How to Grow White Asparagus
Do you love the sophisticated look and delicate flavor of white asparagus yet pause at its price in the grocery store? White asparagus has a more delicate flavor from green asparagus and requires a slightly different growing method. Here are our tips.
To grow white asparagus, blanch stalks by mounding soil before the plants begin to produce spears in the spring. Mound soil to approximately 8 inches high. Spears will emerge from the soil. Do not let spears become too tall: taller spears will be less tender and fibrous near the base.
Harvest spears by cutting individual spears at ground level at a 45 degree angle. Cutting spears below the ground can damage future spear production. Pull spears out of the dirt from the top. Remove soil mounds after harvest.
To encourage spear production in subsequent years, limit your spear harvesting to a 10-day period for the first year. Do not over harvest your plants: asparagus need to replenish and rebuild with adequate water and additional fertility. Over harvested plants may not adequately produce the following year and become permanently stunted.
After harvest, asparagus loses quality very rapidly: sugar content declines and fibrous material increases. Use spears with compact heads. Spears with loose heads are fibrous and do not keep well.
To prevent asparagus spears from becoming tough, cool immediately after harvest.
Beware: white asparagus contains only about one-tenth the vitamin A value of green asparagus.
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Tips for Managing Fallow Garden Beds and Containers