Two weeks ago, I posted about starting asparagus from seed. The few resources I found on the matter varied significantly on germination time, so I promised to post here when I knew some more from first-hand experience. I have to say, even with my careful variety selection, seed-warming mat, and meticulous watering (no way were my asparagus seeds going to fall victim to my habit of selecting plants for drought tolerance!), I was totally shocked pleasantly surprised when I walked downstairs to water on Wednesday, a mere 10 days after planting the seed, and found 11 asparagus seedlings.
Although it is early to calculate germination rate (I’m only about halfway into some estimates of germination time, but I had 13% germination at 10 days and now, at 15 days, I’m at 28.5%), I’m feeling very positive about the process. I have to say that I had two trays, one of which had some faster-germinating seed in it, so I had to remove the humidity lid, and that did negatively impact germination. So heat & humidity seem to be the keys here.
For those of you who might scoff at my germination rates, keep in mind that, in addition to oodles of vegetables, I’m starting tons of native plants for my landscape, some of which, like Lewisia (bitterroot), have a germination rate that would be lucky to approach sales tax (4% on the Lewisia meant I got one seedling out of a packet of spendy seeds from Denver Botanic Gardens and I only approached 12.5% on the desert four o’clock). So it’s all relative. I won’t deny that, compared to zucchini, growing asparagus from seed is a fiddly affair. But it is fun if you’re a garden geek like me!
In other news, the stone was delivered for my raised vegetable beds this morning and, if the weather holds, they’ll be finished this week. That means that the plants I have stuffed into every corner of my seed-starting rack (the tender ones) and covering a good portion of my patio (the hardier ones–peas, leeks, sweet peas, lettuces, asparagus crowns, strawberries, a chunk of rhubarb I brought over from our old house, and the rest of the fruit trees that need to be planted where the two–noticably-smaller–piles of mulch are sitting) may actually get out of their pots and into the ground this weekend. It’s official–my fingernails won’t be clean again until October 
