"Hobo" wrote in message
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Srgnt Billko wrote:
"Hobo" wrote in message
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Srgnt Billko wrote:
"Chas Hurst" wrote in message
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"Srgnt Billko" wrote in message
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"Srgnt Billko" wrote in message
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actually you can almost see it grow. What was just barely peeking
through the ground Tuesday is now 10" high and will be picked
tomorrow.

Picked a few pounds - we ALL ate good tonight.
Did you ever try mounding the soil up around the shoots as they do in
Europe? Keeps them from getting green and makes for a different
flavor.
Didn't realize that but maybe we'll try it around a few plants.


The idea is to keep the spears from turning green. Cut them off well
below the soil level just as they start to break through. The white
spears are very tender and tasty. They can be sauteed lightly in a pan
with butter, or eaten raw just like a piece of celery. Wonderful texture
and flavour. White asparagus is (or was) a delicacy of the region of
southern Germany along the Rhine.

I notice that you guys say "cut" the spears. We don't cut - we were
taught to "break" them off and that would happen automatically at the
correct point so the plants wouldn't be damaged. How do you determine
the correct point when the are hilled up ? And how high should you mound
up ?. I need to know more because all the spears from a given plant don't
pop up at once - so when and how much ? What happens to the slower
spears if the hilling is done based on the first spear ? We cover them
with a few inches in the fall after growing season. Do they do that in
Europe ?


Good questions. I don't know about the correct method being either 'cut'
or 'twist'. I have always cut them.

While stationed in Germany in the late 1960s, we lived on the economy (ie:
not in base married quarters). Our landlord grew white asparagus for
market. In their garden, the rows were about four feet apart and each row
was mounded about 18 inches high with the soil laying at the angle of
repose. The mounds were smoothed on top and sides using a cement type
trowel. Picking would occur twice a day - morning and late afternoon. They
would walk the rows looking for cracks in the smoothed soil which
indicated a spear about to break through. To cut the spears they used a
cutting blade that was shaped like an inverted 'V' about 2 inches wide at
the cutter and with a tang about 10 inches long. They would slip the
cutter down the side of the spear and cut it about 6 or 8 inches below the
soil level. After removing the stalk, the mound was then smoothed over in
that spot.

Once the beds are established they are left mounded year round. As I
recall, the stalks that were left to grow after the asparagus season was
over were cut off slightly below mound level in late fall.

Thanks - that gives me a better idea of how it works.