Asparagus and spring garden chores

Well, since the weather has been so wonderful this last couple weeks, I've been out in the garden, of course! My biggest project has been working on the asparagus bed. As you can see, it's pretty overgrown, to say the least. Battling the quack grass is a constant effort over here. This was taken last fall, but it didn't look all that different this spring. The white part is cardboard covering the pathway. The nasty, grassy patch to the left is my asparagus bed. Sad, I know.

Here's a close up of some of the grass. It's thick!

Last year, as an experiment, I dug up a few feet of the bed and pulled out the asparagus crowns. I transplanted them, to see how that would work. They all survived so this year I've done half the bed. That asparagus is deep and hard to get out! I swear I didn't plant them that deep. There are roots going 2'-3' as well. I don't know if asparagus is one of those that will grow from a little piece of root or if I just missed a lot of crowns, but I had asparagus come up last year where I had dug it up. As I dig it up, I'm transplanting rhubarb. Can't have too much of that stuff! The asparagus and the rhubarb seem to coexist peacefully I hope that continues to be the case since I doubt I'm getting it all.

I'm doing half the bed this year and half next year. That way we'll still have bit of asparagus to eat this year. It's all being transplanted to that big bed that I made of a grain bin ring. That thing is full of all sorts of manure and dirt and compost. It's been sitting there since the end of last summer so I hope it's settled enough to grow my asparagus!

 

 Above is the little bit of the bin bed that has been planted. The straw is mulching some purple asparagus seedling. Hopefully it's not too early to put them out, but they were not happy in the pots anymore.

As part of the fight against the quack grass, I am putting down cardboard every where and mulching. you can see a little bit of the path done. I need to cardboard the path to the left and mulch it. I also need to cardboard the bed itself. The asparagus and rhubarb will push the cardboard aside, no problem! You can see part of the bin bed in the upper left. The other beds you can see to the left have already been planted with beets, peas, lettuce and carrots. Can't wait!

Here's a better look at my cardboard/wood chip pathway idea. I'm sure it won't stop the grass, but I'm hoping to make it a bit more manageable.