Some vegetables grow underground, like potatoes and carrots, while others grow on plants, like green beans and pumpkins – but what about asparagus?
I bet you’ve never wondered how the green vegetable grows, but you’re about to find out, and you’re bound to be gobsmacked.
How asparagus grows in the ground
A woman who owns New Dawn Fields, a small farm in Northern Michigan that grows vegetables and herbs, has gone viral on TikTok after showing how asparagus grows.
“Have you ever seen how asparagus grows out of the ground or in an asparagus field? Let me show you,” she said.
The woman then turned the camera around to reveal loads of little green vegetables poking out of the soil in straight lines.
Most would assume asparagus grows in bundles, with multiple spears on each plant, but each one is actually its own plant.
Each asparagus crown can also produce up to 25 spears per year! When the asparagus reaches full size, you slice it off and it grows back again.
TikTok users are gobsmacked
The video has had more than 1.3 million views and people are totally gobsmacked in the comments.
One person wrote: “I don’t know what I expected but it wasn’t that.”
“Just one at a time and not in a bunch?” said another.
A third person added: “The first time I saw this I was SHOCKED.”
“This shocks me. It’s only ONE?! Not like a bundle?!”
Others finally understand why asparagus is so expensive. The average bunch you buy in a grocery store contains around 10 spears, so that’s 10 whole plants!
You have to wait three years before harvesting the first asparagus crop, the Royal Horticultural Society explains, so that drives up the price even more as farmers have to cover costs.
It’s not as widely grown as other vegetables either, and it’s a fairly labor-intensive crop to harvest as each spear must be picked by hand.
You learn something new every day!
