I've been searching this site to help me decide if it's realistic to order asparagus crowns for this year. I'm still not sure, so any advice would be very welcome please.
Yesterday I used timber to mark out a semi-raised bed (semi because it's only about 6" high). It's in an area that last year was covered with couch grass and dock weeds, but I dug lots and tried to get rid of all that, and in November I piled very rotted horse manure on top and covered it with black fabric. When I lifted the fabric yesterday there were 3 or 4 tiny little grass seedlings trying to grow, but otherwise it looked good, though quite moist still. The soil is quite heavy, so, from what I've read, I should mix some sand into it?
One dumb question: is this any sort of sand? Would sand from a builder's merchant do, or where do you get your sand? And in what sort of quantities?
And, do you think, if I dig in some sand now, with the manure that's already there, would I be ready to order some crowns for this year, or is there a huge benefit from waiting longer (I'm itching to get it growing, but am willing to wait if there's a good reason).
I'd love to hear from any of you with aparagus experience.
