Well, being facetious, the answer to ”how you would do things differently if you were starting over.?” would be I wouldn't do anything differently because I did the necessary research long before I ordered the plants😉 But that doesn't help you.

It does spread but not fast. Plant in a row for ease of access. An asparagus bed can grow for many years so pre-preparation of the site is really important. You must remove any perennial weeds because you will not be able to dig in the bed for years to come. Basics such as planting position and distance between plants are available all over the internet eg. https://www.rhs.org.uk/vegetables/asparagus/grow-your-own

I have worked hard to grow asparagus. Ditto on preparing beds correctly now. I found it spreads very very slowly. I wish it spread faster. I would make it a rectangular planting. Follow instructions and watch out for asparagus beetles they are small and will kill your plants.

I LOVE being able to pick asparagus in April/May before most of my seeds even go in the ground!

Aspagrus spreads very slowly; this partly depends on your soil.

You can create the bed in any design that works best for you.

Dig you trench(s) and lay the roots about 18" apart.

There are several different planting methods and you really need to read up on them before your roots arrive so you can decide which is best for you.

Best of luck to you.

One thing I'll add: Asparagus is for many years. It's cutting time is in the Spring and only after a couple of years of just letting it grow strong roots. The rest of the time it is just an area of large green fronds blowing in the wind. So, you want to plant it where their look won't bother you. You could put it along a fence line with annual flowers in front - for the rest of the Summer. It is a good backdrop for picking-flowers.

Thank you for your comments. I put down black plastic to kill weeds before I plant asparagus, but I have weeds in this area that spread at the topsoil level and they intrude from outside the garden. I thought maybe putting in asparagus I could salt them out because the weeds' roots are less than 6" deep. What do you think? Will the salt stop the weeds?

When can I start salting these weeds? Midway through the first season??? Or not until the next season?

I was also considering putting roof flashing around the edges of my garden to stop the intrusion of weeds, and then figure the salting would stop them.

My garden is 10' wide. Should I plant a single row, or a square?

i would like to know if you experienced asparagus growers remove your female plants. Are they thst much less productive? Are the seedlings worth transplanting?

My bed is plsnted agsinst a 3ft fence on which I grew red cardinal beans. I liked the look of the red flowers scrambling through the fronds so plan to repeat this year.

Keep in mind that your plants will need supporting, at least by string.

I've never really don't noticed any difference in production between male and female plants but then I've never marked which ones are which and you can't tell until long after harvest when they fern out and start to produce berries. I let some of the seedlings grow if they are not near other mature plants. I've also transplanted a few where the original crown in that area died off.

I'd plant them in a area where you won't have to reach much more than 2' into the bed to harvest. I have mine planted in 4' wide raised beds and can harvest from both sides.

I can't help you on your salting question. Never tried it myself.

Personally I wouldn't salt the bed. Instead I mulch heavily in the fall with leaf litter. Then in the spring I use Preen.

I know a lot of people use Preen, but my experience on or near any plant has not been good.

Salt kills the ground it lands on; plants dont grow because of this. why is this OK for asparagus?

1. It will spread at the most a couple of inches a year. The first year it will come straight up from the point you planted it and a year or two after. Then as the root ball grows so does the growth ring. A large mature root crown may be 8" in diameter and the lateral roots may spread out a couple of feet from the crown but this is about there limit and most growth is down several feet.

2. Confinement material? Don't worry about, you're wasting your time but here is a link which shows a picture of the asparagus root system.

3. You can plant them any way you want but it's much easier to manage if it's in a row. Commercial producers plant in a row, I do any most people do.

4. Planting space varies by the source but the University of Minnesota suggests 12" and the distance I plant mine.

5. What I would do differently is give more space between rows. I went 4' between rows but as the plants matured I ended up with about a foot and a half to walk and always step on a few spears during each cutting. At least 5' would of been better.

I've been raising the stuff for 25 years and have about 200 plants in the ground right now. I would never think about using salt to control weeds. It's not highly effective and will eventually effect your asparagus because you'll have the urge to keep adding more to get the salt tolerant weeds, so forget about it.

It's a lot of work but 10 plants would only take you 15 minutes to weed. A weed free patch is critical the first two years of growth and to many weeds will effect the plants yield for the rest of it's life. After that if some weeds take over at times they'll have little effect on the plant because the roots go down 5' to 10'.

Learn to use a hoe. In a few weeks I'll go out and clean out the beds, spread fertilizer and till in 2" to 3" deep. the rest of my weed control is with hoes. I use a straight and hoop hoe to control weeds and can pluck out a weed a 1/2" from a spear. Any weeds closer and I will actually bend over and pull it. Yep, it's hard work but you'll have 10 plants, I have 200+ so there is no reason on earth why you should even think about using salt.