Has anyone tried asparagus or artichokes? How long does it take tomatoes to mature?

[Amanda Nagai]

Hello, Lovely Aquapons!

 

I was wondering if anyone has tried asparagus or artichokes in their system.  If so, how did they do?  And, how long has it taken them to mature?  (Also, what type of climate do you live in? Temperate greenhouse vs. outdoor tropical, etc.)

 

Also, I know plenty of folks do tomatoes.  Have people tried the determinate as well as the indeterminate kind (grows indefinitely into large sprawling bushes)?  How long has (either) kind taken to mature to a point where you get fruit?  (What type of climate do you live in?--I'm particularly interested in temperate climates, but I'll take any stats I can get! :)

 

Thanks everyone, and I look forward to hearing from you!

 

Amanda

[TCLynx]

I know of people who grew Artichokes and they said they did great in Aquaponics.  I think you need to be in Zone 7 or warmer to really make Artichokes do well outdoors.  I grew them once in the ground and it was great but they usually get planted in the fall and don't produce till the next summer.  I only had one in aquaponics and something killed the plant before it produced (might have been the other half pulling plants and not paying much attention to what he was grabbing.)

 

Asparagus being kinda the other way around, it needs enough of a cool period and my summers here in zone 9 are a bit much for it but I think John and Cat Billings might be trying some anyway.

[Raychel A Watkins]

TC Asparagus can grown in warm climate,  I have a bed in Hawaii.  We also have an asparagus farm here that produces commercially.  The problem is that the bed has to be dedicated to the asparagus.  It takes 2 to 3 years for it to mature.  It might work in a wicking bed but I have no idea.  It also needs a large space if u=you are going to grow any amount.

[TCLynx]

I was always told that if it gets too hot and doesn't get much cool that it suffers (haven't bothered to try growing it here myself since there are so many other things to grow, grandma always had an asparagus patch up in Michigan.)  Lots of things can be very site/micro climate specific, I was also always told that you needed 14 months without a freeze to produce bananas and the one that broke the grow bed was a small pup when planted into the bed and produced a bunch of bananas less than 8 months later.