[Rebecca Horsfall]

Hi - I'm new here. Really happy to find a forum with so much evident expertise 
Can I ask advice about my new asparagus bed please? I planted my one-year-old crowns this spring in trenches with loads of composted horse manure at the bottom and then a ridge of soil. The soil on my allotment is chalky and well-drained. Each crown has put up a single thin stem (of between 10" and 2-foot). I don't know if this is normal for this time of year in the first year.
However, I realise I have made a mistake. The manure I used came from a local stables and it is wood-chip manure. Everything else on the the allotment is struggling a bit, especially the courgettes that I planted very rich, and I now realise the wood chips in the manure are depleting the nitrogen. Can you please recommend a product I could use to help my asparagus get well established despite my mistake? I'm wondering whether phostrogen, ammonium sulphate etc.? Thank you.

[mumofstig]

Welcome to the forum
I have to admit I know nothing about asparagus, something I've never grown, but I can say that whenever I add woodchip to beds I use a handful of chicken manure pellets per square meter along with them. So if you add a few over the surface of your beds and tickle it in, that should sort things out fairly quickly. Good luck!

[JayG]

Your asparagus should do very well in the soil you have, and you can't expect them to do much more than they already are in their first year.

If the manure is well rotted it shouldn't present a problem - if it isn't most general purpose liquid feeds are quite high in nitrogen so should compensate for any short term deficiency.

[Deborah1]

Absolutely the opposite of an asparagus expert but I get a good crop despite planting annual flowers amongst the crowns and (more seriously) a relentless invasion of horseradish and field voles. You seem to have got off to a great start.

[Potty Plotty Lotty]

Like MoS I would recommend chicken manure. Maybe as a precaution don't harvest any next year (it's not really advised anyway in year 2) and keep a close eye for asparagus beetle over the next few weeks and squash any you see (or use an insecticide if it's not against your principles) .

It's worth the wait. My plants that are about 9-10 years old are trying to escape their raised beds and this year are throwing up spears on the adjacent plot!!

[Hampshire Hog]

Hi there I have a productive asparagus bed which is now probably 7/8 years old.
Key point I would urge is patience. Don’t expect to harvest for at least a couple more years. An asparagus bed can give you a return for 20 years so. In the first year my plants were exactly like yours, thin and wispy they now produce spears as thick as my thumb.

[Rebecca Horsfall]

Thank you all so much. I feel very encouraged. I will add some chicken pellets and leave them alone (apart form the daily battle with asparagus beetles, and now beetle larvae, that have migrated with glee from a neighbouring allotment).

So great to discover this website and forum!
Thank you again.