Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Inside the Gently Competitive World of Giant Vegetable Growing
atlas obscura ^ | 2/24/2021

Posted on 03/01/2021 6:01:03 AM PST by mylife

FOR PETER GLAZEBROOK, THERE WAS one bright spot to 2020. A leek he entered into last year’s Mansfield Grow Show, which judges declared to be a monstrous four feet long, won him a new world record. “That makes 16 world records I’ve held over the years,” Glazebrook wrote to me recently, via email. “However, it’s a competitive hobby, so I currently only hold three.” Today, he is the proud grower of the world’s heaviest cauliflower (60 pounds), potato (10 pounds), and, as of 2020, the longest leek.

Glazebrook, a lithe, 76-year-old former building surveyor from Nottinghamshire, England, is one of the most decorated competitors in the world when it comes to the uniquely British sport of growing giant vegetables. For years, he has dominated a competition that’s grown from a Welsh bar bet into a massive online community of giant vegetable enthusiasts with participants on every continent. “It’s expanded beyond all recognition,” says Kevin Fortey, the unofficial spokesperson for the ‘giant veg’ community. But if 30-foot-long beets, 10-pound tomatoes, or one-ton pumpkins sound like a waste of food and time, government researchers around the world are now taking a serious look at leviathan produce.

(Excerpt) Read more at atlasobscura.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Food; Gardening; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: food; gardening; leviathanproduce; vegetables
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-58 next last
Comment #1 Removed by Moderator

To: mylife






2 posted on 03/01/2021 6:07:16 AM PST by ETL (REAL Russia collusion! DEMOCRAT-Russia collusion!! China-Russia collusion! Click ETL...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mylife

Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum!


3 posted on 03/01/2021 6:10:38 AM PST by real saxophonist (The mouse doesn't understand why the cheese is free.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mylife
The Canadian pumpkin master: the late great Howard Dill of Windsor, Nova Scotia http://www.howarddill.com/
4 posted on 03/01/2021 6:10:51 AM PST by littleharbour ("You take on the intel community they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you" C. Schumer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mylife
I once grew a zuccini that was about 2 1/2 feet long and weighed about 10 pounds.

I get a lot of seed catalogs, and some of the giant vegetables are ridiculous. 1500 pound pumpkins, 800 pound watermelons, 30 pound onions...

5 posted on 03/01/2021 6:14:14 AM PST by real saxophonist (The mouse doesn't understand why the cheese is free.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

♪♫ In Beeding-on-Wold a sight to behold
Is Benjamins overgrown onion plant
It’s taken him years and gallons of tears
Producing an onion so grand

Some men sail across the ocean in a tug
Risk life and limb for no one
Some men bounce around in spacesuits on the moon
But Ben grows onions instead

Come rain or come shine he spends all his time
And energy nursing his pride and joy
The lady next door can’t stand any more
It’s driving her out of the neighbourhood

Now Ben’s life is ruled by onions (What a shame!)
His clothes they reek of fertiliser
All his family are leaving (Fancy that!)
But Ben is blind to it all

Take care my friends the onion doesn’t get you in the end
Take heed from Ben onions sent him right round the bend

Take care my friends the onion doesn’t get you in the end
(Be very very careful)
Take heed from Ben onions sent him right round the bend

Benjamins’ days are happy they say
His onions grow down on the funny farm Come rain or come shine he spends all his time
And energy nursing his pride and joy

Now he’s lost in conversation with his friends
All alone in the greenhouse
And Doctors say “Quite frankly he’s insane!”
Just then the onions arose ...


6 posted on 03/01/2021 6:16:07 AM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #7 Removed by Moderator

To: ETL
"That's a Lot of Potato's!!"


8 posted on 03/01/2021 6:22:17 AM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: mylife
A long time ago I dated a gal whose father was an obsessive pumpkin grower. The Adams County Fair was his Super Bowl, Kentucky Derby and Indy 500 rolled into one. An inordinate amount of his life was spent each year, gently turning and nurturing his pumpkins, identifying which ones were going to get the biggest, and talking to them like champion race horses.

Eccentric, yes, but he grew some pretty darned big pumpkins.

9 posted on 03/01/2021 6:24:13 AM PST by Joe 6-pack
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bon of Babble

Brits are an odd bunch, but we do it to LoL


10 posted on 03/01/2021 6:26:15 AM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Joe 6-pack

Amazing what people do for fun and sport.


11 posted on 03/01/2021 6:28:16 AM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: ETL

His first 6 movies were the best!


12 posted on 03/01/2021 6:30:15 AM PST by W. (Autocorrect must die! How do I kill it?!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Joe 6-pack

I grew up in a farming community where Watermelons were the biggest cash crop...

Every year at the local Watermelon Festival, a largest watermelon contest was held, some farmers did devote a ton of time in cultivating the largest watermelon...


13 posted on 03/01/2021 6:35:07 AM PST by srmanuel
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: mylife

‘Leviathan produce’ ... how very accurate!


14 posted on 03/01/2021 6:44:49 AM PST by MHGinTN (A dispensation perspective is a powerful tool for discernment)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: All

Apparently pics from the source are verboten so go to the link for pics.

I think its funny that this entire thing sprouted from a bet in some pub in Wales.

I have won a few bucks betting I could make an Electric Pickle.
Do this outside or the entire bar will smell funky..


15 posted on 03/01/2021 6:45:52 AM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: ETL

Now Gov. Cuomo has something to talk about with his young female employees. “What did you think about that giant cucumber?”


16 posted on 03/01/2021 6:48:37 AM PST by Old Yeller (Nana Pelosi is a manure salesman with a mouthful of samples. Thus the slurred speaking.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


17 posted on 03/01/2021 6:49:10 AM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: All
Benjamins Giant Onion
18 posted on 03/01/2021 6:52:20 AM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: metmom; Diana in Wisconsin; greeneyes
Ping

Also see related article (Same website):

Jefferson's Farm at Monticello - The first Seed Vault
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/farming-gardens-at-monticello

19 posted on 03/01/2021 7:07:05 AM PST by Tilted Irish Kilt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: mylife
Giant veggies made me think of the movie, "Night of the Lepus."
20 posted on 03/01/2021 7:16:51 AM PST by PghBaldy (12/14 - 930am -rampage begins... 12/15 - 1030am - Obama's advance team scouts photo-op locations.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-58 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson