Garden Box 2.0

[felis_lupus]

Garden Box 2.0
Originally uploaded by gshower7

Eyup, it's been a few weeks. I'm still alive. No worries.

And I have a big pile of dirt to play in! Yaaaay! Unfortunately it's raining, and shoveling a yard and a half of soil/compost mix in the wet doesn't seem like a whole lot of fun, if I can avoid it... I have covered it with a tarp to hopefully stave off some of the soggy.

Found the sunny spot on the property (morning till 2:00 PM, or so...), and Max helped me put together the raised garden box over the last two weekends, out of rafters from the old garage. I think it'll work. 4' x 12' x 10" high, divided in the middle. I have some seeds started, others that will be started soon, since they're probably not going in the ground till next weekend at this point, and I want at least a little jump on things. Kinda late anyway, but I'll give it a go...

Plans are for Quinoa ('Brightest Brilliant Rainbow'!), cucumbers, and at least one tomato ('Yellow Pear', started a few weeks ago, still small... hoping to maybe pick up another 'Pineapple' at the Farmer's Market or somewhere), and maybe some of whatever 6-paks are left at work. Half the box and possibly half the other side will be annuals, the other side will focus more on the perennial veggies, like asparagus and rhubarb and strawberries. Mmmm...

I am going to have some soil left over, which will find homes in the terraces and where I ripped out the wintercreeper, and will hopefully help improve the semi-sandy, pale, nutrient-poor stuff that is there now.

Comments

[brokk.livejournal.com]

You'll need to forget the box and just dedicate a side area to the asparagus. There is a variety of advice on how deep to bury the asparagus crowns. Most often it's about 18" deep, but I've heard 2' and also from more modern crop factories that go as little as 6". How long your asparagus lasts seems to be in direct proportion to how deep you bury them. The 24" folks say you can get 100 years out of their beds. The 18" folks say 30 years. The 6" folks say 5 years (and given you really can't harvest for the first couple years, 5 years seems pretty short).

Count on digging yourself a shallow grave, planting the crowns 12" apart, and then filling in the grave with mostly compost with a little dirt thrown in for good measure. Don't walk on the bed, ever. You don't want to pack it down, since they have to struggle up through all that soil.

[felis-lupus.livejournal.com]

Oooo... thanks for the good advice on the asparagus!! I've never done it, haven't had the space, and haven't done the research yet. :) I think I need to re-dig and plant the stuff at work deeper, too... 24" down? That's amazing they can get through all that... but given how tall the ferns currently are, I suppose it makes some sense.