Vegetables - Asparagus
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  (February) Last Spring, I planted some asparagus roots. They came up nicely, and stayed nice and green and fernlike for the longest time. Now that winter is here, they look just awful (brown and dead looking). I hope this is normal. Is there anything special I should do for this-coming spring?

  The foliage should be cut off now. It will die back to the ground every year after a killing frost. If you started with 2-year-old roots, you can harvest a little this spring. If they were one-year-old roots, hold off another year. After the harvest period, simply allow the foliage to grow, since this produces the energy for strong plants, and thus a strong harvest, once the plants mature.

  This spring I put out some three year roots of asparagus. I went by the book and they have done well. Now I have nice big ferns (the cat likes to sit under there and look the world over) but come fall, I do not know what I am supposed to do with the ferns. Do I cut them down before I bed the ground for their winter nap? The book did not tell me what to do with the ferns.

  As soon as we've had a killing frost, cut off the fern fronds, close to the soil line. The ferns are what manufacture the food during the growing season for good asparagus spear production in the spring. You should be able to harvest next spring, since your plants will actually be four years old.

  I have a bed of asparagus that I would like to move. When is the proper time to move it and are they any precautions we need to take to insure its survival? 

  Move your asparagus this fall after the first killing frost, but begin preparing its new home now. Asparagus likes a rich, humusy environment. Work in manure, compost or similar organic matter and start killing grass and weeds now. Then when you are ready to move it, cut back the top fronds after frost kills them, dig it and move it.

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