Normally, I would be picking right now, but because of the many freezes after warm days and the lack of moisture, I may be hard put to harvest any this season. I will post when it starts making if you would like.

Out here in east Texas it's popping up now - my friend who gardens in raised beds has already harvested a meal for her, her husband, and his mother. Encouraged by the growth in her bed, I came home and found one sprout in my bed!

The difference is, my garden doesn't get as much sun, and I don't have raised beds. Guess I'd better look into building raised beds for earlier harvests! (not that I'll be moving the asparagus - digging it up once was enough - right, Carrie?)

Lin

I still don't know how you did that, Lin............boy, it looked tough. I will keep a sharp eye out for mine to emerge as we have had a small amount of rain and a few sunny, warm days............both of which the asparagus loves.

I just picked a handful of very small spears.............so maybe the season won't be lost after all.

Thanks everyone. I think some of the farmers' markets here bring in produce from east Texas. If I ever do decide to grow asparagus, how hard is it to keep the beds weeded? There is a lot of wild bermuda in my neighborhood, so the seeds continually blow in.

My situation is much different than growing a small bed of asparagus. I inherited this quarter of an acre when we bought this property. It had been neglected for several years, and you could hardly see the asparagus for the weeds and Johnson grass. I asked the extension service what I should do, and they advised there was nothing I could do without killing the asparagus. So...........my remedy has been to keep the middles mowed, mow after each picking, but once I let it fern, just live with the unsightly mess of asparagus and grass and weeds. This works for me as it is in an area where I don't have to look at it. Maybe others with small areas will chime in, but I would think that with a small bed it would no different than keeping it out of your flower beds.