Planting an Asparagus Bed for Blackberry Homestead

March 11, 2026

On March 8 (Sunday), Bruce and I walked around Blackberry Homestead to see how things were growing. I took pictures of the work Bruce did with his chainsaw. He cut up more of the tree trunks than I realized.

The peaches and blueberries are blooming.

March 9 (Monday), I went to see the Cardiologist. He did a great job explaining what a blocked right bundle is. It is a conduction affecting the electrical signals in the right lower part of the heart. This causes a delay in the contraction of the right side compared with the left side .The delay is small. He was very reassuring. Most people who have a blocked right bundle don’t have problems with it and live long healthy lives. He did warn me that if I developed chronic fatigue, it could be a heart problem.

I received the asparagus in the mail! I ordered Spartacus and Jersey Knight varieties.

March 10 (Tuesday), Bruce and I walked around Blackberry Homestead. I took some pictures of flowers.

In the afternoon, I started planting the asparagus. I was using a small hand hoe to dig the holes to plant the asparagus. While I planted asparagus, Bruce cut some more logs from Pine Tree 2. When he got tired of cutting logs, he ran the mower around the garden beds. I was still planting the asparagus. He went inside to make supper while I carried on with planting asparagus. I was grateful Bruce was making supper. Planting the asparagus was harder on my back than I expected. I got less than half of the asparagus planted.

Just for my friend, Tom from Reiko’s Journey, who will want to know what Bruce cooked, here’s the menu. Bruce cooked a strip steak, mashed garlic potatoes, and asparagus (such a fuss to pronounce) for dinner. It was delicious! I bet Reiko would have enjoyed the juicy steak!

Today (March 11), I wised up and took the spade fork to plant the rest of the asparagus. Oh, what a difference the right tool makes! It worked great, I didn’t have any back soreness. It was faster and mixed the layers of dirt better. An all-around win for the “work smarter, not harder” saying.

Bruce did more chainsawing while I planted asparagus. He gave it up before I finished planting the rest of the asparagus. I was happy to complete planting the asparagus crowns.

The expected rain started in the afternoon. It has been raining since then with a couple of short breaks between deluges. It is doing a great job watering the asparagus.