Trying again with asparagus

Thankthecat

I think I know why 19 of the 20 asparagus crowns we planted last year have failed - I stupidly planted them too deep. I thought I'd done everything right but on re-reading the RHS advice it says to leave the buds just above the soil surface. Pretty sure I buried them under about 2in of mulch, and then added more mulch this spring, so they would have been about four inches under the ground Question is, as the plants never developed, can I reuse the same piece of ground to try again next year? 

treehugger80

I would have a careful dig around where the crowns are/were, you might find they're still there, but fighting to get to the surface, if they are you can scrape back the mulch and they'll happily grow this year - don't harvest them this year, just let them get settled

Thankthecat

Update - all crowns were rotting away underground. Having double checked how to grow them, MD says they MUST be under four or five inches of soil, whereas the RHS say crowns just under the surface!!! Anyway, despite my very stony and therefore pretty well-drained soil, I think wet was the issue here. Have removed everything, dug new trenches, forked bags of potting grit into the bottom and now just waiting for new crowns to arrive. Slightly worried about planting them so late in the season but DT Browns insist they will be fine. 

Lizzie27

Good luck with your next batch. We had nearly given up hope this year but I'm just going out to cut one whole spear, the only one that has come up so far - between two of us!

Thankthecat

Don't make pigs of yourselves Lizzie!

josusa47

My first attempt at asparagus failed, probably because I didn't water them enough.  The bed was next a fence, on the other side of which is a jungle of bindweed.  The next spring, I realised for the first time how closely bindweed resembles asparagus when it first emerges, and didn't know whether to cosset or kill it!  This year, I've given myself a similar problem by planting dahlia tubers in last year's potato patch, and now I can't tell if it's dahlias coming  up or second generation potatoes.  Will I never learn?  Anyway, I'm trying again with asparagus (it's so delish, and so expensive), but instead of a bed of its own, I've put at the back of the border, so the foliage (if any) will make a pretty backdrop to the dahlias (if any).  As for how deep to cover the buds - mine didn't have any!

Thankthecat

It's so disappointing isn't it Josusa? Especially when you go to so much effort to try to get it right first time I remember your post about the dahlia / potato mix-up - is it any clearer now which they are?