5 QUESTIONS WITH… Gerald Stratford, 75, from Oxfordshire
Best known for growing big veggies in his back garden, Gerald is a lifelong gardener keen to share his greenfingered wisdom. He’s here to let you in on a few gardening secrets behind his big veg patch, including what’s lurking beneath the soil…
1. What inspired you to start growing the biggest vegetables possible?
I’ve been a gardener all my life, and my partner Elizabeth has always loved gardening, too – so when we moved to Oxford eight years ago, we got a nice big back garden and thought ‘let’s do it’.
In another life I was successful as a fisherman, catching huge fish. So I thought, I’ll use the same line of thought and grow big veggies!
2. What is the biggest vegetable you’ve ever grown?
Three years ago, I grew a cabbage that weighed 88lb – it measured about four feet across. Sizewise, if I laid it down on my bed, it would have stretched across the entire length of it!
I’ve also grown onions that weighed 8lb and are the same size as a football, as well as tomatoes that weigh 4lb and beetroot that weighed 30lb.
3. How do you grow vegetables so big? Let us into your gardening secrets…
You have to have the correct seed – not just any carrot seed will produce a carrot that is a metre long!
I’m a bit of an amateur scientist – I like to know the different nutrients in the compost so I can try out different ones for each seed. I also use seaweed milk, fish blood and bones to help my plants grow – these are all things you can pick up at your local garden centre!
4. Have you ever grown funny-shaped veg?
Oh yes! Occasionally, you have a carrot that has five fingers. It looks like I’ve cut someone’s hand off and painted it orange!
I also grow what I call ‘ugly’ tomatoes every year. Sometimes they look very Frankenstein-like because they have lots of leaves growing off of them. But they’re still delicious.
5. What do you love most about gardening?
Gardening helped me through a tough time – my garden stops me from worrying, it’s my happy