[monkey24502]

Hello my name is Maria, I'm from Bromley in Kent and I have had my allotment for a year now, I'm very interested in growing some Asparagus Crowns, can anyone suggest the best variaty to buy and where to get from, I'd like to plant them now, to give them a head start, before the frost comes, I have the area ready and waiting, look forward to chatting.. Thank you

[Goosegirl]

Hi and welcome. There are many varieties and suppliers of asparagus so your best option is to Google what are the best ones for flavour and suppliers, look at a few results, then choose the one that appears the most but don't opt for the cheapest supplier.
Having just had a look, there's asparagus lover.com, www.gardeningknowhow.com, Request Rejected › magazine › home-garden, asparagus (their recommended suppliers are Blackmoor Nurseries Fruit Trees And Soft Fruit Plants For Sale | Buy Plants Online and Pomona Fruits Fruit Trees For Sale UK & Soft Fruits | Pomona Fruits) and also FreshPlaza: Global Fresh Produce and Banana News. Our John on this forum has a book you can buy plus there's a growing guide at the top of the main page. Hope this helps.

[mumofstig]

Hello and welcome to the forum
The site has some advice and recommendations here https://www.allotment-garden.org/vegetable/growing-asparagus/

[AnneB]

I got my crowns from Pomona Fruits and was very pleased with them.
I bought 2 varieties, Mondeo and Guelph Millennium.  On my clay soil, which is not so well drained, I found the Guelph did better than the Mondeo.  They are in a raised bed which helps the drainage a bit.

[snowdrops]

Hi there, I bought my 3 varieties on an offer of 6 crowns of 3 varieties, to be honest I can’t tell any difference in flavours. There are a couple of crowns that although still there, they really aren’t doing well so I’ve sown seed this year that I’d got. I think that is Martha Washington to fill the gaps. I think mine were from Pomona fruits on an offer from a gardening magazine. The ones that are doing well (3rd year this year) have made enormous plants now.. mostly they are all good, perhaps 2 out of 18 are spindly so I’m going to hoik them out I think.

[Clactonite]

Hello Newbie.  I live in north Essex and probably have the same soil as you do in Kent.  I grew my asparagus from seed three years ago and have 8 feet high plants currently.  We had an excellent crop this year (3rd year).  I dug a 3 metre long trench, two spades wide, one deep and poured 25kg of grit into the bottom which I then forked in about half the lengths of the tines.  So a total depth of about 2 feet.

One thing I have learned about asparagus is the amount of misleading and almost religious guff that is written about them.  "I get the asparagus pot boiling and then dash out into the garden to harvest the spears and dash indoors to plunge them into boiling water" The Telegraph  What tosh.  People buy asparagus in supermarkets that's grown in Chile for goodness sake.  The best advice (and this has been verified with many veg growers is to harvest anything about a span of your hand tall, but wider than your little finger, with secateurs, up to but not past the longest day.  That's it. 

My wife cooks them in home grown chopped and fried garlic with butter with a bit of olive oil in a griddle pan or frying pan (I am not allowed in the kitchen).  Cooked to slightly singed frond-end - delicious.

By the way, mine have even self seeded this year to the delight of friends and familly.

[monkey24502]

Thank you everyone for your replies, I have been looking for crowns to buy now, but they all don't seem available until end of March/April.  I read somewhere you could plant some crowns now, to get a head start.