Asparagus from seed in ground?

Well, I watched a 'what not to do' vid this morning on asparagus and it made me very glad that my plans utterly failed last spring regarding my asparagus patch.  I had no idea it was that invasive!  My planned patch was far, far too close to my garden for that to work.  So I began to re-imagine just what I should be doing instead.  I know wild asparagus grows in my area.  I found several stalks on my property just after we bought it.  However,  they are wild and I want some cultivated varieties.  Growing them in pots and putting them in the way the old advice keeps harping on seems far too much work for someone who is already overwhelmed with things to do, and as I said, I know it grows wild here - just not where I can harvest it as it usually ends up mixed in with the hay.  

So my idea is to till up a bed, and get it started really well, tilling some muck in and some 'potting soil' that's not really soil, more like chopped up bark.  Rake out all of the stones, weeds, and such, you know the drill.  But then, rake in asparagus seeds.  Just, rake it in and water and see if they come up.  

Good idea?  Bad idea?  

Missouri zone 6 on the plains for the usual questions.

About a month ago I did a 30 foot row in a feral field. Just broadforked it, a 2" layer of composted wood chips then pressed seeds in 2 rows staggered, about every 10" or so. Then covered with chopped leaves.

We shall see, I'm with ya on the ease of just collecting the seeds from another asparagus patch, planting and being patient. What I just sowed is a combination of my own and some I snatched while at another farm :)

I am having OK luck in a section that I transplanted tiny 1st year seed spouts several years ago so figured why not try an even easier way? Kentucky ZONE 6-7

Asparagus persists in Missouri but it's not really invasive, at least not problematically so.  My guess is what you consider wild asparagus was planted in the last century and is showing the expected signs of neglect.  

Seeds do come up slowly and make fine plants but asparagus takes years to get harvestable.  That's why people usually start with crowns because you can get away with a LIGHT harvest the next year.

If i were you i would cultivate the wild ones.  Dig them up now and plant them all together.  Fertilize them and they'll make great asparagus in a year or two.  

Source: I've done this in North East Missouri.

Plant the seeds as well, and they should come up eventually.

And asparagus can take lots of nitrogen, my dad spilt a bag of urea once and it killed the weeds it was so strong but the asparagus survived and thrived.  I'm not recommending that just so you know, but the reason the wild asparagus is thin and spindly is because it's over crowded and lacking nutrients

Nope, definitely wild, planted by birds most likely.  There were three ferns in one location, two in another 50 feet away, and yet another small bunch on the other side of the pond which is located on the other side of the property.  lol  Well that's fine.  It just means that asparagus will grow from seed here.  As far as invasive goes, the vid was explaining that the roots would travel up to 10 feet away from the crowns in all directions, even down.  Not what I wanted next to my main garden.

I am also from NW Missouri. I planted a purple cultivar of asparagus seed in a seed flat about  20+ years ago. I planted it in my yard the next year. I haven't seen any evidence of those plants getting out of bounds or spreading.

I don't know where the vid was posted from, but whatever type the poster was growing had SERIOUSLY spread.  Like, we're talking nearly taking over his entire garden.  He'd had to completely redo the beds next to the asparagus one and ended up just putting another layer on top because he couldn't get all of the roots out.  Yikes!

It will occasionally spread from seed naturally but it's trivial to kill.  Yes it can take mowing and occasional tilling even, but it's nothing like ground ivy or bush honeysuckle.  In Kentucky we have a plot that died out completely from neglect and in Missouri it didn't spread out of the garden in 30 years and was dying out there.

My asparagus was started with crowns and took 3 years to establish.
All well until we had a fire came through.  Most plants escaped damage, so I moved them closer to the house.  Another 2 years to come back to harvesting size stalks. In the meantime, through human agency and the birds several plants have come up elsewhere. . . Since I didn't see them until they were at the fern stage, no idea yet if maturity has been reached.   If plants are where they aren't wanted then they are "Weeds" and given the transplanting experience, I don't think they should be too hard to eradicate.  Best of Luck.

Annette Henry wrote:Well, I watched a 'what not to do' vid this morning on asparagus and it made me very glad that my plans utterly failed last spring regarding my asparagus patch.  I had no idea it was that invasive!  My planned patch was far, far too close to my garden for that to work.  So I began to re-imagine just what I should be doing instead.  I know wild asparagus grows in my area.  I found several stalks on my property just after we bought it.  However,  they are wild and I want some cultivated varieties.  Growing them in pots and putting them in the way the old advice keeps harping on seems far too much work for someone who is already overwhelmed with things to do, and as I said, I know it grows wild here - just not where I can harvest it as it usually ends up mixed in with the hay.  

So my idea is to till up a bed, and get it started really well, tilling some muck in and some 'potting soil' that's not really soil, more like chopped up bark.  Rake out all of the stones, weeds, and such, you know the drill.  But then, rake in asparagus seeds.  Just, rake it in and water and see if they come up.  

Good idea?  Bad idea?  

Missouri zone 6 on the plains for the usual questions.

It's not really invasive in any practical sense, some extreme native fundamentalists will just say that about anything capable of propagating from seed. It's a bad idea to just take things at face value from those types since they frequently lie or make things up all the time.

I've never heard that asparagus is invasive. It certainly isn't here in Northern Minnesota. My brother-in-law grows an asparagus patch in Howard County, MO and he's never mentioned it needing controls. I'll see him on Christmas, so I'll try to remember to ask.

Thanks!  Even if it isn't invasive, or not invasive here, I think I'll still try my idea of an out of the way natural plot.  Physically easier and cheaper ways to get edible perennials is the goal for this year.  I've already put in four fruit trees and two grape vines.  We'll see how they grow - or not, lol.

I've grown asparagus from seed and crowns.  Extremely tough plant and something to look forward to every spring.  Just wish the harvesting window was longer.

It will grow from seeds. I make a habit every year of collecting the ripe berries and scattering them on the ground. Slowly my patch has expanded. It seems only very mildly invasive.

Some of my asparagus is from purchased root stock but most is root stock I dug up from the roadside or scattered berries. 'Wild' or at least feral. It's just as good as the purchased. The purchased tends to have slightly thicker stalks. I don't see any other difference.

I have the notion that the typical Asparagus crowns sold in garden centers are only Male plants.
Planting from seed though, would make for males and females and the potential for spreading via more seeds.

Steve Solomon, the gardener, offers a brief but thorough explanation of how to raise Asparagus from seed in my climate.
In his method, the female plants are rogued out of the bed once it can be determined which is which.
That would solve worries of it spreading *invasively*, I think.

I've grown Purple Passion asparagus from seed for many years. I save the seed "berries"  in the fall, dry them, clean them and plant the seeds in six packs. After a few months, I transplant the seedlings to bigger pots. In the late winter of the next year, I transplant the plants into a raised bed that was dug deeply and enriched with lots of compost, sand and a bit of lime and wood ashes. I begin harvesting the third year. The plants last for decades and are super productive by the forth year.

I've never had any problems with asparagus getting invasive, although I live in the Northwest. In fact, I wish it WAS invasive since I like eating it so much! As I say to my friends- you can't have too much asparagus!! Cream of asparagus soup and morels with asparagus are two of my favorite recipes.

This winter I'm trying a new technique, of just direct seeding the seeds into a cleared raised bed. That way, I won't have to transplant. Time will tell if this lazy method will work...