Sometimes the crowns take awhile to come out of dormancy but If you don't see some growth by early July then I doubt you ever will. Keep them well watered until then. Request a refund from Gurneys if they never show.

Gurneys used to be a pretty good vendor back in the day but quality and service has gone downhill. Debruyn seeds offers quality 2 year crowns at the lowest price I have seen. Nourse farms also has good quality but is a little more pricey.

ETA: It's too late to try again this year if these crowns fail to come up. Try again next year with quality 2 year old crowns and you could still get a short harvest in 2021.

Back 20 years ago, I visited Gurney's (and I agree when I was a CHILD it was pretty good, but that was more than 40 yrs ago). I would never again order anything from them (both from the rundown look when I visited and experiences I've had over the years).

Gardengal - I was thinking the same thing but if the 'MT' in the OP's screen name stands for Montana the soil temps may have still been in the low to mid 50s sweet spot for planting asparagus in late May. Here in my area, early to mid April is the correct time to plant asparagus crowns.

Yes, location would have a bearing :-) However, PNW soils do not warm up until quite late in the season either**. There is no way we see anything like 50F ground temps before late April, but still plant the crowns as soon as they become available at local outlets - as mentioned they are no longer sold after March.

**not recommended to plant tomatoes or other hot season crops here until after Mother's Day (June is preferred), as soil still too cold for them to start growing.

yes I'm in Northern Montana zone 4 and planted at the end of May.

I just ordered 125 crowns from Home Grown Industries in Michigan. I bought Jersey Giant (100) and Milleniium (25) and received them in 3 days with free shipping. Got them in the ground last Sat. Some of them were just starting to grow. It is later than I would like but here in WI we have had a very cold, wet spring.

One-year plants tend to be very small but should grow once it warms up a little. If you do need to re-order I would recommend you get at least 2-year old roots.

And if you just planted them 2-weeks ago, it is a little early to see much growth yet. Give them a little more time. They need to wake up and everything seems late this year, we are about 2-weeks behind.

Be sure to check Gurney's guarantee (if they have one) so you don't miss their guarantee window if they do not grow.

"I watered every other day. . . . I thought maybe it's not getting enough water so I watered it a lot more and mulched the top with lawn clippings to keep in the moisture."

Looks like you have drowned them.

"LoneJack Zn 6a, KC

Sometimes the crowns take awhile to come out of dormancy but If you don't see some growth by early July then I doubt you ever will. Keep them well watered until then. Request a refund from Gurneys if they never show. "

If they don't come up and are considered a loss by the first of July, would I still be able to plant asparagus seeds? Would they get a good enough start before the cold hits?

Would someone knowledgeable please answer my question

If you plant seeds, you're going to be waiting a long time to eat asparagus out of that patch. Even if you start with crowns or plants, it's not until the third year you can start to harvest, and then not a whole lot -- the goal is robust (perennial) roots to where they're putting out a lot of spears year after year after year; harvesting the growth means less energy for the plant to be able to do this. Patience, and a lot of it, is required when starting out with asparagus.

Best bet is to try again next year. Do any nurseries in the area have the bare-root crowns for sale in the spring? I've seen them for sale in my area. I've also seen asparagus plants for sale by me -- that would be an option for this year, if you can find them. Believe it or not, I bought my plants at Whole Foods a couple years ago (they usually have a small amount of starter-size vegetables/herbs for sale in the spring/early summer) and they're thriving. I had no luck with crowns.

Mr Gardenerlady, you should be able to plant seeds in July but your plants will be small yet in the fall and will take at least 3 years or more to produce well.

You have received lots of good advice. It is hard for anyone to know exactly what the problem is with your asparagus. If your weather has been like ours, three weeks may not be long enough to tell if your crowns are going to grow or not. I've had plenty that took longer than that. I have also planted crowns bought on clearance and had most of them grow when planted in July...so they do not HAVE to be planted earlier although ideally that would be best. For your location, late May planting seems reasonable to me. The early March suggestions would not work in my location and I doubt they would in yours. Our soil is still frozen solid 2-3 feet down at that time and likely is only 15-20 F at some depths....much different than zone 9/10 growing.

I'm sure it is frustrating to not see growth regardless of the reason. Hopefully some warmer temps and another week or so will bring some sprouts. They will likely be small and thin, especially with first year crowns, but with time, weed free soil, and fertilizing, they will gain strength and size. Water only if the soil is dried out down at the level you planted your crowns.

Thank you, I appreciate the answers! I will be more patient. I will also check to see if my nursery has any starter plants.

Fwiw, a friend from work once bought some end of season asparagus roots very cheaply, so he gave me some. He planted his and then watered, whereas I soaked the roots in water overnight and then planted. Mine came up quickly. His never did come up.

It will do no harm to gently scrape away some soil and see what's going on under the ground.

I planted seeds in July and got small plants that survived the following winter. They bulked right up the second year, and after the second winter (ie recently) I got to nibble on a few nice spears -- yum, I've never eaten asparagus raw before, and it's great! i expect a nice modest harvest next spring. I think crowns take some time to recover so I'm not sure that seeds are really as much slower as people who haven't tried it say. Seeds are sure a whole lot cheaper!

I found one lonely little spear sticking up tonight. But nothing else in the entire patch. However it does give me a tiny glimmer of hope

Mt. Gardenerlady, I do hope your asparagus grows, here in 5a Michigan I've stopped picking for the year. I ordered crowns from Daisy Farms, far less expensive than other places I've dealt with. Four years ago I planted 100 crowns, 99 of them survived, and so the next year I decided to plant 100 more. 97 of those grew, so I'm happy with the quality of the crowns I received. They were bare root and looked pretty much dead when I put them in the ground in late May, and I waited impatiently for them to grow. It did take, if I remember correctly, between three weeks and a month before I saw spears.

So anyway, if anyone is interested in buying asparagus crowns, here's where I got mine:

http://www.daisyfarms.net/asparagus.html

Mine are Porthos, I see they cost $60 for 100 crowns, I think I paid $54 for those 100 crowns 4 years ago. I see they also have berries and rhubarb, but I've only purchased asparagus so far.

Annie

Thanks for the advice and encouragement , Annie! If I order more crowns I will most definitely check out Daisy farms! :-)

Q. Did you just plant the crowns and then fill-in the hole full-up? Or, did you fill-in the hole(s) gradually? If you did the first example, it will take a long time for the ground to warm and then for those first spears to finally push through. The latter example is the recommended method.

I did cover the spears completely up however the trench I dug because of my hard soil was only 4 in deep maybe then I created a ll them to 'sit on" and the roots to spread out. and so when I covered the crowns up they were only covered up with one to two inch of soil at the most

I'm so jealous of those of you who order/plant 100 or more crowns. I only have a "bag" with 4-6 crowns, because my ground is so rocky. I bought those bags on Amazon because I can't dig up my ground. This was the first year I could harvest any. The most I got at one time was 3 spears. I just got mine at Lowe's. They were in a plastic bag when I bought them, dried up and looking like dead sticks. I didn't know how to plant them but I remember that I left part of the stick sticking out of the dirt. Maybe I'll plant another bag next year or maybe I'll just give up on asparagus and plant something else.

Ahh. Now I'm concerned that you didn't plant them deep enough to survive your winter. One digs a trench about 12 inches deep, puts in the crowns about 18 inches apart; Whether you fill in the trench there and then with amended soil, or fill it in gradually doesn't seem to matter as much.

You mention that you have very hard soil; this will also keep the asperagus from growing or thriving. It sounds as if you need to totally dig the soil 12-18 inches deep and amend the soil entirely before trying with new plants. But then, very few garden plants will do well in hard, poor soil. Have you considered growing in pots. I do here in my CA adobe soil.

Found three more spears popping up in various areas so I am hopeful!

More and more spears popping up so yay for my asparagus patch!

Hooray! I'm glad they are growing for you. The plants can last for years. Ours are over 30 years old and still doing well. They had a few set backs during some busy times when we ignored the garden and didn't fertilize or weed the patch. A year or two of good care restored them, though.

**update**

About 3/4 of the crowns have grown some spears. So it took 6 weeks for them to start to grow and some even longer. The good news is I have an asparagus patch. :-)