Asparagus

[caseylee]

I have bought so Asparagus  from wilko,but after reading some post they advise that some people have had a prob with them.  I have been given the advise to plant them in a bowl and cover with compost and leave them for a month or two, what do I need to look for after a month to know that they are ok and healthy

[caseylee]

[Robert_Brenchley]

See if they come up or not. I'm one of the people that suffered from Wilko's asparagus, after suffering previously from garden centre asparagus. In both cases they were alive when bought, so mollycoddling might have done the trick. as it is, I've ordered 20 crowns from a specialist.

[Suzanne]

I think a reputable dealer is the way forward on this, my 20 crowns bought from a nursery all survived without any special care. I have looked at the ones on sale in garden centres and they seem dehydrated and very small.

[grawrc]

I hadn't a clue when I started growing asparagus, but the first 3 crowns survived and were transplanted (because I didn't know any better) the next year when I had prepared a proper asparagus bed. The first 3 came from Dobbie's and the next lot from Organic Gardening Catalogue. They've all flourished, despite my ignorance and neglect and I should have had my first crop last year, but wasn't about the lottie because of Peter's very sudden death. I suppose it's just been luck that they've done so well. They're in a raised, heavily manured bed, but apart from that and weeding I just ignore them.

[sunloving]

Maybe they aren't dead.

Last year i bought two crowns from ASDA in march and planted them in compost in a fish box. They did nothing all summer and i assumed they were dead and planted ontop of them. Low and behold then in september they started to shoot. Not dead after all just they had 6 months thinking about it before they shooted.
Now of course the feathery bits got frosted of before they coould get going but i have a least a small hope that they will appear this year.

So keep an eye where you planted them just in case ! fingers crossed
x sunloving