same ph

[Vince G]

Seems we have a few female plants, so chucked a few berries into spaces in our rows and they threw up spindly ferns this year, but we'll see. Would always buy good quality crowns, got mine for A-Grade asparagus in Norfolk. Soil-wise, really good drainage is crucial - the roots go deep so will find moisture if they want to. Mulch with compost over winter.to ultimately create a little ridge where the spears poke out from.

Here's a pic of our plot, with a very disgruntled Mrs G weeding it. Disgruntled at the fact I took a pic rather than having to weed it, coz she loves weeding, almost to OCD levels - she's a legend!





PS: Aussie asparagus! not sure why pic is upside down, it's right way up in my directory!

[bario1]

Nice looking asparagus Vince! Why aren't you eating it??

[bikermike]

doing better than me, I've got one (twisted) shoot come up.

If I can get some crowns in autumn, I'll re-do the bed then I think

[mrsbusy]

hi - just to comment that I am pleased to see this thread as I too am feeling quite disgruntled with my asparagus bed. It takes up a whole raised bed; I have been waiting 3 years to pick it - I put in crowns from a well rated supplier, manured heavily; last year (year2) we did not pick; this year we were looking forward to pick but the crop is really small with some of the crowns not showing any spears at all. I'll give it another year but it is on a final written warning!

[It never rains..it pours]

Agree Vince G, there is definatly a difference in the vigorousness of crowns. Thx for the pic, can I ask how old the bed is and what variety(s) ?

[It never rains..it pours]

hi - just to comment that I am pleased to see this thread as I too am feeling quite disgruntled with my asparagus bed. It takes up a whole raised bed; I have been waiting 3 years to pick it - I put in crowns from a well rated supplier, manured heavily; last year (year2) we did not pick; this year we were looking forward to pick but the crop is really small with some of the crowns not showing any spears at all. I'll give it another year but it is on a final written warning!

mrsbusy, can I ask what variety you have ?

[Chrissyteacup]

Glad to see I’m in good company planted three different varieties of 1year old crowns end of last year no sign of one of the varieties and only have ferns from half of the other two varieties!

[Vince G]

Hi sorry for late reply, don't come on here that often these days.

We planted the bed up in 2013, so the plants are 6 years old now, although some are a couple fo years older as they were dug up from the old house when we moved.

They're mostly Backlim and Gijnlim, plus a few crowns we dug up from the old house when we moved - don't know what variety those were.

We eat a lot of them for about a month, then have to start giving them away at work, as we get a bit fed up we have so many - about 25 plants in all. We do freeze some to make soup in the winter though, and any we give to people require them to give a small donation to the local air ambulance.

[It never rains..it pours]

VinceG Thank you for the reply and information