The massive monsters in our gardens
Bumper summer for veg
SCOTLAND’S gardeners are reporting a harvest of monster veg after the long, wet summer.
First there was the giant watermelon grown in an unheated Aberdeen greenhouse.
Now other huge surprises are springing up in gardens after one of the country’s warmest but wettest summers created the perfect conditions for a gardening bonanza.
Recently we revealed how green- fingered Ford Yule produced a monster melon in the north east village of Peterculter.
Now a huge five- foot cabbage large enough to make a year’s supply of soup has sprung from seed in the town of Forfar, Angus.
Retired lorry driver Bryan Calder, 72, grew it in his allotment in the town.
It is 50 times heavier than the average cabbage and is enough to make 300 servings of soup.
Bryan, who has gardened for 50 years said: “I have never seen a cabbage as big as this in my life.
“It needed no special treatment, fertiliser or pampering.
“But since planting in April it has grown and grown.
“The whole town and his wife have come to see it.”
The vegetarian whopper is too large for one man to lift.
Bryan smiled and said: “It’ll be a two- man job when I plan to show it along with the other produce in the town.”
Scotland’s bumper crops have appeared in the UK’s hottest wettest summer ever.
Temperatures were 0.41C above the long-term average this year.
Mark McCarthy, a Met Office climate scientist, said: “People may well remember the 2017 summer as a bit of a damp squib. But interestingly, although it has been wetter than average, it has also been warmer than average.”