Supersized pumpkin weighing nearly 48st is so big it's unloaded by a forklift truck
- 8 months ago
A jumbo-sized pumpkin weighing nearly 48st is so big it's unloaded by a forklift truck as one of the star attractions at a country show.
Green-fingered gardening fans will be showing off their giant fruit and vegetables at this weekend’s Malvern Autumn Show.
Entrant Tim Saint, 42, transported his whopping 47.6st (667lbs) pumpkin in a trailer to display at the Worcestershire event.
The 42-year-old gardener, from Reading, attached industrial straps to the supersized squash before hoisting it into place using a farm teleporter.
He said: “I grew a 667lbs pumpkin this year which I’m delighted at.
“I’ve been growing pumpkins for 20 years and that’s biggest I’ve ever done.
“It's got to be over 3ft tall at least, I’m 6ft tall myself and it’s big.
“The secret is just plenty of water and manure, plenty of cow manure especially.
“It takes a lot of water, I normally I give it five watering cans of water a day.
“My best friend's got a trailer and we brought it down in that. We had to use a forklift to get it off.
“I had a 44lbs beetroot here too.
“I'll be doing this every year until I can’t do it anymore.”
Thousands of gardening fans are expected to flock to show to marvel at the gigantic greens.
Ian Scott, 51, from Wells, Somerset, is hoping his 3.5st (22kg) cabbage will secure him a spot on the winner's podium this year.
The dad-of-two, who works as a stone mason, said: "At the moment I think I’m standing at first place. It's not even a record for me.
"It's 22kg and about four-and-a-half feet wide. It's not been a good year for cabbages, it was so hot at the beginning of the season.
"Then it was colder and wetter at the end of the season.
"It's still early doors, but I'll definitely be in first or second.
"My first show was in 1999. I've had one year off of cabbages, my soils good for it.
“I do grow marrows, pumpkins, runner beans. The cabbage is my best one
"You've got have the right seed and mother nature needs to be on your side. I have my own seed, I've done very little to it this year.
"The plants got planted around March or April time. They got forgotten about until
August.
"They weren’t that big this year. I've had them 6ft across and it’s a bit hard to not break leaves off him. I've already got the seed saved for next year.
"Normally we’d have to water them, but it feel out of the sky. I water it two or three times a week. A watering can each time.
“Getting to the water to the root underneath is the biggest challenge."
Eleven new Guinness World Records were set at last year’s show, including the heaviest aubergine weighing 3.362kg and the longest leek at 1.432m long.
Hoping to have claimed the giant cucumber record this year is Tom Bailey, 32, who says he's narrowly beaten last year’s record by 600g.
Tom, from Barry, South Wales, said: "It’s a 13.52kg cucumber, it was a bit of a surprise. It's my first year entering.
"It’s a good seed and soil that make it. I've been using alpaca manure. That's helped it, and a bit of luck.
"It’s my first competition. I’ve tried pumpkins before. But I got given some cucumber seeds and I thought I'd chuck them in. I’ve managed to grow a record.
"Mine’s above average for this year, I think the previous record was 12.9kg."
Green-fingered gardening fans will be showing off their giant fruit and vegetables at this weekend’s Malvern Autumn Show.
Entrant Tim Saint, 42, transported his whopping 47.6st (667lbs) pumpkin in a trailer to display at the Worcestershire event.
The 42-year-old gardener, from Reading, attached industrial straps to the supersized squash before hoisting it into place using a farm teleporter.
He said: “I grew a 667lbs pumpkin this year which I’m delighted at.
“I’ve been growing pumpkins for 20 years and that’s biggest I’ve ever done.
“It's got to be over 3ft tall at least, I’m 6ft tall myself and it’s big.
“The secret is just plenty of water and manure, plenty of cow manure especially.
“It takes a lot of water, I normally I give it five watering cans of water a day.
“My best friend's got a trailer and we brought it down in that. We had to use a forklift to get it off.
“I had a 44lbs beetroot here too.
“I'll be doing this every year until I can’t do it anymore.”
Thousands of gardening fans are expected to flock to show to marvel at the gigantic greens.
Ian Scott, 51, from Wells, Somerset, is hoping his 3.5st (22kg) cabbage will secure him a spot on the winner's podium this year.
The dad-of-two, who works as a stone mason, said: "At the moment I think I’m standing at first place. It's not even a record for me.
"It's 22kg and about four-and-a-half feet wide. It's not been a good year for cabbages, it was so hot at the beginning of the season.
"Then it was colder and wetter at the end of the season.
"It's still early doors, but I'll definitely be in first or second.
"My first show was in 1999. I've had one year off of cabbages, my soils good for it.
“I do grow marrows, pumpkins, runner beans. The cabbage is my best one
"You've got have the right seed and mother nature needs to be on your side. I have my own seed, I've done very little to it this year.
"The plants got planted around March or April time. They got forgotten about until
August.
"They weren’t that big this year. I've had them 6ft across and it’s a bit hard to not break leaves off him. I've already got the seed saved for next year.
"Normally we’d have to water them, but it feel out of the sky. I water it two or three times a week. A watering can each time.
“Getting to the water to the root underneath is the biggest challenge."
Eleven new Guinness World Records were set at last year’s show, including the heaviest aubergine weighing 3.362kg and the longest leek at 1.432m long.
Hoping to have claimed the giant cucumber record this year is Tom Bailey, 32, who says he's narrowly beaten last year’s record by 600g.
Tom, from Barry, South Wales, said: "It’s a 13.52kg cucumber, it was a bit of a surprise. It's my first year entering.
"It’s a good seed and soil that make it. I've been using alpaca manure. That's helped it, and a bit of luck.
"It’s my first competition. I’ve tried pumpkins before. But I got given some cucumber seeds and I thought I'd chuck them in. I’ve managed to grow a record.
"Mine’s above average for this year, I think the previous record was 12.9kg."