Asparagus and potatoes

Asparagus
We built a 4' x 8' cedar box for our asparagus patch. I filled the box with Nature's Best Soil from Lane Forest Products mixed with one wheelbarrow load of pumice for additional drainage. First I dug a trench about eight inches deep. Then I spread the crown roots along the trench, mounding the soil up under the crown, and spaced them about 12 inches apart.

I ran three rows in the bed: 3x3 of 'Jersey Supreme' and 3x4 of 'Jersey Knights.' Supreme starts growing a few weeks earlier than Knights, otherwise they are very similar varieties. It will be interesting to see how the two coexist in one box over the years. Finally, I covered the crowns with about two inches on soil. Once the tips start to grow, I will add more soil to the trenches.

Potatoes
I have two large fiberglass boxes (4' x 4') that I used for potatoes last year with marginal success. I didn't add fertilizer to the soil when I planted and probably didn't water enough either, so our harvest wasn't great. I plan to change that this year.

I emptied the soil from both potato boxes. I put the soil of one box into the last empty garden box. Then dug out the soil from the other box and mixed it with two wheelbarrow loads of Nature's Best. I then filled both boxes with about 3 inches of the soil mix.

I planted 5 red potatoes ('Red Thumb' or 'Red Potomac' I can't remember which) in one box and 5 'German Butterball' potatoes in the other and covered both with another couple inches of soil. As the potato plants grow I will continue to add more soil until the boxes are full.