Suggestions for asparagus plants?

I need suggestions for what kind of asparagus plants to order. Any thoughts from those of you with experience growing asparagus? My mother's plants were purchased by my step-father, and she has no idea. I'm Zone 6b, with clay soil, which I can amend as necessary.

asparagus need alot of rich compost. My bed has been in for 4 years now and gets better each year. I planted martha washingtons. A friend of mine says that all male plants are better because they do not drop seed letting alot of little ones sprout up. I disagree because I have transplanted all the little ones that do and inlarged my bed. You can pull them and throw them in the coompost pile. Either kind should do ok for you. Just make the soil good and rich. Till deep and looisen it up real good. the roots grow real deep. once established they can make upwards to 20 years. When you buy the plants they come with instructions. If you need more advice on planting let me know.

Darius
I also planted Martha Washington. My first plants were planted 2 years ago so I will be able to harvest a few spears this coming year. As Janet indicated, use alot of manure and compost in preparing the beds. Asparagus is one of my favorite vegtables.

Paul

This message was edited Sunday, Dec 30th 10:08 AM

Same here, I go for the Martha Washington not only because it is an heirloom that's proven its worth but because it is rust resistant. The new "all male" hybrids are known for supposedly producing bigger (and some folks say more) spears simply because they don't spend their energy making seeds like the females do, however, I enjoy seeing the red berries here and there in the garden. (And when I ordered 100 one time I only rec'd about 6 females in the bunch.)
Asparagus roots (or crowns) that are sold in a garden center are expensive to me...5/$5-8. And they are oftentimes only one yr old crowns. You should check out RH Shumway's for one of the best deals around. They sell really nice-sized two-yr old crowns (I rec'd some that were bigger than both my hands with my fingers splayed out!) Since the recommendation is to plant 15 crowns/family member I'd say even w/only two people in the family to increase it to 25/member, to give you more spears per picking.
By the way, Shumway's lists them in one part of their catalog by tens, twenties, fifty/per pack (50 costing $20.50) however, under their bulk section you can buy 100 crowns for $24. (plus a shipping cost based on 9 pounds, which is not very much). What I did several yrs ago was get several other friends/customers involved and we ordered bulk, everyone was very happy. The cost came out to about 24 cents/crown (at 100 crowns it was 30 cents, including shipping, not a bad deal considering (as I said above) I've seen bags of 5 roots for $7 before).
Hope this helps. RH SHumway's is also online at www.rhshumway.com

Shoe, if you do that again, let me know! I have bought them locally, little cretins of crowns, and never had any luck with them, but I know of a group growing in Austin that has to be at least 30 years old, huge spears, and they are from some long forgotten garden that was surrounded by shops. It is one of my favorite veggies and it's also recommended to fight free radicals.

Janet, Paul, 'Shoe... Thanks, esp. for the Shumway's info. I know there are some other Rutgers' hybrids, highly recommended, but I'd rather go with a personal recommendation.

Now, to find enough cash for 100, not that I have room to plant them... maybe divide some with others....

Ibought my original crowns from Lowe's garden center. They were two yr old plants and usully run about 10 crowns for $1.99. I haven't checked to see if they have them in yet. It is usually around the 20th of january when they get them. I have had good results with them.