Matt Asher, age 12, of Longview, Wash., for his question:

IS ASPARAGUS DIFFICULT TO GROW?

Asparagus is difficult to grow. Gardeners usually plant year old roots because roots produce a crop one year sooner than seeds. Male and female flowers grow on separate plants.

Gardeners fertilize the soil well and plant the roots of asparagus about 18 inches apart in furrows four to eight inches deep. The rows are dug four to five feet apart. Such plantings usually produce a crop in the third season and may continue to produce for 15 to 20 years.

The asparagus we eat is the young shoot or stem of one kind of asparagus plant.

Edible asparagus was first grown in regions around the Mediterranean Sea. The Greeks and Romans used it for food and medicine 2,000 years ago.

Asparagus has been grown in America since the 1600s.

Asparagus belongs to the lily family. Asparagus beetles that eat and destroy crops are controlled with insecticides. A serious plant disease, called asparagus rust, can be prevented by planting rust resistant varieties of asparagus.