Asparagus is promise for tomorrow, taking a couple of years after planting the crowns to have tender stems for the table. Today I made that promise with 40 crowns, split between Purple Passion, one i have grown before and Jersey Supreme Giant a variety that had great reviews and is from the region.
I planted the crowns alternating between the purple hued Passions and the standard green Jerseys for an attractive growing season.
My LI garden will be more deconstructed than any previous one, with containers, annuals and permaculture being spread across a very large back yard. Because the season for harvesting asparagus is relatively short, because it is basically permaculture, with just a little tidying needed in spring and fall, and because it gets a bit shaggy looking after the harvesting season is over and the stalks area allowed to grow out, they got the beds furthest from the house, but with a lovely view of the canal where it will helpfully blend in with the decorative grass until I tidy it up each fall.
Roughly 24 months to go…
Looks great! I’ve never thought about planting asparagus. Yard looks lovely!
Asparagus is a great garden addition, plant it once, wait two years then enjoy fresh asparagus for the next 20-30 years!
I have always found your blog very informative and I have a couple planting questions.
I have already received seed delivery on Dill, Scallion, Parsley, Basil, and 2 rosemary plants. I am expecting additional seed delivery in a few days for Cilantro, Jalapeño, Oregano, Thyme, and Spearmint.
The spearmint I have a separate 15” wide 10” deep planter as I understand it overtakes the other plants.

My questions are:
1. Should I plant or repot what I already have or wait to do all at once when the other seeds arrive?
2. When I do plant the seeds, actually doing for the first time as I had always done from plants, how much room do I allow for the 8 seed varieties and rosemary repotting?
How should I divide up the planter box as the dimensions are: 44. 9 in. W x 19. 4 in. D x 29. 8 in. H?

Hi David,
1. You should definitely pot as your seeds come in. The sooner they are started the sooner you will be enjoying fresh herbs.
2. If you are using containers for your herbs, I wouldn’t worry too much about spacing. You can plant the herb variety you want and when the plants have their second set of leaves, if there are too many, you can use scissors to thin the plants AND have some delicious micro greens for the table (http://nearlyhomegrown.com/2015/05/one-mans-trash-is-another-mans-haute-cuisine/)
3. For a long planter box, I would focus the taller plants toward the middle of the box with shorter plants on the two sides to create . Give each variety about an 8″ circle to grow in and you should end up with a very attractive buffet!