Planting Asperagus! Part 1

I decided to try something new this year. One of the main reasons I wanted to be a part of a community garden is to grow perennial plants, or those that live longer than one season. I have been reading a lot about asparagus and wanted to grow some in the garden. Asparagus is a long term plant that takes several years to mature, but will then produce for over a decade if taken care of properly. 

The part of the asparagus that you buy at the grocery store is called a "spear" and is the new growth sent up by the asparagus crown, or root system. The picture below shows the asparagus bed we dug a few weeks ago. 

In order to flourish, the crowns must be planted deeply enough. The new shoots of a young plant are not strong enough to break through deep soil. A trench must be dug and then slowly filled in as the asparagus grows taller. The brown clumps you see in the photo are what they look like-aged horse manure.

We planted ten crowns in this bed and we plan to put in another ten. As of this post we are still waiting for the first shoots to come up. Apparently, asparagus grows very slowly.