Another asparagus update, and questions

[Jenise]

So all nine of the crowns I planted have now come up (yay!), and two of the plants have even sent up additional shoots. I presume the others will do likewise and this will continue over the summer. I want to recap to be sure I'm doing this right: I'm to do nothing, right? Just tend them with water but under no circumstances touch the growths. I ask because that just seems so foreign to me--typically, in order to strengthen what's going on under the surface, you DO pick/top/trim. But with asparagus, it works the opposite?

DON'T PICK/CUT/TRIM. Best advice, let it grow unmolested aside from weeding and cleaning up dead top growth in the winter for two seasons. You can start harvesting in spring of the third year. Sprinkling salt on the bed will help control weeds as asparagus is very salt tolerant. If choose to spread salt, keep in mind that nothing will grow there again that isn't as salt tolerant as asparagus.

Glad it's working out for you. I'm delighted with mine.

[Robin Garr]

What Alan said. For many years, Mary and I never grew asparagus because we didn't have the patience to plan so far in advance. When we moved back here from NYC, we figured, what the heck, couldn't hurt. we planted some our first year here and started picking the first harvest in the third year. Now here it is, 16 years later, and every spring we get a delicious little harvest. There's never very much, frankly. We planted only about a dozen sets. But it's still a great welcome back to springtime.

So all nine of the crowns I planted have now come up (yay!), and two of the plants have even sent up additional shoots. I presume the others will do likewise and this will continue over the summer. I want to recap to be sure I'm doing this right: I'm to do nothing, right? Just tend them with water but under no circumstances touch the growths. I ask because that just seems so foreign to me--typically, in order to strengthen what's going on under the surface, you DO pick/top/trim. But with asparagus, it works the opposite?

Yes, just leave them alone, or rather keep them weeded and periodically give them a good soaking. Keep in mind when watering that all you need to do is keep the roots moist. They're some distance down now, so you don't need to water often and but when you do you need to water deeply. Whether the soil surface dries out doesn't matter. What you're doing in the summer is allowing maximizing photosynthesis so that the plant stores maximum energy in the roots, energy that will be used to push up new growth next spring. That means leaving on as much foliage as possible. I hadn't heard about aspargus's salt tolerance but salt is not something I would recommend using in your garden. If your asparagus is exceptionally successful, you may be able to take a small harvest next spring. Your plant will tell you how much you can safely take; if you get spears that are of the size you'd normally see in the store, go ahead and harvest. When the fatter spears stop coming and you start getting the little spindly sort you probably have now, stop. More likely, as Alan says, your first harvest won't come until the year after. Next spring, once your harvest (if any) is done, feed the plants by working some balanced fertilizer into the soil.

Ditto. Just marvel at the beauty of the fronds and seeds for now. I let my stalks stay on thru the winter but put a thick layer of compost and manure over the bed in the fall.
Each single crown will produce many stalks so having all crowns working so far is promising. Success !
The stalks do seem to cluster in appearance. Mine are mostly done appearing now with a few straggglers. I have a dense wall of fronds that is actually a privacy barrier for the rest of the garden - an unexpected advantage - had I anticipated that I might have planted differently for effect but it still looks good.

Let it be, Jenise. I have read that the crowns "become discouraged" if you don't let them settle in for 2 years.

Apparently, after that, their mood is indomitable and their sense of well-being nigh unto unshakeable!

[Jenise]

What you're doing in the summer is allowing maximizing photosynthesis so that the plant stores maximum energy in the roots, energy that will be used to push up new growth next spring. That means leaving on as much foliage as possible. I hadn't heard about aspargus's salt tolerance but salt is not something I would recommend using in your garden.

Ah...so that's what I didn't understand. Boy is it hard to be patient. I don't think I can do the salt (thanks, Alan) because where the raised bed is, it could harm other important plants (including my neighbor's stuff), but I will do some serious mulching come fall.

Christina, where I've put mine the foliage will look great once the bed gets established.

Jeff--indomitable? I planted all males, so that will be appropriate.