“These are the carrots and over there’s the runner beans,” says giant-vegetable grower Gerald Stratford, leading me through his garden, pointing out beans the length of my arm and carrots that take up a soil-filled barrel. “I built this shed out of recycled material. My recycling ethics are very strong,” he says. “That’s why Gucci got in touch.”
He’s not joking. Stratford, who lives in the village of Milton-Under-Wychwood in Oxfordshire with his partner Liz, Jack the cat and a Yorkshire terrier called Bilbo Baggins, is a giant in the world of big veg. He has modelled for fashion brands including Gucci, Alexander McQueen and White Stuff. He’s written a book and become a television regular, winning 300,000 Twitter followers in the process.
He started growing giant vegetables ten years ago but achieved online fame in May 2020 when a video of his potatoes went viral. “I didn’t know how to silence the phone. So I hid it,” Stratford says. “My nephew came over and said, ‘You’ve gone viral with your spuds, Gerald’.”
Yet the 74-year-old is just one superstar amid a galaxy of new giant-veg growers in Britain. And what used to be a pursuit of senior citizens is now increasingly popular among young people too. World records are tumbling, allotments are thriving and TikTok is humming with pictures of giant leeks.
What on earth is going on? Experts say records are falling faster thanks to advances in genetics, as more growers around the world share seeds and grower breeding programmes are developed. Longer milder seasons in the UK also help — although weather can be unpredictable. A few weeks ago, nine Guinness World Records were broken at the Malvern Autumn Show, which holds the national giant vegetables championship. Earlier this month in California a vast pumpkin called “Michael Jordan” smashed the world record for the world’s heaviest gourd, at a mighty 1.25 tonnes (2,749lb). Its owner waters it 12 times a day and spends about $15,000 on its upkeep.
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Young people are drawn to vegetable growing because of the contrast with their screen-heavy lives — though growing a squash the size of a donkey is also a neat way to improve one’s social media clout. Two of the younger contestants in Great British Bake Off, Abbi and Josh, both 27, are vegetable-growing enthusiasts.
Amy Chapman, 26, doesn’t fit the stereotype of the hoary gardener. She has green hair and tattoos and set up the social media account @inthecottagegarden when she moved to a new home in Wales. “I’d never had access to a garden before,” she says. “So that was like a big thing for me. I want to teach people how to grow in whatever space they have.”
She says a new younger demographic is picking up gardening tools. “From what I saw of people growing vegetables on TV, I thought gardening was something that’s more for older middle-class people,” she adds. “[But] it lends itself so well to TikTok — it’s so visual.”
Climate change and general belt-tightening have both driven overall interest in vegetable growing — almost 87 per cent of local authorities report an increase in demand for allotments, as people hanker after thrifty self-sufficiency. But the giant veg boom is really about hobbyism, a tech-enhanced arms race for record-smashing pumpkins and beanbag-seized tomatoes. It’s about obsession.
The seeds of this boom were sown in the 1980s when Mike Fortey, a Welsh farmer, started the giant vegetable championships over a pint in the local pub, having accepted a challenge to see who could grow the biggest onion. His son Kevin took up the mantle and has won nine world records, including one this year for the tallest tomatillo plant: just over 3.5 metres (11ft 6in).
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Kevin has branched out into social media and now runs the TikTok account “giantveg”. But there’s a downside to all this publicity. “There’s a lot more competition,” he says, with just a hint of anxiety.
As this once-niche pursuit has gained a worldwide audience, Britain is in danger of losing its position as best in show. Perhaps unsurprisingly, growers in the US are particularly obsessed with size. “Americans are trying to catch up with us in the UK,” says Fortey, 45, who lives in Cwmbran, Wales, where he’s know as Mr Giant Veg.
The seedlings of gender equality are also sprouting in what used to be something of a boys’ club. At the Malvern show, Fortey swapped seeds with Annette Stone, who became the first woman to win first prize for the heaviest cabbage (14.1kg).
Fortey insists giant-veg growing is a “sport” equal to marathon running. “We’re all looking to achieve the biggest heaviest, longest, tallest, widest,” he says. “Our marathon is growing a marrow over nine months to become the biggest and best from around the world.”
Despite the online attention, Fortey says growing giant veg is “hard work” with little financial reward. He has a day job as a project manager in the NHS but is often tending to his giant marrow until 1am and has spent thousands on energy bills to keep his polytunnel at a constant temperature of 16C.
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Twins Ian and Stuart Paton, 62, tend the giant pumpkins at their farm in Lymington, Hampshire, for six hours a day, but sometimes not even the most stringent care regime pays off. “This year was a disaster, all six pumpkins split and we have nothing to show for it,” Ian laments.
Although the giant-vegetable community is close-knit, with tip-sharing as well as seed-sharing, there are sometimes hints of foul play. An employee of the Malvern show, who asked not to be named, says: “We had to have overnight security one year after a cucumber was stolen from one of the tents.” Potential winning specimens have also been defaced in the night. “There’s definitely a seedy side to this,” they add. “If you’ll pardon the pun.”
When it comes to the world of giant veg, Stratford is probably the biggest spud in the allotment. But he insists he’s staying grounded, despite his fame. It’s all about the legumes. “I don’t do holidays, I don’t do days off. This is us, the plants and the animals,” he says, as he passes me a beetroot the size of a toddler. “I love these plants like my kids. And when I dig them up, they’ve proved they love me back.”
