On 2008-08-22 10:31:13 +0100, K said:

Stan The Man writes
On 2008-08-21 14:48:18 +0100, M said:

Grrr, although I grew mine from seed they are only approaching six feet
after 5 years. I haved staked some (with the stick well away from the base)
to stop them snapping off. I cut mine down when they go yellow and dispose
of the growth as its supposed to harbour asparagus beetle.

Does that mean you don't harvest all your crop? I had imagined that
everything would be eaten before it grew beyond a foot... Or does the
plant produce some inedible shrubbery?

The crop is also the means of the plant producing food to keep itself
going! You have to stop cropping mid season (1) to allow the plant to
grow well enough to replenish the crown and replace the lost food which
went to produce the spears you have eaten. Ideally you want it to grow
enough, not just replenish, but also to increase the crown size for
more spears next year.

(1) Traditionally Pershore Fair, so I'm told, around mid summer day.

Is mid-summer the same as the longest day? I am clearly going to have
to continue to exercise some restraint. And you have answered an
unasked question about the number of spears per plant which I had read
would be 20-25 and so I was disappointed to see only 7 or 8 per plant
this year. It seems I must sacrifice to accumulate.