An asparagus bed is a well dug-over bed with very fine soil where asparagus is planted, the earth usually mounded in rows around the plants. It is usually ten to twelve years before asparagus can be successfully harvested, so the gardener must have a great deal of patience. We had a plot at the house where I was raised and I remember hiding in the vegetable garden, looking at the tall, graceful feathery plants of the asparagus waving above me, hiding me from the house while I raided the peas, leaving a tell-tale trail of pods behind me.