Thanks for the information. It helps a lot. As near as my wife and I can tell it the patches are 8 to 10yrs old. The patches are 30ft. by 5 ft.
An ideal size for an unusually large family , or for commercial sales.
Monticello has original asparagus beds that are over 200 years old, and are still productive.
They are dug up about every fifty years just to replenish the soil nutrients;
this demonstrates the value of a well dug and prepared original asparagus bed .