I am sure I am way off target in the time of year, but any info would help. I am looking for a source of asparagus crowns to start in my garden. I tried looking in the web, but didn't have time to wade through 18k websites. I am also looking for Jerusilum (sp?) artichokes.

Appreciate any help & thank you.

Wendy

-- Wendy Antes (phillips-anteswe@pendleton.usmc.mil), October 11, 2001

Answers

You can buy asparagus roots through practically any mail-order seed company. I recommend that you buy Jersey Knight or some other brand that has all-male roots. Asparagus plants can be male or female, the male plants producing thicker spears of asparagus. I like Stark and Miller nurseries - look them up on the WWW. Asparagus planted from crowns normally take 2 years to develope and withstand heavy cuttings.

You can also grow asparagus from seed, and this tends to be the cheapest option. Martha Washington is the species that is usually sold by seed - this is a tasty, old-fashioned variety. You can plant the seeds directly where you want the asparagus bed, or start the seeds in a row, then after one year transplant the crowns into a bed. If you live in a rural area I suggest that you plant the asparagus in a fence row or along a road - buy a ton of seed, say a half pound, and take a walk down the country road. Broadcast seeds as you walk. Asparagus from seed normally takes 3 years to produce roots hearty enought to withstand heavy cuttings.

Good luck!

-- Justin Shelton (justinshelton@netscape.net), October 11, 2001.

www.johnnyseeds.com has both of these items. This past spring I planted asparagus crowns and got them from Miller Nurseries. They did every well. I planted 25 crowns this year and plan to plant that many again next year. I did the whole trench method. (Lots of work.)

Be careful with Jerusalem artichokes. In this part of the country they will spread like wildfire and are considered weeds. I now have mine planted in an old stock tank with the bottom cut off. I have had them for about three years now and have even moved to a new state. At first I used large plastic tubs to contain them. They are very hardy and easy to grow.

I hope this helps.

-- Tom S. (trdsshepard@yahoo.com), October 11, 2001.

MORE THOUGHTS: Now is the perfect time to plant Jerusalem Artichokes. Johnnys only ships them this time of the year.

-- Tom S. (trdsshepard@yahoo.com), October 11, 2001.

http://www.jerseyasparagus.com/

Go to the grower direct to buy your asparagus crowns. And buy the Jersey hybrids, they produce 2-3 times as much as the old washington varieties. You can get crowns for 14 cents each if ordering 1000. At any rate, they are MUCH cheaper than ordering from retail nurseries. I bought 5000 Jersey Knight crowns from the above farm and they really took off. Site also has a lot of good asparagus info.

-- Bruce (rural@inebraska.com), October 11, 2001.

Tom, where is "this part of the country"? I've just ordered Jerusalem artichokes (from Jung Quality Seeds/www.jungseed.com), so would like to know if I need to contain them.

-- Sharon/WI (Pinnow@inwave.com), October 11, 2001.

My sunchokes have been in the ground for 2 summers and no problems thus far but my soil is heavy clay. There are more than one variety of sunchokes too. I planted Fuseau sunchokes that I got through the Seeds Of Diversity exchange. The flowers really do smell like chocolate!

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), October 14, 2001.