For the past two seasons I have extended my back yard garden a few feet. I have been wanting to create an Asparagus bed for years and decided it was now or never! Asparagus is a perennial vegetable and needs a permanent place to get established and grow. In fact, I have read that you plant it once and enjoy it for 20 years! This Easy Garden Extension will show you how I did it. 
The prep for this Easy Garden Extension began in the fall when I covered the area I wanted to extend with thick black plastic, the type used for a vapor barrier in a crawl space. This will kill the grass in the area and make the soil much easier to till. 
In the spring, all I needed was my Mantis Tiller and my husband! Yep, that REALLY makes it a lot easier! Actually, I could have done this myself and have many times, but I had the misfortune of fracturing my elbow. My job was to pick up rocks with my good arm!
Here is the Mantis Tiller in action. Without this piece of equipment, I would not be Digging My Landscape or planting a back yard garden. Here in East Tennessee, the ground is hard and rocky. People don’t call it Rocky Top for nothing! 
We also tilled in some peat moss and composted manure into the soil. I decided to add a row of heirloom tomatoes this year since the asparagus will be small and just getting established. I just love this freshly tilled soil without a weed in sight! Oh, if it would only stay that way! The down side to rotor tilling is that you are churning those weed seeds and roots right into the soil. So there you have it a short and sweet Easy Garden Extension with a piece of plastic and a few hours with the Mantis. Stayed tuned for a post on Planting Asparagus.
Until next time, Happy Backyard Gardening!
