[DHM]

I've been given a load of dug-up asparagus crowns which have been described as 'ancient' but am assured by the site 'expert' they're good to plant. I had no plans to grow this and have no idea what to do with it other than how to plant it from googling.

They are in clusters of about 5-10 nodules, with scruffy long roots hanging down, some with long furry buds, some without. Currently sitting in buckets of water.

How wide does the row need to be, will an 18" wide row suffice? Is it worth only planting the ones with buds? Can these be split further?

I would have refused them but, man, asparagus eh. Gotta give them a go!

[New shoot]

I grow it at home in a raised bed and have got 6 plants jammed in it, but I mulch with manure every winter and feed with chicken pelleted manure each summer.

In a row you are looking at more like 3 foot across, but if you have the room, go for it.  One of the old boys on my site had a row right across the bottom of his plot and harvested a trug full every day in spring.  When he gave up, the new owners dug them all up 

Allocate some space, plant the best looking ones and pamper them.  It's worth it.  You can't buy anything half as good as what you grow yourself 

[snowdrops]

Lucky you, I’ll bet there’ll be people queueing up to take any spares off your hands (you do like it I take?)

[Yorkie]

There's more info about growing asparagus on the main website

[Hampshire Hog]

I have some mature asparagus which is cropping will. One point I would add to the advice so far is to be patient with these plants following transplantation. Initially I just had small whispy ferns but after a couple of years they turned into decent spears and now are as thick as my thumb.

Good luck with them
Cheers HH

[DHM]

Thanks all, good advice & tips as usual!

If I reduce the size of the planned 'family area' a bit I could fit these in so I'm going to give them a go.

I love asparagus but didn't allocate space to them on my plan as they don't form part of a rotation being static and are slow to get going, but the thought of fresh spears, sauteed with butter and a squeeze of lemon is too much to resist!

Should I split them into single buds or leave them be? They are in clusters or joined together in lines at the moment.

[New shoot]

I would leave the clusters be.  One fat established crown will produce more than several smaller spilt up bits.  The lines could be split.  The smaller bits are offshoots, so they will take a bit longer to bulk up, but if you have room 

the thought of fresh spears, sauteed with butter and a squeeze of lemon is too much to resist!

Dead right.  It will knock your socks off    As HH says, they will take a year or so to recover, but soooooo worth it 

[andreadon]

I've spaced mine about a foot, but the row is a good 2ft each side away from other beds

[Yorkie]

One point I would add to the advice so far is to be patient with these plants following transplantation. Initially I just had small whispy ferns but after a couple of years they turned into decent spears and now are as thick as my thumb.

Good luck with them
Cheers HH

Absolutely; this is vital.  They tend to say don't pick young plants at all in year one, perhaps two spears in year two, and then you're probably OK.  Now, yours are a little more mature, but they still need to settle into their location and so I would indeed be patient for a couple of years.