A MUSICIAN who sings to asparagus claims his sweet tones give the crop a sweeter taste.

Griff Collins, from Pershore, is a busy man this time of year, as he goes from asparagus field to asparagus field singing a song about the vegetable whilst strumming his guitar.

Mr Collins claims he loves serenading the spears with soothing songs whilst he plays all kind of music such as jazz, county, pop, reggae and blues.

Another man who promotes the crop is Gus the Asparagus Man, who will be heading to London today (April 23) for St. George’s Day as it is also National Asparagus Day and marks the start of the English asparagus season.

This year, Gus the Asparagus Man will receive over 1,000 spears of Vale of Evesham asparagus which will be delivered to Chelsea Royal Hospital.

He will be going along to serenade the pensioners at the hospital with his own veggie song and handing over a crown of asparagus for them to plant in their garden.

The start of the asparagus season is celebrated by The British Asparagus Festival, where the crop will be taken by a fleet of vintage cars to its final destination - in the past this has included Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament.

The festival, which runs from April 23 to June 21, celebrates the heritage of the Vale of Evesham.

Before setting out on the journey , the asparagus will be blessed, boogied around by Morris Dancers - a form of English folk dance - have poets recite verses to it and singers sing songs to it.

The Great British Asparagus Run will begin at 11am today at the The Fleece in the village of Bretforton, in Worcestershire - an historic pub owned by the National Trust.

Celebrations include Morris Dancing with asparagus spears, odes performed to honour the vegetable (led by Trevor Harrison, BBC Radio 4's Eddy Grundy from The Archers) and appearances by Gus the Asparagus Man and the world-famous Asparamancer, Jemima Packington.

Six of the best asparagus songs:

The Fifth Dimension – (This is the dawning of the) Age of Asparagus

Britney Spears – Tip me baby one more time

Groove Armada - Shakin’ that ass(paragus)

Shakespeare’s Sister - Stay

GusGus – Over

Spear of Destiny – The Hop

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