I recommend 60-80 plants. Minimum 12 plants per person.

Hi Jacob - having as good of a day as a Monday can be.

Asparagus yields can vary by variety and the sex of the plant. The hybrid predominately male varieties like the Jersey strains will be higher yielding than the more female OP types like Mary Washington or Purple Passion.

Mature crowns will probably average 1/2 - 2/3 lb. per plant during the harvest season. To get enough at one cutting for a family of 5 (~1.5 - 2 lbs. ) you would probably want at least 40-50 crowns I'd think. It really depends on how many times a week you want to eat some. If you harvest daily for 3 or 4 days off of 30 crowns and store it in the fridge in cool water it will stay pretty fresh.

Holy crap!! I didn't expect them to be that low of a yield!! I was thinking 14 plants hahahaha. Okay, maybe I should work on devoting a new garden space to them. Assuming 1/2 pound is around 6-8 9-10" long, 1/2-3/4" thick spears according to my sources, then 40-50 crowns would probably be right on for us. I have a few sunny portions of the yard that I could specially devote to asparagus beds, and I could probably wind up getting 40-50 crowns in easily if following that route. Thanks guys. How much compost annually do you find yourself giving them? Fertilizers? I assume they're very heavy feeders only producing that much for such big plants.

You might be surprised at the yield during peak production once the crowns are mature. I’ve often harvested six or more spears from a single crown twice weekly. I don’t like frozen asparagus either but selling it or giving to neighbors is another option. So 20-25 should be enough for your family imo but if you plant 1 yr. old crowns this spring you will not have enough for 4-6 years and by that time your family situation may have changed.

If your not sharing 25 should enough.

Very informative reply. Thanks kfhimmel!

The one point I want to stress ( and no disrespect to kfhimmel) but Mary Washington is an old heirloom variety that will produce about half the yield of newer male-only hybrids. You will see the difference in spear diameter and potential yield the year that you plant crowns. I would highly suggest a newer variety like Jersey Knight or Jersey Supreme.

I had started with ~100 Mary Washington crowns in 1976 and I was satisfied with modest yield for about 20 years. Then I joined another farmers’ market to sell produce and planted 50 Jersey male hybrid crowns. In a few years my overall harvest doubled. Five years ago I just wanted to try starting from seed so I bought 1000 Jersey Supreme seed and planted them. I got about 80% germination and sold a few plants... I figured I planted ~ 750 plants.

From that last planting I now typically sell 120 pounds per week for 5 of 8 weeks I harvest each year. So I figure that 25 crowns should provide you ~ 4 pounds spears a week which is a few good meals for a family of 5. You may want to eat asparagus daily for 8 weeks in which case you could plant more. For me one to two meals a week is plenty but more often if it is grilled or in a cold salad. Just some thoughts to consider.

Jacob - To answer your question on amending the asparagus bed. Prior to planting work the bed well adding a good amount of compost and a balanced fertilizer with maybe a little extra rock phosphate to promote quick root growth on the crowns the first year.

I fertilize 3 or 4 times a year starting with the first feeding in March just prior to the plants breaking dormancy. I then fertilize the second time after harvest is complete in late May or early June. I fertilize once or twice again between July and October. Then around Thanksgiving after the ferns have browned up I cut the ferns down to the ground, add about 2" of compost and another 2-3" of shredded leaves