We planted 30 asparagus two years ago (bought two-year old roots) and we're really looking forward to a major harvest this Spring from these four-year olds! My soil is red clay with fist sized rocks and some sand hit-or-miss depending on how deep and where we dig. To prepare the beds we plowed the area down to 18" (shoveled @8" to the sides and plowed again to go deeper). We put in lots of composted cow manure - a ratio of At harvest time, check every day beginning at the end of February. You will be amazed at how early in the year and how quickly they grow in just a day! Cut the thickest and tallest first - they will be the most tender, not the thinnest as with other plants. Use a sharp knife (NOT a pruner) and cut just below the soil level. Brush some dirt back over the cut so that the roots are covered again. If they start to "open" at the nibs on the tips then you are just a day over harvest but they will still be tender and tasty, past that - use them for asparagus soup or let them become stalks/fronds. Don't cut all of the tips in a single day! Let the little ones grow on into fronds/stalks and be bigger next year.

Some people from up-North say to cut down the fronds when they turn brown in the Fall and burn them to kill the overwintering bugs but the Southerners say to leave the stalks until the middle of January before you cut them down. The only bugs I've had are a few errant Japanese Beetles in June and July for which I spray with Neem oil if they seem to do any real damage). For some reason I only see them on the female plants.

Be patient with the new plants and these perennials will keep on being tasty edibles for up to 15 years, I'm told.

Nancy the nancedar

I've got 50 two-year-old Jersey Supreme crowns coming in from Tennessee next month. I'm getting my area ready now. Lots of organic matter and compost is a must since these plants will be growing in this spot for years to come.

Here is a link that might be useful: Asparagus Gardener

They do fine for me in my less than sunny backyard, but I don't have clay. I just mounded up good stuff and over the years the mound has broken down so much that it is now level with the soil. You don't have to be that careful about how you place the root mass - I just toss them in helter skelter and then mound the soil on top.

I've also learned to be patient with asparagus roots. I've bought them in the past and set them aside and forgotten to plant them. When I found them they had shriveled up and I thought they must be dead. I soaked them in water for a day and then planted them anyway. It took almost an entire summer but every one of them sprouted and recovered.

Even if you only have a small space for them they are worth growing. I can't possibly grow enough for me to eat but it sure is nice to walk outside and snip a few for an inpromptu feast and they look lovely in the summer.

Oh, and I bought the "all male" roots from the garden center to avoid the fruiting issue that Nancy mentioned and a few of them ended up being females anyway.

How many plants do you really need to feed 4 people a few times a season? 30 plants sounds like a lot? Also do they need a great deal of space to grow? I built a 6ft x 6ft 8" raised bed on top of nice loose soil, not too much clay. SO I thought I might make this an asparagus bed, it can stay where it is permanently and gets full sun. I also read they like lots of organic matter, what exactly is organic matter? I put leaves, grass clippings and horse manure in my veggie garden would that qualify?

Also should I buy all the same variety or get male 2 yr old plants of different types? I went to Gurneys web site and they seem pretty reasonably priced. Anyone have any plants they would like to share?

Thanks for all the help with so many questions.
Susan in Stokes county

They do need a bit of room to grow. I guess mine are about a foot apart in a row. Two rows about 18 feet long and about 3 feet apart - and I think I've planted them closer than recommended. When the spears are mature they can be 5 to 6 feet long and drape/spread many feet in any direction. So this plant can take up some room in the garden.

Leaves, grass clippings and poop all qualify as organic matter but I would let the manure rot for at least a season before I let it touch any part of a plant. Some plants are sensitive to blasts of high nutrition, it can burn leaves, stems or roots. You would want to bury the organic matter deep in the bed (1 to 2 feet down) before you plant the roots and then top dress the rows every year after that. I would wait until after harvest season to put any new manure on the crop (to avoid contamination of your food).

I don't feed mine on any sort of regular schedule.

You can find good roots of named varieties at most farm supply stores or large garden centers.

There is no need to mix up the varieties. I believe the roots in stores are sold in 15 root bundles. It takes a few years before you can harvest spears without hurting the clump so in the future when a better variety is developed you will need to plant and wait years before you can harvest. At that time you can decide if you want to remove some of your current bed or start a new one. You only want males - but like with my plants, just because you buy males and plant males doesn't mean you'll be growing males. A few plants may become females in the long run. Males are better for the home garden than females (males don't waste energy making seeds).

Once you taste fresh asparagus you'll wish you had a larger bed to grow it in.

I put down a foot of compost and planted right in that as a raised bed because this yard is too hard to dig. I get a great crop every year. Every six months or so, I add some form of feeding.

you probably should post this on the exchanges page. i kind of doubt anyone who has it really wants to divvy unless they have spare seedlings. it resents being disturbed, and the crowns get bigger each yr, but i don't know how they divide up. i'd suggest that if you want to start it cheap you can buy seed. it does take a couple years longer to get bearing plants, but you'd be able to get a whole bunch more for next to nothing. there was a book out along time ago called stalking the wild asparagus about wild food foraging that told about how in some areas it's escaped cultivation and is to be found 'wild'. if you were lucky and found some like that, maybe you could get permission from the land owner to dig some? harebrained thought, but what the heck. best of luck!

Thank you.

susandbob- just noticed somebody posted on the exchanges page that they have extra asapragus plants from an order! never thought i'd see it. go for it! :) tammy

steaming asparagus is like perfume to me!!! Only place I can plant them happens to be too close to a black walnut tree. Dang it!

Help! I planted my asparagus bed with 15 crowns in late March. They grew long tall fern tops. My mom cut the fern tops off!! What will happen now?? Will they survive?

First off you need to keep all sharp objects out of mom's reach! Hopefully your plants will re-sprout and this time you need to let them grow and fill out. The only way the plants can make energy is with leaves touching sunshine - if you remove all the leaves the plant will struggle, but asparagus is tough.

Ug - I can't do asparagus but my mom grows it every year in her red clay soil back yard.