You might want to guage harvest window on how plants take-off and grow. I wouldn't see why you couldn't "Rob" a spear or 2 this first year if the crowns are shooting up in high numbers. Leave the more spindly shoots. At any rate limit harvest window to 2 weeks this year, about 5 cuttings total. I'm in the other extreme of starting plants from seed for the first time this year. Some have said that I could take a few spears already next year with no adverse effect. I figure I'll just wait to see what the new growth looks like next spring.

You do not say if they are 1 yr old crowns or 3 yr old ones but that is what they are like the first year. As they grow you fill in the trench with more rich soil or compost. In your raise bed it may settle so you can add more soil or you may need to make the bed higher. It will be about 3 years before you will harvest a small crop if you planted 1 yr old crowns.

A little late to the conversation, but I planted asparagus crowns for my first time this spring. I planted the Mary Washington. All plants come up and 1 seems to have berries too. (i thought they would all get them eventually, but according to what I just read, it's a one and only female????) So, I can take the berries off that plant and sprout them as I would other seeds, and get more asparagus to plant out? How long would that take? When can I plant them out? Is it worth it? Should that plant be pulled? I haven't grown asparagus because i'm impatient, but 10 crowns for $3 was an offer I couldn't refuse.

In order to identify the female plants I think you'd have to grow them to seed bearing age (3 years?) - and you might want to make sure they don't get a chance to drop potentially-female seed before weeding them out. Some writers suggest you don't want any seed to drop anyway, to avoid overcrowding the bed with new volunteer plants. As for shipping across borders, many US companies do ship seed to Canada but I haven''t found any willing to ship asparagus root. Whether that's because they're prohibited, and whether it also applies to other plants, I don't know.