I'd contact them and ask why. The only reason I can think of is compost can have adequate water retention issues to get the crowns established or that you don't feed just transplanted crowns until they show signs of growth and that would only explain it if they are assuming the compost is nutrient rich - which it isn't.

But given all the time (no it isn't soil, compost becomes humus not soil) since you made the bed, personally I wouldn't worry about planting them in it. I also would not count on only compost to provide enough nutrients for them once they do show growth.

Dave

I emailed Nourse and they said 2 things:

1. If not fully composted,
   there could be some viable seeds that could sprout and compete with the
   asparagus. So keep it well weeded.
2. Unfinished compost could burn the roots. I could try planting pansies to test this if I wanted.
   
   After
   we dumped the soil + compost last summer, we had a large crop of
   volunteer canteloupe, from the seeds in the compost. This is definitely
   more of a cold compost than a hot compost, and there was a lot of older
   "soil" (don't know the exact composition of the raised beds that we
   transplanted and mixed with the compost). And it looks and feels pretty done: no remnants of the origins except a few nut hulls and the odd eggshell.
   
   Given
   the above, plus the fact that I've got the crowns and need to get them
   in the ground, I went ahead and planted them. When I dug the trenches, I
   mixed in some of the native clay soil with the topping, so hopefully
   that will help. I'll be vigilant with the weeds and hopefully will
   start to see some ferns in a few weeks.