Is Asparagus Supposed To Do This?

Here is another one of my asparagus starts, peeking through the ground...I like the fact that it is just a petite version of what it will become. Here are a couple of the other starts that are further along...I am a bit confused though, is asparagus supposed to turn into a bushy looking plant? I read somewhere that you plant them in trenches so that as the tips appear you can keep adding soil - never completely covering the plant, but keeping soil right up to it's "neck". Well, I was away for a few days recently and it was during a heat wave while I was gone that these plants took off...I wasn't there to keep pushing dirt over them. Did I end up making a mistake? I haven't been able to find an answer yet, so I am continuing to add dirt and hoping for the best.

Really though, I already knew that I wasn't going to be able to pick and eat any of the asparagus this year anyway, they are supposed to be given a year to establish roots before they are picked, so there is still a year to wait and see what comes of these plants.

That's how gardening is sometimes, lots of questions that require patience to get answers to. I do wish frequently that I had a near-by garden mentor to ask these questions. Poking around online doesn't always do it for me, I like asking real people questions and hearing their answers in person...doesn't everyone prefer that?

UPDATE

Before I explain the update, I have a confession to make. I have been feeling beyond overly stressed lately as my job is coming to a close. Not wanting to neglect this blog - it is a great source of joy for me right now - I "power blogged" last weekend, basically came up with several blogs that I could publish later. This is one of them. Now, after the fact, I am realizing that although it seemed like an excellent idea, and in many ways it still is, there is a flaw in my little system.

Here's the flaw, when I wrote this post, I was genuinely having questions about the asparagus in my garden. Since writing this post I have been doing some reading. Specifically, I have been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. By the way, I am only a few chapters in, and I absolutely am loving the book! But back to what I was explaining, Kingsolver wrote an entire chapter on her lifetime of experience with asparagus. I was fascinated by this chapter, I even read it out loud to the husband before we went to sleep a few nights ago. I highly recommend the book - not just for the asparagus information - it is a great account of her family's year of eating locally. To misquote a famously cheesy movie "She had me at asparagus", though in reality she probably had me earlier than that. I may even have to do an actual review of the book sometime this summer when I've finally finished it.

So all of that brings me to my final point...my asparagus is behaving in a very normal, typical, "asparagus-like" fashion. I don't need to worry, simply watering and continuing to fill in the trench as the plants grow is all I need to do this year. There is an art to picking asparagus and knowing when to stop, but it seems I don't need to worry about that yet. Kingsolver says to wait until the thrird season before picking asparagus, I've heard the second before, I'm not sure what is right. I'm thinking I'll wait until next year and decide then.

I'm now done rambling about asparagus, have a lovely day!