Asparagus second year

I have some 12 asparagus plants that I raised from seed. They are on their second year of growth. They are just ferns right now, what should I do with them? I plan on making an asparagus bed this year. Should I transplant them, wait till they die back and do it next year?

Cheers

 

That is an excellent question @Paul waterhouse . I've planted seedlings that I started in February. I have a small bed and am filling in around the one side. I didn't even wait a year, just planted them out in early spring, so I am curious to find out if this was a no no.

 

Back to this again

I left the plants in the pots over summer. The ferns got really big. I left em over summer and the ferns died back over the last few weeks so i cut them back to transplant them.

The roots, if that's the right term for them (they look like alien entrails with a bit of spine attached.......i'm a ScFi fan what can i say) were all entangled so maybe i should of used a bigger pot, but every day is school day still.

I ended up tipping the entire pot out in one, and turning the hose pipe on them and washing all the soil from them. This worked really well and i managed to separate all the individual crowns.

I've planted them where i grew tatties this year in their forever place. Fingers crossed for the spring and some asparagus spears (wrapped in streaky bacon and baked in the oven, lots of cracked black pepper YUM YUM.)

 

Hello Paul, go lightly with the picking next spring. Just one or two spears from each plant. That'll allow them to build up strength for the future. Then you can get serious ;-)

 

I grew the variety Ariane from seed in 2015, they were big enough to transplant in their final position the following spring. I didn't pick much for another 2 years to let them build up. This spring I got a decent harvest from them, took 5 years but worth the wait.