Giant Veg?

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Stravaig
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I saw this and it made me laugh.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/gal ... n-pictures

I've seen some veg in the local supermarkets, particularly some varieties of squash, that are much to heavy for me to move let alone lift. My guess is that they just take a load of the local harvest, regardless of size, and pile it all onto the veggie areas for sale. I wonder if anyone ever buys these giants. As a keen cook, I always choose smaller veggies anyway because they tend to be tastier and they're easier to prep.

Why do people grow huge veg? Is it like a sport? You just do it for the fun of it? It certainly does seem like fun if you have the space. Does anyone here deliberately grow giant veg? Do tell! :mrgreen:

By the way, the reason I shop at supermarkets rather than markets is because, unlike most countries, that's by far the best place to get good produce. The markets tend not to have such a good selection. Some are just tourist traps. A lot of the local people don't buy much veg anyway as they grow it at their family dacha (country house). It sounds rather grand to have a country house, in British terms, but it's quite the norm here and often the whole extended family gets involved in the agricultural production from their dacha's grounds. Ukraine is the biggest country in Europe and land isn't at a premium as it is on a little island like the UK. (Russia is larger but it's not entirely in Europe.)
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Colin2016
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There was a marrow that looked like a crocodile on gardeners world last night 44 kg ish, I too questioned if the larger sizes taste any better.
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oldherbaceous
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Morning Stravaig, I have never entered any big competitions for giant veg....although saying that, I did win the largest marrow competition, that the KG Magazine put on here... :oops: :) But I can see that it cold get quite addictive, the better you do....
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

There's no fool like an old fool.
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Stephen
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I'm not into giant veg. I can see that one might grow outsize pumpkins for Halloween but that's it.
Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
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Monika
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These giant vegetables are not my scene either, but, as far as I know, there is a cash prize attached to the heaviest onion, so maybe the other 'heaviest' also get cash prizes? Also, once you let your prize veggies flower, you can of course sell the seeds to those who might want to beat you in the future. It's a bit like the prize tups, isn't it? The ram/tup itself is not worth the thousands of pounds they sell for but their progeny might be. There is always that hope for a future prize ....
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alan refail
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Image


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-y ... e-49692297
Cred air o bob deg a glywi, a thi a gei rywfaint bach o wir (hen ddihareb Gymraeg)
Believe one tenth of what you hear, and you will get some little truth (old Welsh proverb)
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robo
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The seeds of a prize winning pumpkin can sell for a lot of money you are talking a couple of thousand ,I had a large pumpkin last year I did not set out to grow it but it just happened I did not even feed it once I just kept on getting larger when I harvested it two of us lifted it into my car when I got it home it would not fit through the doors ,I offered it to a couple of schools who refused it I then offered it to a couple of kids who could not do anything with it I then cut it in quarters told my two daughters to take one each they both said no thanks in the end I fed it too my chickens I think they got fed up with it
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Stravaig
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OH, well done on your win. It's nice for me to be friends with the guy who won a prize for having a big one.

I deserve a prize for some of the things I've grown here. It's not easy when you live in a flat. The flat is spacious and very pleasant but I do miss having a garden even if I'm not much of a gardener. Before we came here I would usually start with little plants from a garden centre. The very idea of growing from seed was a bit scary. But I've done it!

I have a thriving tomato plant, lemon grass, rosemary. sage, thai basil, etc - all grown from seed. I'm growing things you'd never get here - on a very small scale - but I think there's some interest in this. (Probably shouldn't tell you that I have a brilliant chef coming to look at what I'm doing next week.)

The thing is that I'm really not much good at gardening. For me it's needs must. If you need the ingredients for cooking and there's no other way then you have to DIY - grow them yourself.

I used to think of cooking in terms of just buying ingredients, now I think about growing them :D I'm so glad I have you guys to help me.
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