Short Answer: No clipping!
You can stop right here if you want, LOL!
Long Answer: Your Asparagus will be ready to eat 3 years from now. Maybe, two. ;) Those are very thin spears coming up now, mere babes!
Let it do it’s thing - let it frond out and ‘bloom’ this summer into fall. If your soil is good, don’t bother to fertilize until you see them coming up again next spring. Water if you have a dry spell. Resist the temptation to cut the spears next year, too!
When the fronds turn dry and become an eyesore, you can clip them off at ground level, then mulch with straw for the winter months.
Do you get cold enough in the Ozarks for Asparagus? I forget which Zone you’re in. They need a freeze/dormancy period.
I am in Year THREE of my new crop. I can harvest some this season, but I won’t take it all. You want the plant to go through it’s normal life cycle, no matter how much asparagus you have; leave at least one or two stalks per plant to do its thing...
I miss my established 40’ row that I left behind at my old farm, but a nice 4’x8’ patch will do the two of us nicely.
Last time I planted asparagus (30 years ago) our German short hair dug up the crowns and ate them. I can’t remember now what kind they were or where I bought them. Any suggestions as I’d like to try again.?
Another asparagus question:
Should I “hill up” the soil where the little shoots are growing?
I planted them in a deep “V” and filled the shoots in as they first came up.