Today my husband and I built a perennial vegetable bed for the strawberries and asparagus. Not all vegetables have to be planted new each year!
Because asparagus and strawberry plants are perennial plants we wanted to provide them with a more permanent location so we created a perennial food plant raised bed. I double dug the area and turned everything over, working in some well-composted chicken manure as I went. Then we created the strawberry bed out of 2x4's and filled in the bed with topsoil we had purchased and turned the whole thing over again.
The strawberries I planted were two different types of everbearing strawberry plants: Quinault and Ozark. The asparagus I planted were also two different kinds: one-year Mary Washington Asparagus plants which will produce both male and female shoots, and two-year Jersey Knight Asparagus plants which will produce only male shoots and should also produce a few small shoots for harvest this year.
I was amazed how long the asparagus roots were! For a few of the two-year old plants I actually had my husband use the post hole digger to make sure the planting hole was deep enough to accomodate the full size of the Jersey Knight Asparagus plant roots.
I can't wait to harvest some of the tasty strawberries and tender asparagus shoots this year. And to know that next year there will be even more!
