Alexa Grisvard, age 12, of Cape Girardeau) Mo.) for her question:

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO GROW EDIBLE ASPARAGUS?

That drab looking dirt in the back yard is full of promises. It can, with your help, yield a summer’s worth of gorgeous, good tasting vegetables, plus some to put by for the winter. You need to buy less food, leaving more for the unlucky folks who have to get theirs from the market, and even a small garden has room for a row of asparagus.

The rules for growing plants are set down by Mother Nature. Generally the toughest rules yield the greatest rewards. For example, it takes three years to grow asparagus from seeds to the edible stage, after which you can go on helping yourself for 15 years or more. And those generous roots produce more and fatter cuttings as they grow older.

There is an artful dodge to give you edible asparagus in a year or so.  But the seeds are cheaper and one package should produce enough mature plants to yield 30 pounds of the delicious vegetable each year. You can sow them outdoors in early spring. But it is quicker and more fun to fix a flat of loose soil and raise the seedlings in a warmish room.

It helps to empty the seeds into warm water. Let it cool, drain and repeat several times. Spread the seeds thin and cover with an inch or so of dirt. Keep the surface moist enough to prevent dryness—and practice your patience skills for a while. In a few weeks, the little seedlings will have sprouted tufts of ferny greenery. You may hate to do this, but weed out the weaker ones so that 100 or so sturdy seedlings have room to grow.

Come spring, you can set your flat of greenery outdoors. Soon their thriving roots will need room to spread, and it’s time to prepare their permanent home. Select a sunny spot with good drainage and dig a trench a foot wide and a foot deep. Spade in a rich mixture of compost and topsoil, rotted manure and some sand. Use your gentlest fingers to transplant your seedlings, spread their roots and tuck an inch of soil  under their greenery.

The roots will spread like fists of stringing fingers and come fall the green tops will die down. The next spring, cut the dry tops and remove them. Soon the roots will sprout skinny green spears—but it’s better to let them grow to ferny greenery. That way, the roots will be rich enough to produce plump, edible asparagus the following year.

Now for that artful dodge to get edible asparagus in a year or so. You can buy a batch of 2 year old plants from a nursery. The bare roots are ready to be planted in the spring. If you cut a few thinnish spears to eat, make sure you cut them all. Then let the greenery grow through the summer—and expect a good crop the following year.