Lots of discussions here about asparagus and if you review a few of them I think you'll find that most of us recommend one of the all male Jersey varieties like Jersey Knight or Jersey King. They are available from many different sources or you can go right to the source ;) - Jersey Farms.

Dave

Jersey farms is no longer selling to the public. They refer you to another company - Walker Plants.

Nourse has some of the highest quality roots you can find. As far as the organic thing, the roots are not treated if that's what you mean. I second the Jersey varieties; however, I'm very impressed with the purples. I could not believe the quality of stalk on my second year plants, and the flavor is superb.

Brook

Is there such a thing as an all-male purple variety?

Does anybody have a pic of Asparagus beds (preferably raised)

Rutgers University is working on a purple all-male hybrid but from what I have read production is low and so is disease resistance, especially to rust. See link and pics of beds below.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Rutgers purple program

By "the purples" what varieties are you recommending. I've read about purple passion and Raintree Nursery sells a purple asparagus, but I don't think it's the same thing. Any favorites?

Also, for regular green asparagus, I prefer the small diameter spears, so is Jersey Knight still the best, or would another type be better?

Mine are purple passion, and I see no advantage to an all-male variety as the stalks are huge already. I can also concur with everything noted in the Rutgers article but would also note that they seem more susceptible to wind damage as per their size and brittleness. Their roots are pretty ubiquitous these day. In fact, my first ones came from Walmart and have thrived. They're one of the few asparagus I enjoy raw. I planted 200 of them last year and may come to regret it--as I market farm. Thus far, tho, I'd always reserve plenty for my own personal use. As a side question, has anyone experienced the new Millenium asparagus? I planted those last year as well out of curiosity

Brook

Thanks for the *tips*!! I ordered the purple from Nourse! Wish me luck.

Hmmm... I myself have been looking for Purple Passion Asparagus seeds, and have found 50 seeds for $8.45 at TerritorialSeeds.com, and $4.25 for 100 seeds at KitchenGardenSeeds.com. I wonder if Territorial is overpriced or if KitchenGardenSeeds is selling something fishy. And ReimerSeeds.com sells 20 seeds for $3.50 for their asparagus seeds. How can KitchenGardenSeeds.com sell for roughly 1/4 the price of these other vendors? I'd hate to find out two years from now that I got the wrong variety.

How can KitchenGardenSeeds.com sell for roughly 1/4 the price of these other vendors? I'd hate to find out two years from now that I got the wrong variety.

I'd be suspicious too. If it is true variety it may have been cut with undesirable female seed.

The price is normally high for seeds because the seeds aren't a high demand item and difficult to find/produce. But then very few home gardeners grow asparagus from seeds when crowns are so much more productive, produce years earlier, and easier to get.

Dave

I've purchased Scheepers seeds before and thought they were excellent. They sometimes send you a ton of seeds for the price, but they have some great selections. I just bought a bunch of new seeds from them last month.

Asparagus seeds are not popular, since most people don't want to wait yet another year to get asparagus they can eat. Maybe the other seed places are too expensive, or maybe they thought purple asparagus was more exotic and would bring a higher price?

Scheepers sells a lot of european style vegetables. It's also where I get the emerite and purple pole beans I've mentioned on other posts...probably too often, but I really like them :)

GardenWatchdog has nothing but positive feedback for KitchenGardenSeeds.com, so I figure why not go with them.

My reasoning with seeds is that after one year you have a very well established young plant that that has sought its own preferred depth in the soil. A one year old crown is greatly stressed and damaged and will have to recover, replace lost roots, rehydrate and readjust itself to new soil and new depth. So I figure a one-year old seedling is better than a one-year old crown. Still, the seed is behind, but not so much as you might think. Also, with the seeds I can afford to select/thin for male plants, which not everybody cares about, but I do. Not so much an issue with an all-male variety, but I do want to grow some Purple Passion along with my Jersey Giants.
I don't know why anyone would think that crowns are more productive. Maybe productive earlier. And I still think my three year old seeded plant beats your one-year old crown 2 years after planting. But still, the seed is behind.

Good point! I've been debating if I should get the seeds over the crowns (they are cheaper) and I do want to try purple passion. Scheepers has a new green asparagus listed on their website that isn't in their catalog, so I may have to try both.

I got the seeds (purple and green) this weekend. They're a lot cheaper than the crowns and the crowns I saw last spring didn't look too good...dried out and cracked a bit. This will also give me more time to start a good asparagus bed, while the seeds are still in the nursery bed :)

At last a question about asparagus. I've been growing it for years. It's called the millionaire's crop because you don't get anything back for three years. Years ago I planted Jerseys. Now I wish to get the new Hyb.Guelph Millenium. the University of Guelph is one of the standards for agriculture in Canada.(please Western grads don't say it!)sold by Dominion Seed House in Canada. My crop in a raised bed gives me fresh asparagus suppers for about three and a half weeks.rsquared

RadioRon,
Do you have any pics from the different seasons ....summer,fall,winter so I can see what an asparagus bed looks like in a real garden....raised bed is a bonus ! !

Jon. I'll have to check for pics. Asparagus develops into the most beautiful ferns with little red berries on it. It's a magnet for bees for miles. One cuts the fronds down after the first killer frost and removes the ferns to compost. Then in the early spring phallic things poke through and the stems are a delight by lightly microwaving or in a stir fry. However, preparing the raised bed is a LOT of excavation and soil prep. Yet you only have to do it once. The "grass"I saw in Kew Garden(U.K) was over 200 years old. rsquared.

I'm curious about the benefits of an OP asparagus as compared to an F1. I like to be able to save seeds; something I'm just learning to do. If you have a mostly male asparagus such as Martha Washington, are the seeds viable?

The reason I ask is because I found seeds in the U.S. for Guelph Millenium Asparagus. I'd like to order some, but will I be missing out on being able to pass seeds along?

Also, is there much interest in sharing a 200 seed order?

Here is a link that might be useful: Guelph Millenium Asparagus

RadioRon said " However, preparing the raised bed is a LOT of excavation and soil prep. "

Amen Ron....As you said ,you only have to do it once...

Check out my You Tube Account...

Click the button that says "see all from jonhughes3384" it'll take you through all the steps I used to create my raised beds.

Here is a link that might be useful: jonhughes3384 Raised Bed Garden Prep

Sorry Jon. I should have said preparing a raised bed for asparagus. I excavated the whole bed down to 24 inches which was a good dig. rsquared

How tall does asparagus get? Does it need to go in the back (or north side) of the garden to keep from shading other plants, or is it only a light shade? Also, if they're over four feet, they'll probably be too tall for where I've planned to put the bed, so I may have to find another location.

Lavender Lassie,
What a great moniker. No the "grass" will be well over your head but it's such a pretty boundary. Mine is on the east side(from whence all our bad storms come.) Thus I don't lose sunshine on the south or west sides(my raised beds are on a slope slanted to the south).I would never use seeds because even using two year old crowns it's about two more years before you get a decent crop. On year three one takes only about a quarter of the spears. By the way, each year a different crop is planted in each bed('ceptin' the 'sparagus bed). I began and roughly continue the sequence of Low feeder; Medium feeder and a High feeder like corn.Experience shows the bed parallel to my asparagus doesn't do as well because it loses the early morning sunshine. Again, it's a low maintenance crop,HOWEVER it has to be first placed deep(24") with crowns at least 24 inches apart and then covered with the best soil you can commandeer at the time. It sounds like a lot but really it's only a day of digging. Jon, I still have to get to your video on your beds. Mine are 20 feet long and 4 feet across(as much as I can stretch) and I used the cheapest pines for my sides. My magic ingredient was an inexpensive Swedish metal bracket which means one can lift the rectangle,collapse it and carry it away as well as add more rectangles to give more height to your raised beds. Okay, this has turned into an epistle. Late.rsquared

lolear you will not find anyone selling organic asparagus crowns, you will have to go with seeds if this is your most important value in getting asparagus going. Jeresy asparagus is the best selling crown. The age of the crown (1 or 2 years) is not the biggest factor in how soon you can start eating your spears. The fertilzer is the key. We have planted 1 year old crowns and had them large enough the following season to eat! I have added a link for Jersey asparagus.

Here is a link that might be useful: Asparagus Plant

Whoops,Joe, my Jersey asparagus plants do have red berries which the article says is a feminine characteristic. Actually the attractive berries form later in the season but the tiny white flowers I love because they attract so many bees. Consequently it seems my Fenelon Township "grass" in fifteen years have gone right androgynous! Regardless, they are faithful(or may I say semper fidelis ?) producers. Latersquared

My goodness John! Those are RAISED beds cubed! Wow that is industrial strength gardening! Listen man,your almost waist high beds are going to PRODUCE. Number one, human feet will never touch the beds and secondly, your roots will have room to go down in friable soil. I am impressed especially with the rich soil(manure?) your height-challenged roadie was adding. Okay,Ill ask. Do you plan to excavate one of those breastworks to put in asparagus crowns? With that soil, they could end up the size of a number three softball bat. I thought only Brits went over the top in gardening. Wow,I am impressed!latersquared

Radio Ron: That was what I was hoping, all of my raised beds are 2' tall and all of my "LAND" beds are 4' deep ( I cheat with my excavator ;-) That is why I wanted to see pics of "in season" and "out of season" ,so I could decide where to plant them ,based on height, by the way, once the spears have been harvested ,do you need to let them "grow out" or can you keep them "trimmed"

Raised Beds by Jon (see all 9 short videos ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Raised Beds by Jon (see all 9 short videos ;-)

Jon, An excavator..wow! Jon, you must let them grow out. Don't do anything with them until they're felled by the first killer frost. I leave them until late winter and it's my first garden job of the year. Just cut them at ground level and compost them. Since you and I compost at a front end loader level the stalks are great carbon in the pile. By the way steers, are crazy over the asparagus culls which are discarded off a farm's production line. Oh yes, I just break the spears off with my hand at ground level and then toute suite to the kitchen. The nice thing is you can have them on the table within 10 minutes of picking. Also as a gift they are unsurpassed. Just wrap about 10 spears in a sopping wet paper towel,into a plastic grocery bag and into the bottom of the refrigerator or into work for a REALLY good friend. latersquared

lolear,

I was just reading Sunset's "Western Garden Edibles", and they list Marte as an all-male purple variety. I found it at Territorial Seeds.

Here is a link that might be useful: Marte Asparagus

Hey Radio Ron,
You have seen my Raised Beds, because they are 2' deep and all lush soil/compost, do you think I could get away with planting the roots of the crowns like a "tube" instead of "splayed" ,that way I could get more in a smaller area (Biodynamic/French Intensive....way of thinking ????

Here is a link that might be useful: Raised Beds by Jon (see all 9 short videos ;-)

Jon, you get one chance to do it right. Splay them 24" apart and then grow old. Other than soil amendments and cutting the fronds while it's still frigid, there's little to do but get right addicted to asparagus.latersquared