I think you can plant them where they will be, just remember you cant harvest them until their third year or you will stunt the plant. You should plant as many as will fit in your space, given they are seeded 12 inches apart so they have room to grow. Because it is a perennial and takes several years to even get started before the first harvest and since people like a lot of asparagus and it only produces one crop a year, I suggest you assign or plant an entire 4'x 4' in only asparagus. Have you ever grown it before? The plants get very bushy throughout the summer and need quite a bit of room to spread out so leave good aisle space around it. (After you have harvested the asparagus, consider using the feathery leaves as filler in flower arrangements.)

(DigDirtDave) Much of what you've written, it seems, presupposes that I possess the same knowledge, experience as those I'm asking and already know the answers to the questions I'm asking. To be fair, you may be confused because my posts were made at different times, with slightly different goals etc. My immediate goal is to help ensure the survival of what I've managed to grow so far and ultimately have as many harvestable crops of asparagus as possible. Regarding my location, that, thanks to the new and improved houzz version of this forum. As I recall, our zone, state, etc was automatically included to posts on the original Gardenweb. I had not been turned on to your workaround of using "last name" to display zone info. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. That said I would think that wherever asparagus does grow, it would grow under the same general conditions. Many gardeners battle against nature rather than paying attention, listening to and working with it. Due to this, I've seen plenty of failed attempts of people trying to grow asparagus (or any other crop for that matter) where they want it, the way they want to grow it, etc. When it (asparagus) just pops up and grows somewhere successfully, you know that's what it likes...and that's what I want to know. If, just for example, one wanted to grow cattails but knew absolutely nothing about cattails they could simply plant them somewhere they want them and will most probably fail. One could go to additional effort, "create a bed for them" trying to recreate an environment they might prefer. I would just learn about them to find that their ideal environment already exists literally in my own backyard. Done! That's one of the reasons I'm asking about the natural growing habits and environments of "Wild Asparagus". If nature has already created the perfect asparagus bed for me so that I don't have to that would be convenient, very welcome and appreciated! There are locations along the bank that I would much rather have covered with asparagus than weeds. I am not, in any way against creating a properly prepared asparagus bed; this is and has always been my intention. However, I currently don't have a great deal of time to spend on this (too many other things take priority) and with the seasons changing I'm feeling rushed to get it done NOW. I suppose what may be giving me the biggest problem is that, with some things, I may be a bit of a perfectionist. I'm thinking that when planting Asparagus you need to prepare -- not merely for a growing season but-- for future decades so I want to do make sure I'm doing it right ..and I'm not exactly sure I know what that is. Also, as I said, as far as I know there may be locations and pre-existing conditions under which it will thrive better than where I might otherwise plant it, regardless of any preparations I could make.

My chickens will get into my Asparagus jungle after I have let them fern out after harvest but I'm not sure how many beetles they eat. Most of the beetles and larvae I see are towards the top of the ferns, but maybe I just don't see the ones lower down in the jungle. I try to limit the time they spend in the patch because I don't want them scratching down to far and damaging the crowns.

Before you contemplate any major maintenance...look at the taller trees there. Get a rough measurement of the height. Look up how much it would cost to buy a tree of that height and have it installed. The older trees are treasures that would take a lot of time or money to replace...and replacement trees that height would likely have inferior root systems to trees of that height that grew in place, and thus would be more vulnerable to drought and wind. Remember that when people start telling you to take trees down to fit in with the current fad. If you are growing trees from seed, no need to limit yourself to trees on your property. A walk through the woods or a deal with your botanic garden can yield a lot of seeds from a lot of interesting trees. I find white oak and hickory are the best bets...it's hard to transplant mature ones or find them for sale, but they are great trees that grow well from seed that is readily available. As far as general storm water maintenance...wisconsontom is the person to ask. Draw up a map showing North, the location of hills and seasonal swamps, the direction water flows, the prevailing wind direction, and any unsightly views. It's nice to have all of this information in one place when you are making plans.