[Chicken Pete]

last year I planted 40 new plants (grown from seed) and each of them grew some thin 'ferns',however,so fer this year none of them have shown any shoots. Would this 'non' show be down to the winter or is there something I did wrong?  My established bed has begun growing but the spears are quite tough!!! Is this a sign that the plants are getting old?

[JayG]

The tough spears could just be because having started growing when it was warm (March) they have taken nearly another 2 months to grow big enough to pick, although I must admit the few I've had so far seem OK.

That may or may not apply to you as you have not put your location in your forum profile, but as long as the young plants have similar conditions to your established bed (in particular, not waterlogged) they will hopefully appear sooner rather than later.  

[Chicken Pete]

JayG,thanks for your reply.My location is Bedfordshire and the ground is very wet (we have had a lot of rain) but it has not been waterlogged.  Some spears are now coming through OK but there are also these 'tough' spears!!!! Also,I have mentioned that the new bed I planted last year - 40 plants - none have appeared this year and I have no idea why or what has caused this lack of appearance. Any input would be most welcome.

[JayG]

As far as tough spears is concerned, my asparagus bed contains at least 3 different varieties varying from about 3 to at least 7 years old - they're still reluctant to really get going but the only ones which have seemed a bit stringy are the thinner ones on one plant in particular (its time could soon be up!)

Conditions have clearly been far from ideal for asparagus so far this year, so don't give up on the new ones yet - I'm a big fan (well, you know what I mean!  ) of having a look-see to find out what's happening to anything that is starting to cause concern - carefully scrape away the soil covering a few of your crowns - you might be pleasantly surprised (hope so, anyway.)

[sunshineband]

It really is a bit weird this year, as we had some asparagus way back early and then a small number of tough spears, and this week a decent amount for a meal again.

The third year bed at work grew their single spear back at the end of March and nothing since then, which is odd too.

Don't give up as JayG said --- they carry on growing new spears in normal years right though July (although not all to be picked of course, before anyone gasps in horror   )