Tiny purple asparagus spear

This year's been a disaster year for my purple asparagus and I panicked when I found animal hair in the bed last week. With the help of allotment friends, we ruled out badgers but there's a possibility muntjacs have been getting inside the enclosure, even though no other sign of damage is noticeable.

I've harvested less than 10 purple spears this season and, with the summer solstice tomorrow, I'll need to stop picking this week.

Only one tiny spear from a newly planted crown has grown into fern so far, this is the second and it's so small you can't really see it in this picture. 

Ach well, just got to hope for a bumper harvest next year, or I'll stop growing purple spears I think...