Purple Asparagus

I'm not ready to plant any perennial vegetables yet, as our garden is still under construction, but was wondering if anyone here has grown the purple variety of asparagus?

Breezy, I have only one clump of purple asparagus. I planted 5 roots, but only one grew and prospered. I have 3 clumps of green a. I just mix them up when I cook so can't really tell if any difference in taste. Maybe this year I will have enough to cook seperately. But it will be some time here in my zone 5 garden. Right now it has warmed up from 7 degrees to about 17 degrees, but thankfully no wind. We have had a lot of pretty strong north winds for past week.

DonnaS

I'm growing a purple variety. I set the roots last year. I had 10 green and 10 purple, and 19 crowns sent up lovely ferns. We have to wait another year to sample any! (patience) Our neighbor has an 8 year old bed with both purple and green varieties and has shared some of each with us. The purple were delicious!!!

Thanks - while I do realize that they turn green when cooked, I have heard that they're very tender & don't tend to get as fibrous at the end like some of the green varieties.

Is it true that if you snap them off (so that they break near but not at the base; the break where they become tender) instead of cutting, you don't get the really fibrous part? Read that recently.

That's been touted for years, yet after trying that method + what I've heard recently, it's a major waste of good asparagus.

I always just cut about 2" off the bottom, & have never had a problem with fibers. For those who don't want to cut, you can always use the old French method of a vegetable peeler to pare off the outside of the lower portion. However, I've tried that & found it's just to easy to snap the whole stalk in 2 at an inappropriate point. I've found the 2" cutting method the best.

Now, you can also save those 2" bottom portions & use them in vegetable stock or to add to a Cream of Asparagus soup.

Makes sense. We usually puree the tougher bits (after cooking) and they do fine.

I wondered about that!

I picked up some purple today at a local hardware store. Just wanted to experiment with it before I brought something good.

The instructions say to dig a trench 6 inches deep. Put th roots in and cover with 3 inches of soil. If growth appears, slowly fill in the trench as it grows.

Can I just plant one tench in a 4X4 raised bed?

I also planted purple asparagus last year...got them from Nourse in western MA along with my raspberries. They did nicely and I am looking forward to my first small harvest this spring. I planted them in 3 batches in 3 patches at different depths. I got more and more tired as I planted so they got planted less and less deep. And they are supposed to be more tender.

for the tough ends of asparagus use a potato peeler and peel away the outer part and inside is tender, do this with broccoli also,
sue

I realize Breezy is no longer a member but it's hard to let a good thread go!

My purple asparagus didn't work out but we have over 100 green ones and most of them are "older". I love using the bottoms, cooked and pureed and strained, for cream of asparagus soup.

If I ever give up my carton of heavy cream each week I'd be a Twiggy for sure!