Moving asparagus

[WCD]

I'm starting work on a kitchen garden for my new place in Maine. There is a pretty good lot of asparagus already growing there, but it isn't in a place where I want it to be.

Is it safe to transplant it to where I want it, or should I just find a way to live with it as it is? I can afford to wait a few years for it to recover if need be.

Thanks.

[simy1]

Pros:

1) asparagus will transplant well in the fall after first frost

Cons:

1) lots and lots of work to dig up those rhizomes 2) lots and lots of work to make a new bed 3) asparagus in full sun interplants well with a number of vegetables, so if you thought of putting vegetables there, at least lettuce or chard will grow in between your asparagus 4) It will take a while to clear the bed of remnant asparagus crowns

[Christopher Norton]

The message from WCD contains these words:

Not knowing what winters are like over there (pretty damn cold I`d imagine) but here`s how i`d do it here in the uk.

Get to about end feb before everything starts to get going with them. Lift the crown giving plenty of room around it as the roots if it`s established will have spread a lot. Dig a trench about 12 inches deep and then mound up the middle to about 10 inches. Plant the crown on top of that. Cover with some soil to about 6 inches. Leave untill you get some shoots off it. Mound the rest up as time progresses and the size of the shoots gets better. I would treat them as first year crowns and do not take anything off them for a couple of years. Let them get over the move.

Hope for the best should be ok.