TRANSPLANTING ASPARAGUS

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There's one good reason not to transplant asparagus: It's a lot of work! However, it's also the only way to get full production in the first spring following planting.

My original asparagus patch, for example, was started with two-year-old commercial plants. But five years later, I transplanted some ten-year-old crowns from a neighbor's garden, and when spring rolled around, these transplants-in spite of having been recently moved-actually outproduced the younger (seven years old), established plants. What's more, they were free for the digging.

But (naturally!) there is one catch: If you don't know just how to handle the scavenged plants, your only reward will be improved muscle tone from all the additional gardening exercise. And should you consult the "experts" for advice, most of them will simply tell you that it's easier to buy new plants.

Well, of course it's easier, but you may have more energy than money ... you may not want to wait several years for the payoff ... or your present patch may have become overcrowded and so unproductive that it won't satisfy your family's appetite for this delicious, healthful spring crop. (Just 100 grams of asparagus contains 2.2 grams of protein and at least 900 units of vitamin A and beta-carotene, a component that many people feel has great potential as a cancer preventive.)'

FINDING TRANSPLANT
CANDIDATES

If you don't have a crowded "sparrowgrass" patch of your own to raid for transplants, you'll have to search one out. Fortunately, this perennial is quite hardy, and will live for years on abandoned homesteads. When such a site has enough rainfall to nurture old fruit trees, any asparagus that's been planted has probably survived as well. (Remember, even abandoned farms belong to someone, so seek out permission be fore you start digging.)

In drier parts of the country, "wild" asparagus, which is simply the wayward offspring of the garden plant, is sometimes found along streams and irrigation banks. Neighbors' plots can often provide sources of transplants, too. Although a properly tended bed can be productive for up to 50 years, it will become overcrowded long before that. In fact, if an old plot is dug up and the plants are divided, it will supply enough crowns to plant an area larger than the original patch, and-as a bonus-that same space will actually produce more edible shoots after it's been thinned. Therefore, one of the best ways to get plants of known quality is to exchange the time and labor spent thinning and replanting another gardener's patch for a share of the extra plants. Take heed, though ... you might wind up with more asparagus than you know what to do with. I once dug up an 18-inch-diameter clump that yielded more than 250 plants (at least we found out why it wasn't bearing!).