how is the best way to dewed and degrass an Asparagus Patch? I have heard that using Ice Cream Salt will do it and not harm the Asparagus Plants.

I tried salt and lived to regret it so it's back to digging out offenders for me.

HI and welcome to NGA!

I actually found a video on you tube about weeding asparagus!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Asparagus roots are deep, 18" or so. We have a lot of wild Asparagus here and it doesn't get weeded and grows just fine. I hope you're weeding for aesthetics and not because you think you need to. I planted grass over my Asparagus and don't mow until it's done for the year. 25 years and its still going strong. My sister planted it in her flower garden so the ferny foliage would look pretty with her Daisies.

Welcome to NGA, @ram64navy94 .

I have to disagree about not keeping an asparagus bed weeded; although your plants may survive, they will not produce as well as they should. The weeds use nutrients from the soil that the asparagus should be getting, and can totally choke out the crowns -- as well as providing cover for asparagus beetles.

Here's a link to an article in the Learning Library about growing asparagus, which mentions the use of salt but does not recommend it because the salt stays in the soil and eventually there will be more than the asparagus can tolerate. https://garden.org/learn/artic...

The key really is diligence in weeding, and using a mulch around the plants can be very helpful in reducing the number of weeds as well.

In December I covered the paths, not the crowns, with 3" of wood chips. I hope it holds down weeds, especially nut grass.

pirl, I got some fresh wood chip mulch in the last year-2, and it's worked well on paths. False strawberry (Duchesnea) is creeping through, and wild violets can push through, but it's been a big help.
Because of Asparagus beetles I like to get the stalks out and rough up the soil. So I plan to add fresh compost or old leaves on my asparagus bed, I did a good hand weeding two years ago and am trying to keep up with it.

We already had the weed blocking fabric on the paths in the asparagus garden but I hope the chips will prevent weeds from coming up.

I'll add our own compost to each crown if it ever stops raining. Eventually it will look like this again by the time the asparagus emerge.

That's a nice looking asparagus patch, Arlene!

Thanks. It's a 12 x 12' plot and produced very well until I believed salt would be the answer for weeds.

pirl said:Thanks. It's a 12 x 12' plot and produced very well until I believed salt would be the answer for weeds.

Ouch!