Asparagus

I have two large asparagus patches and lots of volunteer asparagus that has sprouted in other beds and fencerows where the birds have dropped seeds.  When we planted the asparagus beds we used the trench method where we dug a trench about 2 foot deep and filled the bottom of the trench up with well rotted manure and then pulled dirt on top and then planted. Asparagus tend to be heavy feeders and can bear for decades so that helps with fertility I think down at the roots. The roots can go very deep. I also add a bit of bone meal every year to help with root development. 


When I lived on my larger farm my neighbors would spread salt on their asparagus beds to control weeds. The salt would discourage the weeds yet the asparagus itself was somewhat salt tolerant. I simply add about 3 to 4 inches of chopped up leaves every fall as  a mulch to help discourage the weeds. I did not use salt as a weed preventer because it encouraged the deer herd to use the bed as a salt lick which was a whole different problem. 

I have heard of people interplanting the asparagus bed with strawberries but I have never tried it. The volunteer asparagus plants that have come up in other beds I no longer dig up but allow to grow where they sprout and seem to flourish interplanted with other things. I now have small asparagus stands in my blueberry and fig beds and they do fine. I just harvest them and let them be. 

The biggest pest we seem to have of asparagus here is the asparagus beetle. Every fall I cut the stems to the ground after first frost and burn them. That helps with asparagus beetle larva overwintering on the old fronds. 

 

Yeah pretty well. Mine have a little shredded leaf mulch and that is it. I cut mine to the ground in autumn and get rid of the dead fronds.  Some people put down a product called preen which is a granular preemergent for annual weeds.  It just prevents the annual weed seeds from germinating but does not kill any existing weeds nor does it work on perennial weeds or grasses. 

If I were going to plant a crop with asparagus I think strawberries would be my choice or anything low growing. For me strawberries ripen in June here and by then my asparagus is usually done. IMHO the biggest mistake I see people make with asparagus is they do not know when to NOT cut it. You have to stop cutting the spears and allow them to feed the roots eventually or your plants will die. My personal rule of thumb is that I never cut anything smaller than a pencil and I never cut a spear after June 1. So that gives me a harvest comfortably from April 1 to June 1. After that I top dress with some well rotted chicken manure until the next year. 

When the asparagus season has finished the plants will grow the ferns which will in turn put nutrients back into the roots to enable the next crop to grow. Do not touch these ferns until they die back of their own accord and then cut them off at ground level and then it is also time to weed and fertilise them.

Under no circumstance grow any other plants between the rows as those plants will interfere in the roots of the asparagus and the weeding of those plants certainly will.

I grew strawberries between some of my rows of fruit trees several years ago to make use of what I considered then to be a waste of a growing area. Never again as I then found it difficult to pick the fruit and prune the trees. Strawberries are a great fruit to grow but once again keep then in their own part of the garden with enough room between the rows so that you can walk between them for harvesting and also for cultivating the ground which you will need to do on several occasions throughout the year.

Here is a link to a really good paper on the subject from the University of New Hampshire for growing asparagus. 

extension.unh.edu/sites/default/files/migrated_unmanaged_files/Resource006094_Rep8602.pdf

Where ever you put it just remember to prepare your soil well. The crown and root system can grow to an enormous size: 5 to 6 feet in diameter (1.8 Meters) and 10 to 15 feet deep(4.5 Meters) so give it plenty of room. 

I agree with everything that has been said. Asparagus does well in deep, well fertilized soil. Don't start cutting the spears until the 2nd or 3rd year and leave about half uncut so they can form fronds which put nutrients back into the roots so that the following year's spears have energy to grow strong. My asparagus bed is the most heavily fertilized of all my garden. Over winter, after I've cut down the dried fronds, I put rotted manure, mushroom compost and mulch over the bed. Keep it well watered. I too, have volunteer plants coming up in other parts of the garden, because I shred the fronds with berries to use as mulch. Mine is in a patch that gets nearly full sun until later in the afternoon, then is shaded by a fence in the heat of the day.