What!!!! Oh @papa-pepper I just found your post in the nick of time!
I'd always been told that asparagus is a bugger to get started and that the growing takes about 3 years before a harvest can be taken. This year, was our first spring in our small house and I thought "That's it, I'm planting asparagus and I'm finally going to give it a whirl irregardless of what others advise. The longer I wait to plant, the longer I'll be continuing to wait." I bought roots at $1 a root and I planted 20. I know next to nothing about growing asparagus and it's been on my list to figure out if I should be cutting the ferny bits back or not before winter.
No kidding! I just raced outside to check them and I have what appears to be a mix between male and females...although my girls look like they are still flowering and no berries are red yet. I am so stoked about this because just this morning we had 2 dump truck loads of sand delivered to build up our small front yard. Top soil was planned next...my husband wants to plant grass because of ease of maintenance and now, I want to plant the entire front yard in asparagus!!! Hahaha!
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If you cut them back, wait until they completely die back first and are completely brown, leaving a few inches above the ground.
The male's have little flowers too, so wait for the berries to know who is who.
I would just crush the berries and plant them once they get fully mature.
If they sprout in the spring, great, and if not, at least you haven't lost anything.
Thanks for sharing, that's awesome.
i find lots of seeds germinate in the compost pile too. so that's another place to use for starting seeds. bioavailable magnesium that is required for germination is there as well as the compost action helps remove the anti-germination seed covers some seeds like tomatoes and papayas have.
Excellent advice and thank you so much for sharing that.
not sure what prompted me to post that on this comment but i also know that most of the asparagus roots you buy in the stores are only a year old saving only that much time compared to starting yourself from seed. but there ARE websites with 2 and 3 year old roots to help get started harvesting sooner. along that vein one could also see growing asparagus as an investment since they can resell their excess older roots for more in those markets targetting impatient improptu gardeners.
Thanks a bunch! I will examine my asparagus more closely in the light of day tomorrow. :)