Companion planting asparagus

We are prepping our asparagus beds for winter planting for the first time. This is in our kitchen garden which is fenced away from all our animals. We have roughly an 8'x10' section. What would you recomment planting with it? We are in Houston, TX, and it is an almost completely sunny spot. I definitely want something to grow there but am not sure what type of plant - maybe something like sunflowers that would shade the ferns a bit in the summer but be gone by spring when the asparagus is growing? And it wouldn't distubr the aspragus roots to plant?

Asparagus doesn't mind sun, and it's the mature plants that need it most, not the young sprouts.  I find the challenge with it is that it's kind of a space-hog by itself, so companion planting is a good idea...but how?  The big ferny plants are itchy to walk among and also sort of brittle....a summer asparagus patch isn't a pleasant place to be in.  Winter squash is one thing I've done....the vines grow under the ferns and you don't have to harvest till fall and only once.  You can plant this in holes here and there, even along the edges of the plot and train the vines to go in and under.  The other thing is the whole patch is empty in the winter....the ferns die and you can cut them, and the new sprouts don't show up till spring is well advanced....so it's a good place to grow winter stuff if your climate is amenable to it....but yes you would want to transplant into it or take out very shallow seed rows so as not to disturb the roots of the asparagus.  Right now, I'm "companion planting" my asparagus with geese!  The area has a bermuda grass problem, which isn't much of an issue for the asparagus itself, but it makes growing anything else with it pretty much impossible.  Except for geese!

Not much room for anything else. Asparagus has no known pests in texas. Only thing recommended is remove the growth when it dies. Something about the seeds attracting pests, but havent experienced this in texas.

The Direct Tv guy dug a hole in the middle of my patch to put the dish in. It was winter and i had removed all the tops. Not his fault.  

I have my zone 6 asparagus planted in a long row, with rhubarb on one side and strawberries on the other as ground cover. Basil is interplanted, with horseradish and ginger on either end of the row. An about 10 foot pollarded mulberry is off to one side with a grape trailing through it, giving it some protection during the hottest hours of the day.

I also have strawberries under my asparagus.  It just seemed like a good idea, and when I looked it up it seemed more than one person had also thought so.  I did have a grand plan to make a low cage for the strawberries with a weld mesh roof that the asparagus could go through and be supported by, but open sides that I could temporarily put on when the strawberries needed protection.  My major problem with the asparagus is slugs though, and the strawberries walked off elsewhere, and it didn't seem worth building a cage yet.

Would asparagus be ok with sunflowers? I'd guess they wouldn't compete. I also wondered about mustard to give a crop when the asparagus dies back

I am liking this thread.  Personally I would like to plant N-fixing plants to help their N-greedy fixation needs.  

One thing I plan to do with this one is plant in a bed that has been covered by partially broken down wood chips inoculate with wine caps spore.

The material left behind is magnificent gardening bedding. Despite its origins.

Since I am making the soil bedding, I can give a planting of components for specific purposes.


Er

I am prepping a new garden.  It will have several raised beds, all of which will be surrounded by a deer fence.  Along the interior of the fence I plan on planting a long row of asparagus.  I was thinking that I would plant them between every 2-4 feet.  In between I would plant some type of N fixer.  It could be a clover variety or hairy vetch, but I want to keep it controlled.  I could also plant peas or beans or any of a whole assortment of different N fixers.

In any case, all asparagus plants would be planted in a fertile hole filled with a manure/bone/bloodmeal mixture topped with a thick layer of woodchips that would be inoculated by wine caps.  In fact, I think that the Wine Caps and wood chips would be located both inside and outside the fence like, perhaps to a width of 2' from the fence (4' overall), and 6-8" thick.  This would really fortify the soil with all sorts of microbial goodies.



Eric

Strawberries are a classic.  When in doubt, toss some white clover seeds on for a nitrogen fixing cover crop.  Should support asparagus growth.

I read somewhere petunias repel asparagus beetle. So I planted petunias In my asparagus bed. Does it work? I honestly don't know if I even know what an asparagus beetle looks like. I get so much asparagus, and it tastes better than I imagined it could, so maybe 🤔.  In my zone the petunias are perennial. They look pretty, and when the petunias Wilt it reminds me to water in the summer when the asparagus is just a pretty fern like plant.
I've read basil, nasturtium, comfrey, and tomato. I haven't tried any of these, because I grow in a raised bed (gophers prevent me from planting anything in the ground) At this point there just isn't any extra room.
Good luck

I read somewhere that tomatoes repel asparagus beetles, so I tried growing some in front of my asparagus bed. So far, so good--many less beetles.

I tried using wild strawberries as a ground cover around the asparagus --after 2 years, can't tell if they're helping or hindering!

I'm on my fourth year with my asparagus patch and I have thrown a few different plants in to see how they mingle with my crowns.

Strawberries have been the most cooperative out of everything. I think the shallow roots compliment the asparagus crowns well. I'm not getting a crazy amount of strawberries out of the deal but I do get enough to pop a few in my mouth from time to time.

I've had decent luck with growing dill as well.

This spring is the start of my third year with asparagus.  I have a 16' x 2' bed I planted crowns in first then added strawberries.  Last year we did get some asparagus but left most of it.  This year we will get a lot I am sure.  The strawberries have been fantastic!  Lots of large, very wonderful berries.

Thank you for the note about the seeds attracting the asparagus beetles, good to know.  I moved my asparagus from one garden bed to another. The old bed had some random spears pop up over the years that never seem to have a problem with the bugs. The new patch I created had so many bugs we gave up on it. My thought is to just plant some asparagus randomly on my property (with a pirates map drawn to remember where they are) to see if keeping them separate would work in keeping them bug free.

I saw a picture of a local saffron field - looked ripe for asparagus, or strawberries. Harvest is autumn, so minimal impact on asparagus or strawberries.

Jen Fulkerson wrote: I haven't tried any of these, because I grow in a raised bed (gophers prevent me from planting anything in the ground) At this point there just isn't any extra room.
Good luck

We have lots of gophers too and I have not planted asparagus because I thought they’d be decimated by gophers. However, a local gardener friend of mine (who also has lots of gophers) says gophers don’t touch his asparagus, which are planted all over his property randomly.

I say let’s try planting some asparagus seeds out in the fields, and see what happens!

Here in the deep southern US I have found cilantro to be a good companion to asparagus. The cilantro starts to go to seed about the same time as the asparagus starts to appear after winter. I harvest the cilantro gradually as the asparagus gets taller. I let some make seeds & spread those around. They easily sprout again in the fall when the asparagus is starting to fade.