Hence it often is stringy and tough if it is not locally or home grown. My first attempt to grow asparagus was eighteen years ago. I bought a package of asparagus seed, and planted them exactly as I did I carrot seed, figuring that carrots grew downward and asparagus grew upward. Whilst chatting with a seasoned gardener, I bemoaned the fact that the company must have sent me bad seed, as I didn't see any fat green shoots popping out of the ground. Planting asparagus requires an investment of time and liberal amounts of patience but the payoff is that a well cared for asparagus bed that can last decades.
Crowns are the size of a quarter.
Under the crown, long fleshy foot-long roots hang like the tentacles of an octopus. From the top of the crown, little tips start to emerge in the spring. These produce the asparagus spears that shoot out of the ground. The first year, these shoots will be thin as a miniature reed of grass. The second year, they will fill out to the size of a pencil and by the third year some will be plump as your thumb.