BIG vegetables at Terrington
BEAUTY counts for nothing in the world of the giant veg grower.
These gardeners are not striving for symmetry or creating culinery delights. Their carrots, swedes, beans and marrows can be as gnarled, lopsided and twisted as they come. All that matters is how they tip the scales.
"Some people will call them ugly but you must bear in mind that beauty is in the eye of the beholder," says gardening champ Ken Dade who has just achieved a 20-year ambition to grow the biggest marrow in the world.
He nurtured the 141 lb monster in the vegetable plot at his home in Popes Lane, Terrington St Clement, where he has also cultivated colossal carrots, stupendous swedes and supersized tomatoes, radishes and potatoes which have made the tressle tables tremble at giant vegetable competitions all over the country.
The world-beating marrow, which has earned him a place in the Guinness Books of Records, has turned him into a superstar with a whirl of photocalls and a TV appearance as guest of Alan Titchmarsh, the best-known gardener of all.
Creating giant vegetables is a competitive business and growers are notoriously tight-lipped about their techniques but Mr Dade (70) insists there is no magic formula. The answer, he says, lies in the soil.
"If you can't grow it at Terrington you can't grow it anywhere," he says.
He grows the produce from a seed stock that has steadily improved over the years, only uses rainwater, feeds them with a tried and tested fertiliser and, like any close relationship, he is prepared to work at it with daily vigils and pandering to their needs.
"There is no way of telling how big they are going to grow and it can all go wrong at the last minute, but that is part of the challenge," he said.
Mr Dade has grown produce all his life and started his showing career exhibiting chrysanthemums in local horticultural shows. His first giant vegetables were pumpkins.
"We had some which weighed up to 600 lbs and were so heavy we could not move them. Marrows are going the same way. When we started this business a marrow weighing 35 lbs was a good one. Now they are regularly making 100 lbs and more so we must be getting it right."
He has become almost unbeatable in marrow contests and took the world record at a show in Somerset.
Traditional produce shows hold no great attraction for Mr Dade and his fellow giant growers. They prefer the cut and dried verdicts of the scales and tape measures to the preferences of individual judges.
Mr Dade's only regret is that there are so few shows for giant vegetables these days and that he has to travel such long distances for competitions.
He and his wife Sue were off to win more honours at the weekend, travelling to Llanharry in Wales with another cargo of giants including more marrows weighing between 105 and 117 lbs, seven pound carrots, beetroot topping 30 lbs, some 33 lb swedes, and two tomatoes each weighing around five pounds.
They are sure to be up among the prizes but unlikely to end up on the dinner table.Where would you find a big enough saucepan?
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Monday 13 February 2012
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