If you buy from seed, you have to wait two or three years before picking it. As far as the yield, I don't know... I think I remember reading somewhere that you can cut it every two or three weeks for one plant. I could be making that up though.

When its harvest time for that particular veggie or fruit in your area is when its the cheapest. Soon local grocery stores will have asparagus on sale. When my green beans are in full season I couldnt give them to my worst enemy, let alone sell them. But if you have it, you will eat it and it will taste good.
My Mother and step dad had 10 plants and had more than those two could eat. I planted 75 against their better judgement, Why? because my father always planted three times more than he needed. I can always sell, trade, or give them out.
So my advice to you is order early and see what grows best in your area. I bought mine from Nourse Farms. Oh it takes two-three years to get the plants established before you can actually pick.

Frank, you may want to search old threads here. There has been a lot of useful discussion about how to grow asparagus. I'm still getting up my courage, while wondering if I have a deep and fertile enough spot to grow it in. Most of Wisconsin is great for "gus." I grew up there, and remember it along the roadsides in the country when we went bicycling. There aren't so many of those wide hedgerows anymore.

Good luck and enjoy your yummy crop.

Hepatica

Yes, along hepatica's lines many threads with more discussion. I used to grow and installed several beds at friends' houses, I don't have room at this house currently. You can expect for 50 crowns to get a small yield the second year, then increasing thereafter, and that will feed a family of four maybe 2-3x/week for 4-6-8 weeks depending. You'll save a lot of money if you purchase seed, but you'll lose a year and a window for other seedlings. If that is worth it, go for it. Best crop to grow IMHO.

Dan

Howdy FrankTank,
You can check out my video link below for a step by step on planting Asparagus French Intensive/BioDynamic Style (square foot gardening), Even though I am planted out at 1' o/c I still planted tomatoes,peppers,onions,garlics,and cucumbers in between (worked great too ;-)

I couldn't stand it's barrenness...
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Here is a link that might be useful: French Intensive/BioDynamic Asparagus (see all four)

Wonder if i could plant strawberries between rows of asparagus??? I know they'll send out runners, but i pot those up.

Strawberries and asparagus... Now that is spring in Wisconsin!

It grows wild all over up here, but its annoying to be running all the time to get more.

I'll dig up those old threads.

I put in 42 one year old asparagus crowns three years ago for my wife and me. Read somewhere that 25 plants/person is a good number. I want more so plan on adding about 20 more plants. I'd advise planting male only hybrids; they are worth the extra money in the long run. I put in half Martha Washingtons (old reliable but has males and females) and half Jersey Knight male hybrids. I should have used all male hybrids and no M. Washingtons as the females have berries, wasting production and making small crowns grow all over. Here in N. VA the soil in my yard is all heavy clay, so I spent much time (about 1/2hr/crown) digging out clay to about 8in and then refiling with compost, manure, clay, and sand, and some lime. Planted crowns 6-8 in deep, and have added some soil, compost, leaves since. Some harvest first year, much better second year. Have planted more Jersey Knights in temp bed that I'll dig in when I get more bed dug this spring.

I wouldn't mix strawberries and 'gus. By the time the shoots get up past the berries, they'll be past their prime and they tend to grow up FAST.

How much asparagus will you get? Not enough!

I'm planting asparagus from seed, this spring. Purple and green...so that should make a pretty display. They're supposed to be very tender, too :)

As for planting with the asparagus, I think your best strawberry choice would be the little wild strawberries, or frais des bois. They don't provide as much fruit, but they also don't send out runners. They stay small and are very tasty!

Tomatoes, basil, parsley, marigolds and nasturtiums are all supposed to be good companion plants with asparagus. I don't know if I'd grow them all in the same bed, but maybe on the ends of the asparagus bed...or the flowers in front. I've also thought that cosmos would be really pretty, in front of the asparagus.

I've got my Johnny's catalog has Jersey Supreme and Jersey Knight...

Frank,

Three years ago, I planted 25 Martha Washingtons, and 25 Purple Passion. Took a very light harvest last year, and will pick it more heavily this year.

I sectioned off a 5' by 15' section of the garden and deemed it the asparagus bed. I'm letting it do its thing. The asparagus has filled in pretty thick. After the harvest, the remaining stalks get pretty tall and fern-y and seem to prevent much light from reaching the ground. I hardly have any weeds amongst the asparagus. I don't think I'd want to plant anything too close to them.

As a rule of thumb, you can expect around 1/2 pound per plant +/- so you could expect around 25# from 50 plants , once they are producing.

I also recommend the all male asparagus--anything in the Jersey series. Female plants require a lot more weeding to keep the bed from getting crowded with little plants. Fifty plants should give a family of four or five lots and lots of asparagus for a 6-8 week period once the plants are mature--third year and after.

I agree with Nicole: the yield is never enough! Especially after your friends figure out when harvest comes.

Dan

I concur with the Jersey varieties. I also like Millenium, which does well in heavier soils and makes a nice spear. If your rows are wide enough, I'd recommend companion planting with tomatoes as asparagus repels tomato hornworms and tomatoes repel asparagus beetles. I would, however, go with determinate tomatoes. I use Romas. I've also had great peppers planted between the gus rows. The purple asparagus makes a really nice spear that is sweet and good eaten raw. They don't produce as well as the green, and mine tend to blow over easier. Lime heavily as gus loves sweet soil.

Brook