Wood for asparagus or any raised garden.

[btrowe1]

Hello went to the next level and am getting asparagus, I plan on building a BOXED enclosure (not raised) around my pit. What type of wood is best recommended for building this. I work in the trades and I'd say treated wood since buried, but it"s considered treated so it"s got stuff (not my first choice of word) in it.

I know all can help Thanks in advance.. It"s GREAT to be growing again..

[tomc]

If your raised beds must have an edging, I'd look at cinder blocks. Asparagus has a longer life than lumber in ground does.

[tomf]

Treated wood has a copper based preservative in it and is fine to use, the old stuff was not so good.

[rainbowgardener]

If you are going to bury wood, it better be treated (and I agree with tom that there aren't so many safety concerns about it these days). But I am not understanding what the point of a buried box is? Your subject line said raised garden, but then you said not raised. You are lining a pit? Why?

[btrowe1]

I like to keep an edge around the area where this is so i don"t go tilling it up too close, I placed an edging around my strawberrys to keep them in place, Not sure how much asparagus spreads? or does it spread. I purchased 40 crowns to plant. .

[Dillbert]

in a strict sense I suppose asparagus does 'spread' - basically the roots / crowns get bigger. but, it by no means the kind of 'spreads everywhere' you get with for example strawberries.

crowns a planted deep - six inches or more. you don't want to till the asparagus bed - mulch and weeding are the usual approach. not sure a defined hard edge/border is needed - but it will not hurt anything.

a primer here"
http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-a ... e?page=0,1

[tomc]

Untreated (two-by) dimensional lumber lasted seven years or less for me in direct contact with soil.

Treated lumber with a liner lasts something like 10 years in direct contact with soil (for me)

While all asparagus does set seed from time to time (which tends to keep beds viable for decades). The roots will grow through most anything alive. So long before your lumber is all rotted away its going to be pierced by more roots than St. Stephen.

Unless you bury your roots heroically deep, rototilling is destructive to asparagus. Keep weeds down with mulch & cardboard.