[SusieB]

I would like to improve my asparagus bed, as I don't get a good harvest. 

They're in a raised bed, but when I planted them I was very short of soil.  There is plenty of room to put more soil and compost of top, I could put up to another 8 inches.  How much soil could I put on top?  Will this help them?

I have lost a few, is there a problem buying a new crowns to fill in the gaps?

Thank you.

[JayG]

Asparagus will at least try to develop a very deep root system but hates waterlogging, so what's underneath is more important than what's on top. Good drainage is the number one requirement

Another ingredient is time - despite having dug up one of my 2 rows to make room for other crops I actually had more from the remaining 5 plants this year than I ever got from 10 - this is after 10 years or so!

Mulching in winter helps protect and to some extent feed the crowns after you have cut the ferns down, but I think the most important thing is to keep them well fed and watered after you have stopped harvesting the spears to make sure the ferns grow strong enough to help the plants build up their energy for next year's crop, especially if your soil is light and poor like mine.

[cadalot]

I love asparagus and have bought some seeds to grow, what do you recommend about numbers and size of area to plant as I need to get this right and need to get the location right as they are a long time investment.

[JayG]

The number of spears you can expect to get per plant per year is not a figure you can predict with any accuracy - 15-25 seems to be the normal range but I wouldn't count on much more than the lower figure at least until the plants are fully mature and 100% happy with their growing conditions.

Growing from seed can of course be done, but apart from the additional delay you will have a mixture of male and female plants, and you won't know which is which until they produce ferns and, in the case of female plants, berries (they both flower.)
Female plants tend to be less productive than male, which is why many of the most popular varieties these days are all-male hybrids bought as 1 or 2 year old crowns.

[Kristen]

I love asparagus and have bought some seeds to grow, what do you recommend about numbers and size of area to plant as I need to get this right and need to get the location right as they are a long time investment.

I did that, partly because my plot wasn't ready so I used the intervening year to raise the plants and saved the cost of the crowns. I bought two packets of seed in the autumn sale for 50p each ... I have about 40 plants (and I can tell you that that provides "plenty" of spears

Mine are a mix of Mary Washington and a single Male-only F1 variety (name forgotten). If I was doing it again I would definitely only sow male-only F1 seed; the fact that the female spears are thinner doesn't bother us, lot of the spears are not as handsome as the ones in the supermarket! but we cook them anyway, and they taste fine. The females seeding over the plot is not so good ...

You need enough plants that you get a meal's worth at whatever frequency you want them. They need picking twice a week, and you'll probably get a spear from each plant on average on, I am guessing, 80% of the plants.  Next year I'll remember to count them! So on that basis (bit finger-in-air, sorry) that's 16 spears from 20 plants, just about enough for 4 people, plenty of 2 people, and that would be twice a week.  You wouldn't have enough surplus for freezing / making soup (although I do convert all the stalks etc into soup)

There are some pictures / details of the raising of the plants, and planting out, on my blog.

[cadalot]

Can you PM me your Blog address please

[Kristen]

You should be able to click the "World" symbol next to my post?

I'll PM you a link to the page though.

[RaptorUK]

. . . d you won't know which is which until they produce ferns and, in the case of female plants, berries (they both flower.)

Once they flower it is quite easy to tell the female flower from the male flower. . . . you need them to flower though,  the ones I grew from seed this year haven't flowered so I can't sort the males from the females till next year,  so that will mean a second year in their pots.   

[cadalot]

You should be able to click the "World" symbol next to my post?

I'll PM you a link to the page though.

Thanks for the PM and link and I didn't know about the world symbol so thank you