The message
from Kay contains these words:

In article , The Reids
writes
Right, finally getting a crop, having grown it from seed.
Now, some shoots are very thin and some shoots I wasn't around to
pick at the right moment.
Do I pick them anyway to encourage more shoots or do I leave them
there to strengthen the plants?

You leave them!

The initial growing of a shoot takes energy from the plant. It's not
till the shoot has turned green that it starts photosynthesising and
putting energy back into the plant, and doesn't do this on a large scale
until the leaves have opened.

So any shoot that you pick while young is a net loss to the plant -
which is why, when you start cropping seriously, you stop picking by the
end of June, to give the plant the rest of the season to catch up all
the damage you have done early in the season!

Many plants focus their efforts on growing upwards, but if the terminal
bud is damaged, they will throw out side shoots instead. It's in this
situation that cutting back shoots will encourage more shoots. Asparagus
isn't one of these plants.
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

And dont forget that if it`s only a year old plant then you should
simply leave it for another year anyway. Not going to be strong enough
to take much of a crop without harming the plant.