Last Updated on October 9, 2026

How to Plant Asparagus Crowns (Depth, Spacing, Raised Beds)

Plant asparagus crowns in spring in a trench about 8 inches deep, buds up, 12 to 18 inches apart, and cover them with 2 inches of soil. Go shallower in heavy clay and deeper in light, sandy soil. Fill the rest of the trench a couple of inches at a time as the spears grow, and keep the bed watered and weeded. Most guides wait until the third spring, counting the one you plant in, before the first harvest.

Planting asparagus crowns, step by step

1. Pick a spot you will not need back. An asparagus planting can last 15 years or more, so University of Minnesota Extension says to choose it carefully: full sun, well-drained soil that holds moisture, and not a low spot where late spring frost can kill emerged spears. The ferns grow tall, so set the bed at the north end of the garden, Minnesota’s tip for keeping it from shading other crops. Asparagus grows best at a soil pH between 6.5 and 7.0.

2. Check the crowns. Good crowns are full and slightly moist, not shriveled, and University of Connecticut Extension adds that they should feel firm. University of Maryland Extension warns that dry brown or soggy black roots point to poor storage and will probably give poor results. University of Maine Extension cuts through a few roots: healthy roots are white inside, and crowns with reddish-brown roots inside may carry Fusarium root rot and should not be planted. One-year-old crowns are the ones to buy if you have the choice.

3. Dig the trench. Make it wide enough to lay the roots out and as deep as your soil calls for (see the depth table below). Pile the soil alongside; it all goes back in over the summer.

4. Set the crowns. Place each crown on the trench floor with the buds pointing up, 12 to 18 inches apart. Set it on a small mound of soil with the roots spread down over the sides, as Maryland does, or lay crowns head to toe so the buds line up about 12 inches apart, Minnesota’s method. Spreading the roots out like an octopus, an old habit, isn’t necessary.

5. Cover with 2 inches of soil and water. Cover the crowns with 2 to 3 inches of soil from the trench and water right away. Don’t let them dry out between setting them in the trench and covering them, Minnesota’s warning.

6. Fill the trench as the spears grow. Small spears come up within 2 to 3 weeks of planting. Once they are sturdy and several inches tall, pull more soil back in. Utah State University Extension adds 2 inches of soil every other month until the trench is level, and says not to bury ferns that are already established. Break up clods first; big dry clods can snap the brittle spears, Minnesota’s reason.

Not every guide fills slowly. Iowa State University Extension fills the trench completely at planting and calls gradual filling unnecessary. Most of the other guides here still fill through the first summer.

How deep to plant asparagus crowns

Heavy soil stays shallow; light, sandy soil goes deeper. Too shallow has its own risk: spears come up too early, where frost can hit them, and tend to be thin, University of Maine’s point about the shallow end.

If you are not sure what you have, 8 inches is the most common figure in these guides.

Asparagus spacing and plants per square foot

In rows, crowns go 12 to 18 inches apart. Virginia Cooperative Extension lists 12 to 18 inches between plants and 36 to 48 inches between rows in its home garden planting guide. Space furrows at least 3 feet apart since the plants spread as they age, Minnesota’s recommendation.

For a bed, there’s a wide-bed option from University of Maryland: three rows with plants 18 inches apart in all directions. That gives each crown 18 x 18 = 324 square inches, or 2.25 square feet, so asparagus works out to less than one plant per square foot, about one crown for every two and a quarter squares. It does not fit the one-plant-per-square grid on my square foot gardening chart. Here is a centered 18-inch layout, crowns spaced 18 inches apart with even margins so the outer ones clear the frame:

This centered layout is one tidy way to fit crowns at 18 inches, not the only way or a target to hit. You can tighten the distance between rows for a few more crowns, but NC State notes that may shorten the life of the bed.

How many asparagus plants per person

Plant 5 to 10 crowns per person (a 10-foot row gives 10 crowns and 3 to 4 pounds of spears). With the newer hybrid varieties you can get away with about half that, 5 per person, enough for the table with perhaps some to freeze or can.

Want extra to freeze or can? Plan on at least 10 per person, up to 25 if you’re putting a lot away, and half that with the newer hybrids, NC State’s higher range.

Planting asparagus in raised beds

A raised bed suits asparagus because drainage matters so much. On poorly drained or heavy soil, a raised bed helps: it keeps the crowns out of the standing water that causes Phytophthora crown rot.

Build the bed on open, loosened ground, not over a closed bottom or landscape fabric. UNH Extension says the crown and root system can grow 5 to 6 feet across and 10 to 15 feet deep, so the roots need the soil under the bed. On open ground, my raised bed depth guide puts the minimum at 12 inches for most vegetables, since roots keep growing into the ground below. A 12-inch bed holds an 8-inch trench with 4 inches of bed soil under the crowns and native soil under that. The raised bed soil calculator works out how much soil a new bed takes.

Give asparagus its own bed. It holds that space for years, and because the bed is rarely dug, perennial weeds can thrive there, Minnesota’s note.

Can you grow asparagus in pots?

It is not a good fit. Every extension guide on this page grows asparagus in the ground or in a bed; pots show up only for starting seedlings. With roots that UNH says can reach 10 to 15 feet deep, a small raised bed on open ground is the better choice. A 4×4 fits up to 9 crowns.

When to plant asparagus crowns

Plant in spring. UConn Extension plants as soon as the soil can be worked; University of Maine instead waits until the danger of frost has passed and the soil has warmed above 50°F. Either way, young spears can be damaged by frost or light freezes, UConn’s reason to keep the bed out of low frost pockets.

Fall is not the time to plant crowns; Virginia Cooperative Extension lists fall planting of asparagus as not recommended. Fall is when you leave the ferns alone until they die back, which is covered below.

To see where your spring falls, look up your last frost date on Plan My Garden’s frost dates page.

How to store asparagus crowns until planting

Plant them as soon as you can. Pick a delivery date close to planting day and refrigerate the crowns until then, Minnesota’s tip. Keep the roots moist but not soaking wet, misting them now and then, and never let them freeze or dry out. To hold them more than a few days, use a cool place or heel them into a trench of moist soil in the shade, both techniques from Maryland.

The no-harvest years

The ferns build the crown. Fern growth is what stores energy underground for next year’s spears, so a new bed needs a couple of seasons of ferns first, Minnesota’s explanation. Extension sources don’t all count the planting year the same way; the table below reads the year you plant as year one and the spring after it as year two.

Pick spears when they are 6 to 8 inches tall. UNH snaps or cuts them at ground level and does not cut more than an inch below the surface, so the spears coming up underneath are not hurt.

Care after planting

Water. Give it an inch of water a week during the first three years, University of Maine’s figure; drought-stressed plants get weak.

Weeds. Pull weeds by hand. Asparagus competes poorly against them, and a hoe can go too deep and nick the roots. A weed-free straw mulch around the plants holds weeds back and keeps the soil moist.

Ferns in fall. Leave them standing until they die back. Nutrients move from the dying ferns down to the crown, so cutting them too early weakens it, UNH’s reasoning. Cut the yellowed foliage to 2-inch stubs after frost and add 4 to 6 inches of mulch, Maryland’s method.

Crowns or seed?

Crowns save a year. Growing from seed instead adds a year before harvest, per Maryland and University of Maine. If you do start seed, it needs warm soil: my vegetable seed germination temperature chart lists a 50°F minimum and a 75-85°F optimum, with seedlings coming up in about 10 days at 77°F and about 24 days at 59°F.

Quick questions

How deep do you plant asparagus crowns?

About 8 inches deep in most soils. Go shallower in heavy clay and deeper in light, sandy soil. Cover the crowns with 2 inches of soil, then fill the trench a little at a time as the spears grow.

How far apart do you plant asparagus crowns?

12 to 18 inches apart in the row. In a raised bed, set them 18 inches apart in every direction, which fits up to 15 crowns in a 4×8 bed.

How many asparagus plants per person?

5 to 10, per Virginia Cooperative Extension. University of Maine suggests 5 crowns per person with the newer hybrid varieties.

Can you plant asparagus crowns in the fall?

Not as a rule. The extension guides on this page plant crowns in late winter or spring, and Virginia Cooperative Extension lists fall planting of asparagus as not recommended.

When can you harvest asparagus after planting crowns?

Most guides skip the planting year and the first spring after it, then pick for 2 to 4 weeks the second spring after planting and 6 to 8 weeks a year once the bed is established.

Draw the asparagus bed first

A bed that stays put for years is easiest to plan before anything else goes in. Plan My Garden is free to start: enter your zip code and it finds your frost dates, draw your beds, including the one you are saving for asparagus, pick the crops for the rest of the garden, and it places each plant at square-foot spacing and builds a planting schedule from your frost dates.

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