Allotments 4 All

Now that my first bed is doing really well - 4 years old from 1 year old crowns I feel confident enough to go for another bed. This one will be on the other lottie in ground its taken me about 18 months to get completely free of perennial weeds.

Have bought pacific purple crowns. Now for another few years patient tending............ ;)

Good luck with them :)

I'm still trying to decide where to put my first bed ???

Neil

Good luck with them!  I got three Pacific Purples to fill a gap in my 2nd asparagus bed, they're waiting to go in soon.  Then I'll have 40 plants in total - four different varieties.  The good thing is our established bed is producing enough now that we can feel happy about giving some away without feeling we're depriving ourselves!  :) :) :) :)

this has got me thinking about growing asparagus now....what sort of yield can you expect from say a 2 year old crown?

I have 20 crowns currently. I bought them as 1 year old crowns and took nothing from them until they had been in the ground for 2 years (well other than the odd spear when I became impatient  ::) ).

The third year (last year) I cropped them for 4 weeks and was getting a good bundle almost every second or third day. So over the four weeks I guess around around about 1/2 to 1 lb per crown, bit vague but I didn't weigh them. But there was enough for us and my Mum and Dad, plus a couple of giveaways to lottie neighbours.

This year I will crop them for a full 6 weeks. They are Grolim crowns by the way.

Don't believe the bull about not cropping for 2 years, or about which way up to plant them, or gradually filling in the trench, or all that sort of bull!!
check out this info
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1603.html
;) ;) ;)

The source I got mine from (http://www.asparagus-in-kent.co.uk/) suggests moderate cropping in the second year. I'm going to wait and see. I can't recommend them too highly; after a couple of failures with garden centre asparagus, I bought 20 crowns last year; they were really strong, and got off to a good start. I can't wait to see what comes up!

Have a full read of the previous link, robert, it's a really thorough piece on asparagus, including  all sorts of tips for a bigger, more sustained crop!

That US link is really useful. I was told to cut my ferns down as they died back - I think I may leave them on.

Thanks  :)

after they dead, cut down to soil level, otherwise they a hibernating spot for asparagus beetle.
;)