If you put the plants on 1 foot centers you can have 16 plants. Older plants will put up more than 1 spear at a time. They will replace the spears you harvest. When the spears start to get noticeably thinner, it is time to stop harvesting and let the plants put on foliage. In a few years, you should have enough to nibble in the garden and bring into the house for dinner.

14 plants in that size bed. Maybe 15 but roots would get very over crowded within a few years. I'd plant 10-12. Older and healthier the crowns the more spears you get - ranges from 2 spears with 1 left to grow to fern and gradually increases to 5-6 spears per crown. Averages 1-2 increase per year of age assuming quality crowns to begin with, good soil, plenty of water especially in your zone, proper nutrition 3x a year, etc.

IMO the amount of production you'd get from such a small bed isn't worth it. If you plant 3 year old crowns then in 3-5 years you'd get enough for 1 meal or so for 2 people. For we two we have three 4'x12' beds and a couple of old patches still producing. But we love gus and also freeze quite a bit of it.

Dave

This post was edited by digdirt on Mon, Jan 20, 14 at 13:05

I live just east of Albq. Because of the low humidity most of the summer, I would do the less dense planting number suggested by Dave. If you go too dense, the water needs are increased for that area. Asparagus do well out here though. They at least use to grow wild along the banks of the Rio Grande. Whether or not it is worth it for one bed will depend on how you plan to eat it. If you want a pile of asparagus on a plate, those 10-12 plants are not likely to accomplish that. If you want to add it to a mix of veggies for stir-fry or a pasta sauce, frittata, etc. the 10-12 could work nicely.

I would put 9, each on a 16 inches square. The 45-54 spears then will come up over a long period, with only the first flush having a reasonable population. You will have to pick them, one or two at a time, and put them in the fridge until there is enough to dress pasta. This is why asparagus needs space. You are really in business at 35 plants or more. 100 would give you plenty, but still not enough to waste if you intend to use asparagus as your staple vegetable for a family over the 4 weeks harvest.

As noted above, a 4X4 bed is not nearly big enough for a reasonable amount of asparagus. Two or three such beds would be better.

The most you could put into a 4X4 bed would be 16 plants and that would be pushing it. I would only put in a dozen.