"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Cumberpach" contains these words:

A few of my crowns on the allotment are starting to sprout.
Looking in the seed catalogue, it makes ref to 'forcing' - not sure what
this means. Any help appreciated.

Putting a bottomless bucket, old sewer pipe etc (often insulated) over
the crown to force the shoots up towards the light, resulting in pink
(usually) tender sticks a lot earlier than free-grown ones.

Tends to exhaust the crown, so they are usually dug up and discarded.

My advice would be don't - until you divide the crowns, then you can
plant any excess for forcing in the following spring, followed by
heaving them on the compost heap.

I have 8 good sized crowns - dunno how old they are. Enough to try 2 outside
and 2 inside as per Alan Gould. Thanks to you both.

Pete