By Kate Reynolds
Giant vegetables appeared in the United Kingdom (UK) this year. The vegetables were so monstrous it looked like a science fiction event. It wasn’t very comforting to see how big vegetables could grow.
The annual Malvern Autumn Festival, held in England’s Worcestershire, ran from September 22-24. It was the pumpkins that made the news this year – a forklift had to bring one pumpkin to the festival.
But, there were a lot of larger-than-life vegetables at the fair. Ian Stott grew a 49-pound cabbage about four-and-a-half feet wide, giving him a second-place win. Annette Stone took first place with a 52-pound cabbage.
“You’ve got to have the right seed, and Mother Nature needs to be on your side,” Stott said. “They weren’t that big this year. I’ve had them 6ft across, and it’s a bit hard not to break leaves off him.”
But it was the pumpkins that stole the show.
Tim Saint garnered 4th place with a 667-pound pumpkin. Even though he used a trailer, pallet, and industrial straps to transport it to the fair, his pumpkin was no match for Curtis Leach’s 1st prize winner. (He did win 1st place for the giant beetroot.)
“I grew a 667 lbs. pumpkin this year, which I’m delighted at,” said Mr. Saint. “I’ve been growing pumpkins for 20 years, and that’s the biggest I’ve ever done. It’s got to be over three feet tall at least. I’m six feet tall myself, and it’s big. The secret is just plenty of water and manure, plenty of cow manure especially,” Mr. Saint added.
Weighing in at 1,373 pounds, it was almost the weight of a car. Leach’s monstrous pumpkin was 88 pounds heavier than the second-place entry but half as substantial as the Guinness World Record of 2,700 pounds.
The Malvern Autumn Festival is the largest harvest festival in the UK. There are 35 categories for long or giant vegetables. This year, eight new world records were created, including most giant runner bean leaf, heaviest runner bean, tallest tomatillo plant, heaviest bell pepper, heaviest cucumber, heaviest broad bean, and longest broad bean.
That’s the good news of the day.