Topic: Asparagus Roots

[mat]

How deep do asparagus roots go down?  Anyone know?  are they deep or shallow rooted?

In my new garden there's an old compost area, base is concrete, brick sides are about 4ft high and its about 5ft by 4ft in size.  We are having to dig the whole garden as about half-one a spade down is a layer of sandstone... many large enough to create natural stone crazy paving (many about 12" in size!) ... anway I am keeping all stones larger than about fist size for this use, and all the small stuff is going into the base of this compost area to provide drainage for what I want to create as an asparagus bed. 

What I need to know, is whats the minimum depth of soil I need to add on top of this small stone area? (the stone going in is obviously surrounded by a certain amount of sand/loamy soil too)

... not many people have to dig up their stone paths they wish to create ;-)  actually it was a bit of a shock to find the sandstone so close to the surface as the fields behind are very fertile, even growing carrots... so I have decided to try and use it as the paths for my new veggie beds...

Thanks
mat

p.s. its in the wrong location for a compost bed, so please do not suggest I just use it for my compost!

[Vortex]

2 feet of soil below the asparagus should be fine - as long as the brick surround doesn't cause the bed to become a pond. Make sure you put at least 50% well roted manure (2 years old plus) into the bed to form the base on top of which the asparagus sits. You need to plant each crown on a mound 4" high so the crown sits 4" below the eventual soil surface.  You should either plant 12 or 20 crowns in your bed - all depends on how much you like asparagus and how much you're prepared to feed it each autumn.

[Robert_Brenchley]

It sounds as though you need raised beds to increase the soil depth. Build it up to a spit and you'll probably be OK, as plants are pretty adaptable as long as they have a reasonable depth.

[mat]

Thanks Vortex, I'll keep adding the stones then, and then add at least 2 ft of soil on top.

mat

[mat]

It sounds as though you need raised beds to increase the soil depth. Build it up to a spit and you'll probably be OK, as plants are pretty adaptable as long as they have a reasonable depth.

i should be alright without raised beds (my neighbours are ok) I just need to ensure I remove this thin sandstone layer first!  I want to use the compost area for asparagus, as its  agood use of the structure, and keeps perennial weeds out of the bed...

[Robert_Brenchley]

What's under the sandstone?