"Victoria Clare" wrote in message
.218...
So here we are almost at the end of April, and my asparagus is still
showing just one weedy shoot. It did this last year, but I assumed that
was because it was the first season, but I was hoping for a bit more of a
show this year, and maybe even enough for a modest side-salad.

The ten crowns I planted have a sunny, well-drained bed which has been
mulched with compost and manure. The soil contained a lot of very well
rotted bonfire ash, and produces some fairly mighty weeds, and the crowns
were planted in trenches 'by the book'.

What more does it need, or am I just being too impatient?

My strawberries planted alongside are big, beefy, and looking enviously at
the asparagus bed. I'm starting to think I should just let them invade
it!


The variety is Gijnlim, if that makes a difference.

Victoria
--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--

We've managed to harvest two lots this year so far, in Oxon, but we've only
got 5 crowns. They are 5 years settled in though, and they have been better
every year they've been in the ground. Guess you just need a bit more
patience. I read somewhere a while ago that they like a little salt in the
ground. Something to do with being seaside plants really. Sounded a little
dodgy to me, but a small scattering has never done ours any harm.

Duncan