I have a small perimeter planting of purple passion and Jersey knight that's 3x5'. This is only it's second year. It's about 4 feet tall since ferning out, but I put it along the back so as not to shade anything.

I like how it looks since it covers that section of my fence.

I'm still considering asparagus, too. I have a good spot to put it, but it's pretty visible from the seating area in the garden. I was thinking of planting cosmos in front of the asparagus, to add some color and kind of tie in the ferny look. Has anyone tried this...or any other ideas?

What do you folks with asparagus do with the bed after it finishes producing in the spring? Is it just asparagus ferns for the rest of the year? I have often thought about asparagus, but I have such a small yard and limited gardening space that I'm reluctant to have a patch of ground devoted to one crop for the whole year. Is there a way that an asparagus bed can do double duty or more with another crop during the year?

Asparagus is a perennial vegetable. Once it's ferned out, I just water it and weed it. I read in a book by Jeff Cox about a technique where you harvest from 1/2 your bed and let the rest fern out, then let the harvested bed fern and cut down the already leafed out bed. Supposedly, the cut down bed will send up shoots for an extended harvest of spears.

Lavender's idea to put in some cosmos sounds like a great idea. Last year I put zinnias and dwarf sunflowers at the ends of the bed with marigolds as a front border.

I have been so behind on things, I didn't plant any sunflowers this year.

"Asparagus is a perennial vegetable. Once it's ferned out, I just water it and weed it. I read in a book by Jeff Cox about a technique where you harvest from 1/2 your bed and let the rest fern out, then let the harvested bed fern and cut down the already leafed out bed. Supposedly, the cut down bed will send up shoots for an extended harvest of spears. "

That's a great idea - have you tried it?

In terms of space - what I read everywhere is that asparagus does not play well with others.....no interplanting, underplanting, etc. So - yeah - asparagus is what you get for the sq footage.

But it's so good - and from what I read - one of those plants where you really taste the freshness/homegrown difference....I won't have my own opinion to give till next year - hopefully!

Actually, according to books I've been reading, asparagus is a happy companion plant with tomatoes, parsley and basil. Asparagus and tomatoes are supposed to be mutually beneficial, but it is hard to interplant, so I think I'll put cherry tomatoes on the ends.

The cosmos or other annuals should be alright, as would alyssum as a mulch, because their roots are not deep and wouldn't fight with the asparagus, which has very deep roots. Alpine strawberries (since they don't have runners) are supposed to make a nice edger for asparagus.