I can only tell you my great uncle grew them in that area and if his were "smaller" I would hate to see larger. On the other hand, he was one of those people that could grow anything anywhere so perhaps on average that's true. What I can tell you, he started his asparagus from scratch, he planted them in a place shaded by a tree during the middle of the day, and he kept them fairly well watered.

Interesting. So maybe if I can provide them some shade in the middle of the day I could attempt these. The brand I got from Walmart is called New Jersey something. I think I'm going to take them back for a brand I saw that maybe better here and give them a try.

Thank You.

Anyone else have some tips or experience I would still love to hear.

marlingardener knows of which he speaks, I clearly recall Uncle Bass saying he had prepared the bed for a year, starting when he was offered all the partially rotted manure he could shovel and cart off from a local horse farm. I remember he said he dug down two shovels deep, buried the manure, and then in summer work the soil down that deep again. I don't recall weeds being a big issue, he had some sort of fine grass grass that liked under that tree and he just let it grow up around the asparagus as I recall. Whatever it was, I think it must have naturally stayed short and somewhat thin, perhaps due to so much shade.

I have a some 3 year old UC 157 variety down the road here in San Antonio which I actually bought as little plants instead of crowns. In spite of the dog trampling them the first year or so they are doing great. (I now protect them with tomato cages). Soon I will probably have to fence them off because I think they are starting to outgrow the cages! By the way, one more thing to consider is to make sure they have good drainage. Oh yes, and they are delicious. :)

I live in Austin and on a trip to The Natural Gardner noticed they had Asparagus growing in their gardens. This was in early March and the shoots were several inches high that day.