Growing asparagus is an art and your harvest depends on your patience and type of soil and climate. If you plant 10 roots and wait a few years before you harvest they can provide you with bushels of asparagus tips every spring. You do need to let some of the stalks flower and mature but how many and when depends again on your soil and climate. Where do you live? Do you have raised beds? Do have access to composted dairy manure? You could just plant the roots this year and stand back and see what pops up. Keep growing, Marianne Binetti