Today was a gorgeous day, so I spent a few hours this afternoon cleaning out the asparagus bed to make room for this year's delicious stalks.

First to go were the old-growth stalks, I think from two years, because I recall having to push them aside last spring to get at the new growth. One clump in particular had grown into practically a small tree last year, and even had had a little bird nest in it!  I was also ruthless with the many violets that had already put out leaves; I was tempted to leave them when I found that the crown of each plant hid a blush of purple – little nascent blooms – but no, there are plenty of violets elsewhere in the yard, and this is the place for asparagus. Ditto for the stray garlic sprouts — there's already more than I can handle in the center of the herb garden where it belongs. And encroaching grasses were yanked mercilessly.

But I did leave the stray strawberry runners, since I love the way strawberries and asparagus are ready to enjoy at the same time. I even swept the wooden borders of the bed to make it neat and tidy. Tomorrow I'll spread a nice warm layer of compost on the whole bed, and then I'll just sit back and await the yummyness 🙂

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