Cutting down asparagus ferns and feeding plants

I am a bit late doing this now - unfortunately I suffered a slipped disc back in November.

I need an easy way to cut down the ferns in my polytunnel.  Could I use my hedge cutter rather than the slog of doing it by hand with secateurs?

Secondly - this is now a 4 year old bed and I reckon I can crop with reasonable impunity this year.  As this is in the p/t how do I feed the plants?

Thanks for any help
Rob

I used to use a strimmer