The CANNA UK National Giant Vegetables Championship: Record-Breaking Giants at Malvern
Six Guinness World Records Smashed at Malvern
The CANNA UK National Giant Vegetables Championship
Six Guinness World Records were broken the Three Counties Autumn Show last weekend, with 132 growers battling it out for medals, including the longest sweet pepper and heaviest celeriac. Other world records included the world’s tallest runner bean plant (26 feet, two inches) and the world’s longest radish (25 feet, seven inches - there’s a lot of long thin root involved).
Weird and Wonderful Vegetable Giants
So weird and wonderful are some of these world-beating giants, it’s not so much a case of, “Guess the weight of the vegetable” - but a more simplistic: “Guess which veg it is”. Some achieve alien-like shapes after they’ve been force-fed and watered over an entire season.
A friend standing among the 30-foot long parsnips and football-sized tomatoes, observed… “There isn’t a single person coming into this giant veg show who doesn’t immediately start smiling from ear-to-ear.”
Meet the Paton Brothers: Kings of the Giant Pumpkins
I came across one man proudly showing his competition-winning pumpkin. Hampshire-based brothers Ian and Stuart Paton, both 63, have dedicated their lives to growing giant pumpkins and have become well-known in the world of “size does matter” horticulture.
Ian told me his Malvern entry weighed 2,641 lb, but that he and his brother had previously set the UK record with an even bigger whopper. And he was confident they had an even weightier pumpkin this year which they hope might break the world record (at 2,749lb).
The High-Stakes World of Giant Pumpkin Growing
Ian explained that the final days can be nerve-racking for giant pumpkin growers because of splits in the tough outer skin, caused by the fruit’s immense weight. Once there’s a tear, the pumpkin can no longer be entered into a competition.
“There’s no secret to our success, just a lot of hard work,” he told me. “We started with six plants this year, but lost three due to splitting.”
“Our indoor pumpkin plants are enormous, covering over 2,200 square feet,” he added. “They’re so big we spend about six hours a day tending to them. My wife calls herself a ‘pumpkin widow’.”
