Asparagus crowns - have I wasted my money?

[HeyWayne]

Several weeks ago - maybe a month or so, LadyWayne and I were with Bean in the local garden centre buying seed potatoes amongst other things.

During our visit LadyWayne saw some Asparagus crowns and suggested to them that they jump into our trolley, which they did without hesitation.

Now, I know there is quite a bit of prep involved in getting an Asparagus bed ready and planting the crowns.

I put the crowns in the shed and forgot about them - until a couple of weeks ago when I was clearing the shed out and noticed them lying forlorn on top of the lawn mower.

They have been on their 'aerated' bag now for who knows how long. Will they still be ok to use, or shall I put that one down to experience?

[rustylady]

They're probably a bit dry Wayne - they usually are even when freshly bought. If I were you I would get them out of their bag and give them a soak overnight in a bucket of water. If you don't have a "home" for them at the moment try putting them in in pots to see if you get any growth.

[BUFFS]

with the colder temps you should be okay,get the bed ready,if pushed for time,dig out a trench about 12/18ins deep,tip some growbags in there,add some fistfuls of pelleted chicken manure,add back some of the topsoil,forming ridges,drape the crowns evenly over the ridge and refill with rest of soil so that crowns are 4ins(depth i use) under the firmed soil,the more time you can give it the better,its going to be there for about 20 years so is worth the effort..oh yes,put them in water,submerged, for at least 6 hrs before planting,to freshen them up.

[Paulottie]

Soak and stick in pots as RL suggests.

[HeyWayne]

I like the pots idea! I think there are only 3-4 crowns anyway, so pots sounds ideal.

[stella]

What have you got to lose, give it a try sometimes things surprise you

[rustylady]

Grew mine (Connovers Colossal) from seed, and they spent far too long in their pots as the ground wasnt ready. Hasnt done them any harm at all. Now their 3rd year on the lottie so looking forward to a decent crop.

[wellie]

Totally agree with 'potting them up' into containers for now. I did that last year with some garden centre ones just like yours' Heywayne, because I hadn't yet decided where my permanent Asparagus Bed was going to be. Look after them with some extra TLC over the coming weeks until you're ready to propply put them into the ground, and they should be fine. Good luck.X