I grow a few different varieties of asparagus, most I grew from seed. Asparagus is a perennial vegetable that can produce for decades.
By far my favourite tasting asparagus variety is an old heirloom variety called Precoce D'Argentuil. It has spears that are mostly green with a little bit of purple. It is a large vigorous variety, which is great for home gardeners. It is far better than anything you will ever buy from the markets.
I also like purple asparagus. It is often sweeter than the green varieties. For me they usually produce fat and high quality spears. I do find purple asparagus to be less productive than the green varieties, so it is a bit of a trade off. I grow several varieties of green and purple asparagus, so get to eat the ones I like best.
Below are some photos of my purple asparagus. I have put a green spear next to them for comparison.
Purple asparagus next to a green one for comparison |
The spears do get much deeper purple colour than this, but I didn't pick them until a bit late so they started to get a bit long and get a bit more green. As purple asparagus spears open out they turn green just like any other variety.
I normally stop picking when they spears get a bit thin so the plant can gather energy for the next year. Some years I keep picking a bit too long. The spears in these phots are a bit thinner than I would normally pick, but as long as I don't pick this hard the following year the plants don't seem to mind.
You can also blanch the spears and force purple asparagus to produce white spears. This is very tender, and not hard to do.
Purple asparagus |
Purple asparagus spears |
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