1st Asparagus shoot spotted today

[fishpond]

1st Asparagus shoot spotted today.
Now under guard by 2 heavily armoured Chickens.

[Chrissyteacup]

Oh fab!! I’ll have to keep an eye out on my bed!!! (Asparagus bed that is not the in I sleep in )
Love it’s guards!

[SarrissUK]

LMAO! I love the chickens! And yay for the asparagus! LOL

[Mr H]

Looks good. I bought some crowns today and they have mini asparagus shoots on them already.

Now all I need to do is keep them safely until I've prepared a bed to plant them in.

[fishpond]

This was a bed of 20 crowns (now about 10), be aware that approx 10 crowns decided to push themselves out of the soil, just before 2 nights of hard frost(unseen for nearly 3 weeks)----this was in their 1st winter, they are now in their 3rd year.
Take your time on the bed and ensure it is done with plenty of drainage and manure/compost---they could be there for 20 years.

[veggiechicken]

Mine are in their 3rd year and I still haven't picked one.
Maybe this year - if not, I'm giving up on them and using the bed for something more productive.

[Mr H]

Mine are in their 3rd year and I still haven't picked one.
Maybe this year - if not, I'm giving up on them and using the bed for something more productive.

Are you just being patient or have they not produced anything. Surely this year you should start to have a decent crop.

My crowns came in what I call bulb bags - plastic with holes in and some compost in the bags . Hope they'll keep ok in them until I can plant.

Any advice on preparing a bed is welcome. We have a mountain of rotted manure on site I was going to start by digging that into an 8' by 4' bed. Is that a good size for 9 crowns?

[greenishfing]

I grew mine from seed 5 years ago. Last year I picked a few spears and left most. This year hopefully I will have lots.