using search phrase "how to grow asparagus site:edu" but without quote marks,
get lots of hits.

Try this one from UC Davis
http://vric.ucdavis.edu/pdf/asparagus_growingasparagus.pdf

Here is a link that might be useful: grow 'gus

It depends a great deal on your location as to what works best. There is no "one size fits all".

In your zone protecting the crowns from frost and snow damage with a thick layer of mulch likely isn't required. In colder zones it surely would be. In your zone gus beetles could easily survive under the mulch and over-winter. In the colder zones they couldn't.

So the correlation isn't "mulch equals beetles" but more "no killing freeze equals beetles".

And of course some mulches work better than others. Compost or a layer of leaf mold would be much less hospitable to them than a layer of chopped leaves simply because leaf mold doesn't pack down like chopped leaves do.

Why not use your leaf chopper to make a big pile of chopped leaves to decay over the winter and have a big pile of leaf mold for next spring's garden instead.

The main thing is to get them fed.

Dave

Sorry, Dave, I'm not following!
Should I mulch the gus, or make better compost and feed it later?
I'm not quite understanding your post.
Also, should I spread composted chicken sh** (bagged) in the fall to feed the gus throughout the winter?
Nancy