decided to move the asparagus into the mound- the surviving three (3!) plants were transplanted twice in a month but were holding on ok- one was going a little yellow but it was time to cut the apron strings...
Its definitely been possible to grow from seed, though the long whispy stalks are very fragile, and I think growing inside the old fish tank was what allowed them to survive...
Survival rate pretty low as I went through two packets of seeds (about 8-12 seeds per packet) and only have 3 plants.