Amateur Gardening – 21 May 2019

11 MAY 2019AMATEUR GARDENING 45

MONEYis quitethethingwhenit comestoasparagus.It is

mostdefinitelyworthgrowingyourselfif youhavesomespare

groundthatyoucanleaveundisturbed.Asparagus crowns

(therootclusterssoldforplanting

producespearseachspringfor

around 20 yearsbeforethey

needtobereplaced.

Soif youspend,say,£20on

15 crowns,thisworksoutat less

than7ppercrownoverthis

time.Andyouaresuretoget

sixtotenspearsfromeach

establishedcrowneachyear,

whichwouldcostanaverageof

£2tobuyfromthesupermarket.

Financially, it’s a no-brainer!

5

asparagus varieties

with specifi c attributes

Early-season: ‘Ariane’

All-purple:‘Stewarts Purple’

Mid-season:

‘Vittorio’ (all-male)

Late-season:‘Millennium’ (all-male)

younoticed

youare

tenserved

withthick

white’

sparagusin

estaurants,

nlikethe

earsyou

w at home?

s produced

rs whocover

theirasparagusrowswithfabriccloches,

orpilesoiloverthecrowns,toensure

thespearsremainin darkness.Once

theybreakthroughtheminiearthhills,

thesespearsarepainstakinglyharvested

byexcavatingandthenslicingthrough

thestemsat the‘old’soillevel.

Mostblanchedvegetables,suchas

leeks,endiveandchicory,aremade

tendererbytheprocess,butwith

asparagustheoppositeis true.White

spearsneedpeeling,andtakethree

times longer to cook than green types.

Whiteasparagus

Cost-eff ective asparagus

Gardening’s king of trivia and brain-teasers, Graham Clarke

Asparagus spears

A delicacyof thevegetableworld

This

week

it’s:

All photography Alamy/Wikimedia/TI Media, unless otherwise cre

IF thereis onevegetablethatis worth

growingto saveyoumoney,it is

asparagus.It’sexpensiveto buy,because

thegrowerhasto waitat leasttwoyears

fromplantingto harvesting,andthenthe

croppingseasonis short.So,in orderto

makethegroundpayforitself,a premium

hasto becharged.Quickercrops,that

givea quickerturnaroundof cash,are

invariably cheaper. Asparagus spears are

harvestedforaboutsixweeksin theyear,

andtheseasonis startingnow,solet’s

lookat someof thefascinating facts

surroundingthem.

Worcestershire’sValeof Eveshamis

thelargestproducerof asparagusin

NorthernEurope,andcelebrateswithan

annualBritishAsparagusFestival(this

yearfrom 23 April-21June).Fordetails

visit britishasparagusfestival.org.

Suttons

Suttons

Marshalls

Suttons

Grow your own asparagus and save money

Very hardy:‘Guelph Millennium’ (all-male)

THEoriginalasparagusspecies

producesplantsthathaveeither

maleflowersorfemaleflowers

(veryoccasionallyyou’dfind

maleandfemaleonthesame

plant).Sometimeagosomeone

thoughtit wouldbea goodideato

breedguaranteedall-maleaspara

theplantswouldnotwasteenergyonseedproduction,

resultingin biggercrops.Andverygoodtheyare– except

foronething.Withtheexceptionof a fewvarieties(suchas

Backlim’,pictured),maleasparagusdonotgenerallyproduce

thefatspearsmanypeopleprefer.Althoughshootsare

plentiful,they’rethin.Stemsonfemaleplantshavetocarry

theweightof thebright-redberries,sodespiteusuallyhaving

fewer stems, they do need to be bigger and thicker.

Male vs. female

Whiteasparagusspears

are kept in darkness

Marshalls

‘Backlim’– anall-male

asparagus with fat spears