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brooklyn1 · 07-03-2010, 12:32 PM posted to rec.gardens

(EVP MAN) wrote:

They are calling for the next three days here to be in the low 50's so
looks like I better get out and start digging. Hopefully I can at least
remove the sod tomorrow which is the toughest part. Perhaps Monday I
can then double dig the bed and ad the soil amendments on Tuesday and
mound the bed up. Come Wed. they are calling for rain. I have 50' of
bed to dig but for now I'll only concentrate on the area where the
asparagus crowns will be planted. I still have a small patch of snow in
the shaded part of my yard! I guess the only good part of all this is
the fact that I won't sweat my butt off digging this time of year.

Didn't you mention that you are in PA... the ground should still be
frozen, even if the temps rise to 50ºF and stay there during the day
it will be much colder at night, so your ground will remain frozen for
more then two feet deep. You may, if you're lucky, get a shovel into
like two inches of mud. Here in NY I still have a good two feet of
snow on the ground. The ground is frozen solid except during the day
when the temperature rises to 40ºF so in the few bare spots the soil
gets a wee bit muddy. At night the temps drop into the 20s so the mud
freezes up solid. It's 29ºF here right now (7:30 AM), by noon it'll
be 40ºF, I wouldn't attempt to dig in the ground here until early May
the earliest, even though the ground will have thawed it'll be very
wet because it can't drain until fully thawed to the bottom of the
frost line, it won't be nearly friable enough to dig/till... I'd just
make a big mess. Have you gone out and tried to push a shovel into
the ground, try it and report back.