I think the key is in the age of the crowns CJ. The trouble with asparagus is that the roots spread out far and wide, so to move old plants you have to cut the roots. One or two year old crowns are small enough to move without damaging the plant. One year old crowns are supposed to be preferable to two year old.
Regarding growing asparagus from seed, I haven't tried it, but foot high fern after one year seems right. I know my asparagus got higher the older it was and now it grows about 4/5 feet high.
Just spotted some poking through today. Yippee and yum yum.
(Formerly known as 'Organic Freak')
Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed.
Johnboy,
Thanks for letting me know about Moles; never heard of them before. Their prices are exceptional. Bought 25 purple asparagus plants for a second bed I want to plant by the end of the month. Just in case, you understand!
PS. People have been reporting earlier than usual asparagus spears appearing. I went to have a look at the remaining plants on my old allotment and they appear to be just as dormant as the lot I transplanted. They usually start appearing around mid-April, but I help them by covering with manure over the winter and this works a treat. Knowing I was leaving, I have left them alone this year, so we shall see what happens.
Sensibly, I left behind about 10 plants (of poor production historically) as insurance, knowing that I would still have access.
Regards
Barry
The bizarre thing is this: while my transplanted asparagus are now pushing up spears, the untransplanted asparagus at my old plot are still dormant!!!!
Looks like i would have been picking up a good wodge of cash then Barry.
On a more serious note, i don't think we will really know until next year whether it has been a roaring sucsess or not.
Although i'm quietly confident.
Fascinatingly, although several thick looking spears are poking above the surface, they are not getting any bigger. The recent cold snap seems to have stopped them! They are still two weeks too early. I note that several other people out there had noted much earlier asparagus crops than normal. Is anybody else noticing a slowdown or are the crowns cropping normally even now?
This is a quote from Gardeners Questiontime.
Nigel Colborn mentions the throwing out of the females but would you be able to tell on 1 year old females?
Allan
Question from Penny Kenny: I have an asparagus bed which was planted in 1998 and the plants produce smallish spears. I'm now moving house, can I dig up the asparagus plants and take them with me?
Bob: If you planted your asparagus in '98, and we're now 2001, they've been in for three years. They're getting a little big to move, the asparagus plant is not very happy about being moved, it's got very fleshy roots and if they're damaged they don't re-grow unlike a lot of other plants. It's probably going to be better to start with new stock in a new bed, young ones, as young as possible. I don't even like two-year-old crowns, I'd rather have one-year-old crowns to plant out any time.
Nigel: I think I'd do both, I'd risk moving part of them, so that they would probably produce a few spears for a year or so, and that gives you a little bit of continuity while you wait for the new asparagus beds to develop. Also I think it's better to grow asparagus from seed. I used to grow asparagus commercially and I grew it all from seed. It takes about four years to get into production, so it's a long-term job. We weeded out all the female plants and kept all the males, and they were strong, vigorous growers, on not particularly good soil, for a long time. Eventually we abandoned the asparagus beds - not because of the plants losing vigour but because the weeds became such a problem that eventually they were almost impossible to control.
