Adding material to est. asparagus bed?

[beezneez]

This year I reclaimed a bed that has been dormant for the past 10 years. I am thinking of making permanent raised beds and was wondering how much material I can add to the existing aparagus. The asparagus is 15 years old and I am assuming that I can add a certain amount each year. Does anybody have any experience with this?

[beezneez]

I was also thinking of mixing varities, like adding in a white or purple heirloom. Is asparagus an open pollinator, will it cross?

[mjc]

Yes and yes...

Yes, you can add material, usually no more than a couple of inches a year, to the top of an existing bed...usually heavy in the compost/composted manure.

And yes, the different varieties will cross...but why worry about it unless you want to save seeds...it isn't gong to matter very much, because you are harvesting something that isn't being produced from seeds, but rather the perennial root. Yeah, any chance seedlings would likely be crossed, but proper cleanup of the bed would nearly eliminate those.

[Medbury Gardens]

I add old half rooten sawdust to my Asparagus beds and they do well,keeps the weeds down also adding a few handfuls of salt at the end of the picking season helps keeps weeds at bay,
If you dont have anyone nearby growing Asparagus its worth growing only the one variety so then can get your own seed and grow plants for selling on,Ive found they sell really well.

[Tom C zone 4/5]

For me annual added manure / compost (at least autumnally) and a liberal addition of something for mulch works fine. Keeps weeds down and plants growing vigorously.

The only thing that didn't work in past trials was bark mulch. The year followinng application I got funny twisted ferns. So that went out of application schedule.