I have a big asparagus bed that is over 30 years old. It still produces lots of ferns, but most of the spears are pencil-thick, and some roots seem to have died off. Every year I spread on a thick layer of compost/ seaweed. All I've read says that asparagus beds last for many years (this site says 20 or more), but none suggest what to do with an old bed. Do I dig out the old roots and start again? Leave a few plants and till deeply all around them? Abandon the site? No article has told me.
I have a big asparagus bed that is over 30 years old. It still produces lots of ferns, but most of the spears are pencil-thick, and some roots seem to have died off. Every year I spread on a thick layer of compost/ seaweed. All I've read says that asparagus beds last for many years (this site says 20 or more), but none suggest what to do with an old bed. Do I dig out the old roots and start again? Leave a few plants and till deeply all around them? Abandon the site? No article has told me.