Re: Asparagus sprouting quickly

"Hobo" <Hobo@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:g_WdnfWc-5K2yIrVnZ2dnUVZ_hadnZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
> Srgnt Billko wrote:
>> "Hobo" <Hobo@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
>> news:--udnYukv4VpgojVnZ2dnUVZ_oKhnZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>>
>>> Srgnt Billko wrote:
>>>> "Chas Hurst" <hurst1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
>>>> news:krWdneYy8dqWfI7VnZ2dnUVZ_oqhnZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>>>> "Srgnt Billko" <frrt@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
>>>>> news:FCOQj.1936$Zs1.590@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>>>>> "Srgnt Billko" <frrt@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
>>>>>> news:AisQj.1444$Zs1.1014@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>>>>>> 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.