[wannabesmallholder]

I'm planning to add an asparagus bed to the veg patch this year, but am wondering how big I should make it?  What do you reckon I need for a family of four, plus surplus to give away to friends and family from time to time?

[cloddopper]

It all depends on how much asparagus you feel like eating .

  We are a family of three,,, two adults & one mid tens  teenager . There are 16 male plants in the bed this year will be the fourth year its  been planted . The bed is about 5 x 5 foot square

Last year we barely took 10 reasonable sticks cut with a high grade bread knife wavy edge type that was cut with an angle grinder & fine blade to shape & then bent under heat to the asparagus knife style blade .  This year production after the first liquid feeding in the third  week of March should be a lot better , I hope to cut mid April till mid June

    "  how many asparagus plants should I grow per person ?  "

Put that into Google & stand by to be amazed & /or ready to start grafting hard to get the bed raised & well made .  If you can only plant male plants  as growing berries like a female does takes an awful lot of energy.

 I grew all my own plants from seed  throwing away in the second year all those plants that bore berries . I then waited another year till I had 3 year old crowns in the spring before planting properly in the carefully made bed .

 NB
Young asparagus seedlings look much like grass /weeds & die very easily if sprayed with round up .......  guess how I know ?      My asparagus bed would have been seven years old by now if I'd realised that .


 

 In early November last year 2016 I gave it a 3 inch thick winter mulch coat of home made compost & home made compost manures well mixed up . Next week we will give the bed a light sprinkle of cooking salt to kill off perennial weeds that get blown into the bed .

[wannabesmallholder]

Ok thanks for your reply. I have gone for 2 raised beds, each 120x240cm, but now I getting confused about how many plants I could fit in each. The consensus seems to be they must be spaced 30-45cm apart, but some advice I've read would suggest I'd fit 2 rows in each, but others would suggest only 1. If only one row, then I'd only get 6 plants per bed, which doesn't seem many for a lot of space....

[cloddopper]

Over several years the crowns will spread out under the soil to about 20 inches in diameter for each plant . So long as you use lots of quality home made compost  in early spring & mid autumn a closer planting ought to be OK but you may find you will not only need to add a bit of grow more dressing when mulching up you may also find it beneficial to poke a slow release plant feed stick down near the side of each crown to give each crown a massive gently  boost for an early May through to early July crop .

 I did this to my asparagus yesterday  & also poked a slow feed stick down either side of my five rhubarb crowns .