Asparagus is always so expensive in the shops and tastes better if you've grown it yourself, although it is one of the more challenging crops as it needs good soil preparation and fervent hand weeding.

Soil should be dug thoroughly in autumn, adding well rotted manure and lime if the soil is acid. You will also need to be patient as you will have to wait two years for your first good harvest. Plant one-year-old crowns now in free-draining soil in a sunny, sheltered spot, digging trenches about 20cm deep and 1m apart. Crowns should be covered with 5cm of sifted soil immediately after spreading out roots and the trench needs to be filled in gradually as the plants grow.

The stems will need supporting and watering during dry weather. In autumn they should be cut down when they turn yellow, leaving stumps an inch or two above the surface. Then in spring, make a ridge of soil over each row and apply a dressing of general purpose fertiliser.

Don't cut the spears which appear shortly after planting. Leave it until the second year, when the spears reach 10-15cm and can be cut around 8cm below the soil surface. Cutting should stop in early June as the spears should be allowed to build up reserves for next year.