Yukon Gold potatoes and the lasagna bed, first asparagus

I was wandering Walmart's garden center about a month ago (I like to browse the garden department of all the big stores every couple of weeks, generally in search of discounted items) when I saw bags of seed potatoes.  It was way too early for our area, but I guess their shipping schedule doesn't acknowledge regional seasonal variations. They were already well sprouted, cheaply priced, and two varieties I don't currently have in my wintered over seed potatoes.  I bought a three pound bag each of Red Norland and Yukon Gold.
When I got home I wrapped the bags in newspaper and put them in the right crisper drawer with my other seed pots. Two weeks later I pulled them all out, laid them on baking trays, and put them on top of the bookcases in the upstairs front bedroom to warm up and sprout a bit more.
On April 9th they went into the ground. I built a 'lasagna bed' of  cardboard, newspaper and compost last fall, and I was pleased to find the soil was rich and full of earthworms this spring when I dug it over for  the potatoes:

Here's a pic of the leggy Yukon Golds that I planted in this bed:

The Red Norland went into a raised bed made of recycled decking material, which held garlic last year. I laid sticks over both beds to keep Sol from sleeping on top of the emerging spuds:

Nearby  I discovered the first asparagus of the year-- and they were purple.  My green asparagus are not showing much, but the purple ones are a bit more precocious:

I'm glad my asparagus has survived it's second winter here in my garden, despite many very cold days  (we were as low as -5) and a bit of snow two nights ago, on April 15th.