IMG_1007
My landscape guy cleaned out my asparagus beds.   Considering the below picture more closely resembles my bed last year….

from http://nycgarden.blogspot.com/2011/07/seed-savers.html

It’s a bit of a travesty.  See below.
IMG_1006I think two out of six mature plants survived.  They used to run in a hedge the length of my fence.  I’ve had them longer than two of my kids….

So how do you kill an asparagus bed?  Chop all the stalks off to the ground in mid-spring.  Each stalk only comes back until it’s harvested.  That’s why do you never harvest ALL of the stalks in a year.  The plant can’t make any of it’s own food and generate more stalks without SOMETHING on which to do a bit of photosynthesis.  The only survivors are those that showed up late to the sprouting party and missed the beheading…