UK gardening - Asparagus question

Author

Asparagus question

David \(in Normandy\)

2006-09-27, 1:25 pm

This is the first time I've grown asparagus and don't know much about it
except that I'm not supposed to harvest it for the first two or three years
while it establishes.

Anyway, back in Spring I planted 10 crowns of dried asparagus roots in a
trench as per the instructions on the packet, 9 of which have taken leaving
an irritating gap in one place. However, I've just noticed that one of the
asparagus shoots has lots of pea size green spheres on it. Are these seeds?
If so can I grow one to fill the gap in the bed? How should such seeds be
planted and when? What should I do with the others - is there a danger of
them self-setting everywhere? Any advice welcome.
--
David
.... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk
.... Blog at http://dlts-french-adventures.blogspot.com/

Gary Woods

2006-09-27, 1:25 pm

"David \(in Normandy\)" <NotValidForDavidInNormandy@invalid.none> wrote:

>However, I've just noticed that one of the
>asparagus shoots has lots of pea size green spheres on it. Are these seeds?

Sort of- they're berries that will turn red when ripe, each containing
several black seeds. Easiest to clean by crushing the ripe berries in your
fingers, then mixing with water to float off the pulp.
You can plant the seeds in flats in late winter, and put the resulting
plants in a nursery bed for a year then into the permanent bed the next
spring.
BTW, the roots shouldn't have been "dried;" you didn't say what percentage
took. In my own limited experience, home-grown plants do so much better,
it doesn't even cost any more growing time to get good producing asparagus.
You can also buy just asparagus seed, including some hybrids promised to
throw mostly male plants, which produce better.

Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G

David \(in Normandy\)

2006-09-27, 5:25 pm

"Gary Woods" <garyusenet@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> Sort of- they're berries that will turn red when ripe, each containing
> several black seeds. Easiest to clean by crushing the ripe berries in your
> fingers, then mixing with water to float off the pulp.
> You can plant the seeds in flats in late winter, and put the resulting
> plants in a nursery bed for a year then into the permanent bed the next
> spring.
> BTW, the roots shouldn't have been "dried;" you didn't say what percentage
> took. In my own limited experience, home-grown plants do so much better,
> it doesn't even cost any more growing time to get good producing
> asparagus.
> You can also buy just asparagus seed, including some hybrids promised to
> throw mostly male plants, which produce better.

Thanks for your reply Gary.
The roots/crowns were on sale in the local garden centre in string bags and
were quite dry - it may be the way they are sold here. According to the
label the variety is "Lolita" - don't know if that is a common or good
variety? Of the 10 in the string bag 9 have come up, though a couple of
those look a bit weak and are a bit poor is size in relation to the others.
I will harvest all the 'seeds' when they are ripe and sew them as per your
instructions.
Is there a way to tell male / female plants apart, short of waiting to see
if they bear 'seeds'?

David.

Gary Woods

2006-09-27, 5:25 pm

"David \(in Normandy\)" <NotValidForDavidInNormandy@invalid.none> wrote:

>Is there a way to tell male / female plants apart, short of waiting to see
>if they bear 'seeds'?

Not until they at least flower.... personally, I suspect the difference in
productivity doesn't warrent a unisex asparagus bed. There's probably a
genetic test too, if you've buckets of money you don't need.

Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G

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