How deep did the tiller go? Maybe you got lucky and it wasn't deep enough to kill the plants? Dig down carefully and see? Are there chunks of broken up asparagus crowns in the soil, or do you see nothing?

I guess if nothing else, wait and see what happens a little while. Asparagus is pretty tough, maybe even if this year's crop is ruined, perhaps it could regrow?

Not sure how deep it is yet. I can only get out to my garden on the weekends so it will be a few more days before I can inspect the devastation. In the past, the tilling ihas been what I'd consider very deep. Certainly much deeper than you can get with a walk behind tiller. He has a big tractor with a big tiller on the back.

I guess only time will tell.

Anyone else have any thoughts or experience on this? Or am I the only who is dumb enough/unlucky enought to have an asparagus bed tilled under?

Thanks!

The odds are against you I'm sad to say. Crowns will take 'some' abuse but IME tilling the area is more than 'some' abuse and likely did extensive root and crown damage.

Agree that all you can do is wait and see but meanwhile I'd be buying some new crowns while they are available this time of year to add to the area for next year. They won't be available again till fall.

Dave

My asparagus crowns are well below what most tillers reach, but your spears likely were pretty severely pummeled. Wait a few weeks before you throw in the towel.

Do you have records of when you started to harvest from previous years? That will give you a rough estimate of how close the spears were to breaking soil. If your winter was like most of the east coast, you may need to add a few weeks to last years' date.

I hope you told your tiller guy he won't be coming back next year. He could pay for the plants, but losing 3 years is gonna hurt.

Thanks folks!

I've already looked into getting more crowns and my go-to place still has some. I'll investigate this weekend before I pull the trigger on a new order, but I fear planting crows is in my future again!

I don't have my records with me, but I usually harvest from mid-April to mid-May.

Thanks again, even it it was bad news!

I planted Asparagus a long time ago that was called (something) 102. After about ten years I tried to get rid of it. I plowed it, disc it, and planted new crops on top of it. It still grow for years after. When I moved from that house it was still growing. I found that the 102 meant it was supposed to last for 102 years, it just might.

My wife was the only one that ate it and she couldn't keep up. Gave to neighbors and they too got tired of it.

I accidently run my tiller thru it and it just started growing everywhere.