Mozie wrote:

I've bought some asparagus seeds as I can't find crowns. I've done some
reading on the net but still have a few questions. I hope some of you
experienced growers can help.

I'd perfer to grow the seeds in pots for the first year, then
transplant them. A site I visited said to plant in "peat cups". What
are these? Can I plant in small pots? Would I use pure peat moss? Or
what mixture? Am I correct in saying they must stay damp all the time?

I can only tell you what worked well for me:

Seeds planted 1"X1" in regular flats in "Pro-Mix" (peaty starting mix
readily available. Pretty cheap if you buy the compressed bale) in
Mid-February, germinated at room temp. They take a couple of weeks to
germinate. Transplanted in spring after all danger of frost to a nursery
bed 6"X6" and kept weeded. You should get nice fist-sized crowns to
transplant to their permanent home by the next spring. For my money, this
is a whole lot better than expensive commercially grown crowns that don't
always transplant well. Your own year old crowns should have zero
transplant loss, and do so much better than bought ones that the extra year
hardly matters.
Depending on how good conditions are, you can probably cut a few spears the
year after transplanting, and get a full crop in a couple of seasons.




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