Growing Asparagus from Seed

Reader Contribution by Eron Drew and Tierra Garden Organics
Published on May 4, 2016
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Home-grown ‘Purple Passion’ asparagus emerging from the ground.

It’s a common misconception in the home gardening arena that asparagus is a crop that should never be started from seed. I am not sure when this became the standard dogma, but it is far from the actual truth. Asparagus is a crop that thrives when started from seed and those plants that are derived from home-grown stock tend to be larger and more robust than store-bought crowns.

My husband and I are co-owners of a small, diversified organic vegetable farm in Central Washington. We have been farming professionally for the last 10 years but before that time, we were avid home gardeners with an above average interest in homesteading. We first started asparagus from seed before we knew better. No one had ever told us that it couldn’t be done, so we tried it.

Starting Asparagus Seeds

It all started when we purchased several very expensive crowns of a variety of asparagus known as ‘Purple Passion’. We planted them in, what seemed to be, ideal soil conditions and allowed them to fully mature during the first season, forgoing the urge to harvest the gorgeous deep purple stems that began to erupt from the ground.

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