How This Prize-Winning Expert Grows GIANT Vegetables

Today we're meeting a gentleman renowned for giant vegetables. He's a larger-than-life character and I know you're going to love him. In fact, you could call him a model gardener in more ways than one. Gerald, thank you so much for having us today. I can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to this actually. You are the man of giant veg and there are some pretty big cabbages over there. Are we all right to start with those guys? Yes, yes, let's go. Fantastic. This is a bit like Fort Knox in here. We're kind of in an imprisoned structure. Presumably it's to keep the pests off. Mainly the cabbage white. You know, we cannot stop things like flea beetle, etc. I try not to use sprays because they're basically detrimental to the environment. It's always good if you can work with nature, isn't it? Yes, and the red cabbage, which is this one, this one and those, are more resilient to attack. But the traditional cabbage, they will get it from all directions if we're not careful. And these are truly outsized cabbages. I don't think I've seen them this big in the flesh. Are you growing these for like a show or something? This one, fingers crossed, for the Malvern Autumn Show. Ah, right. For the giant cabbage, etc. Fantastic. Fingers crossed they are doing fine at the moment. They look super. They've got really good tight heads. And you've got some quite interesting contraptions here. Is this for delivering the water right down to the roots? That's it. Every other day, when it's not raining, they get four litres. Okay. And once a week I give them liquid seaweed. That cabbage in the middle, that is a giant Cornish cabbage. Oh, right. Nothing special. It's just a traditional giant Cornish. Having a go to see what I can do with it. This one, the seed is from Japan and it's very good at the moment. Totally different in the way it's performing. The hardest part is to try and keep the leaves up off the soil. Yeah, so I noticed you've got like car tires there. That's just to keep them clean, the lower leaves. I put a car tire down, plant in the middle. The tires keep everything from collapsing on the soil. We have some root vegetables here, Ben. This is a long beetroot and the carrots are sweet candle. They're in a barrel of builder's sand and I gouge out a hole. I use a piece of down pipe from a gutter. Push it down, twist it and the suction, as you lift it, the sand is in the middle. It leaves a hole. You then fill it with your required compost. What is that mix? Is it very loose? It's a fine mix which I mix myself. Then I plant three seeds and when they come up I have to be cruel. With carrots, parsnips and beetroot, I have to pick the strongest one and the other two have to go. It's always the moment of pain, isn't it, when you have to do that. In the past, I've always just pulled them but that could, and I'm sure, disturb the one you're leaving. So I know with scissors, when they've got the second leaf, just snip the two off you don't want. This is to keep thrips off, hopefully. Like leaf miners and things as well, because these are perfect, aren't they? It's just some corrugated plastic and one plus, I water on the outside, on the divots there. One tube in the middle, which has got holes, snake fashion, that's how I water. There and on the outside. This is a collar. It's just a piece of dome pipe which I've cut about an inch. I'm not metric, I'm sorry. That's all right. This is a collar which goes round the top of the carrot when it's only about that big. And the carrot grows up and that collar stops the top of the carrot going green, which is a no-no, it shows. Absolutely, a simple but effective idea. And these will be harvested when? For like a month and a half. I'm planning on the second week of September. Gerald, these look a bit like sort of organ pipes and the tallest ones here are what, four and a half, five foot. Presumably the root doesn't go all the way to the bottom, does it? Hopefully, yes. Really? Yes, I want these to go to the bottom. You know, I try and have different sizes to try and gauge which is the healthiest one. I see. Because if this plant or that plant was here, they would be the same size. So is this a bit of a trial you're doing at the moment, just to see what's the optimal length? I've been doing it for three years. The watering is a problem, you know, because there's various ways of getting the water to the bottom. But the secret is lots and lots, once a week rather than every day. Because you've got to get the root hunting. I see, you want the moisture to travel down and the root to follow it. That's it. Gerald, you've got so many beautiful tomatoes. I'm going to stay out so the camera can see, but there's not many leaves on them. What's the logic for this? Well, if you would have come a few weeks ago, they would have all been leaves. But as the bottom truss is used up, you take off the leaf because it's not needed anymore. Okay. The tomato has taken all its nourishment from the leaf. And as you harvest further up the plant, you just take the leaves off. But I always leave the top leaves on as an umbrella, try and control the temperature. I see like a little sort of sun hat. Yeah. So as the truss firms up and reaches full size, that's when you remove the leaves and then you let them colour up on the vine. That's it. And I plant my tomatoes at all different times. That one was planted six weeks before that one in the corner. Oh, wow. So the tomatoes not always come at different times. Oh, I see. To stop you getting a glut. That's such a good idea. I'll have to try that. The art of enjoying a tomato is on a nice sunny day, don't pick one and then like you would an apple, just rub it and eat it at the same temperature it's growing in. That's delicious. This, this is why you grow your own. Now, Gerald, I think a lot of people actually know you from social media. You don't mind me saying you're in your 70s, aren't you? So you came to social media quite late. It's quite an interesting story. Do you mind sharing it? When Elizabeth and myself come up to the Cotswolds in this little bungalow, we had a blank canvas. I'd been a fisherman most of my life and I was getting bored with fishing. I had a friend up at Stoke and he said, have you ever thought of social media? And I thought that would be good. You know, just me in the garden. I had a bucket of potatoes in that greenhouse where the tomatoes are. And on the Saturday, it was the 16th of May, I brought them out on the grass, took a couple photographs. They weren't nothing special. And the phone started bleeping and buzzing and pinging. And I thought, what's going on? I'd gone from 96 followers to 9,000. Wow, not a bad day's work. Crikey, what is happening? It's just been a juggernaut ride since. How long have you been into growing vegetables? Is it something you've got into later in life or is it something you've always been in your blood? My father was my vegetable king. He was a good gardener in my eyes. And there was a little patch he'd give me about the size of a dinner table. And he said, Gerald, you watch me plant some radish. Here's a packet. Now you go and do what you saw me doing. So I scratched my head, done a little row with my finger, put the seeds in, covered them up, watered them. I could hardly pick the watering can up. It was a big metal thing. After about 28 days, there was a little radish. And I took it indoors to show mum. She topped and tailed it, put it under the tap. She put a little bit of salt and she said, no, dip it in that and eat it. And I copied her and I've been doing the same ever since. Your dad well and truly sowed the seed there. I can see he got you hooked straight away. Oh, definitely. Whoa, that has to be the biggest tomato I've ever seen. It stopped growing. So we'll cut it now. One, two, three. It's called a mega bloom. You have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight flowers, which have all come out at the same time. And fused together. So you get a tomato like this from a mega bloom. Well, Gerald, I reckon that's exactly two and a half pounds or 1.15 kilos. That is the biggest tomato I've ever seen. I'm happy with that and it will still eat lovely. It'll be beautiful. It's not a wasteful thing. So the size doesn't compromise the taste? No, no. This time next week, that'll be red, red, red. Lovely. And we're in a beautiful room here with your cucumbers and your chilies or chili peppers here. Some of these look pretty formidable. What's the hottest one you've got here? This one is the Carolina Reaper. Oh, yes. There. That's what, a million Scovilles or something? I think at the last count, it was just under or just over two. Two. Two million. Surely you've got to wear gloves to handle it. Yes, yes. If I touch any of the leaves, I wear a glove. Even the leaves, wow. Yeah, it was on the packet. Comes with a health warning. Please wear gloves. These tomatoes here, I'm growing for, they are known as storing tomatoes. Now you plant them much later and they grow so fast, they're blossoming already and they produce a standard size tomato and you pick them green and store them. Like people stored apples years ago. So do you need to wrap them individually? I will get a small box and a little piece of paper, sort of 20 tomatoes in one box and throughout the winter, they will gradually change colour. You can have a fresh tomato in January. Wow. Without buying one from a shop which has come from California. That's right, yeah. Fantastic. What a brilliant idea. Gerald, do you smoke your own meats or something? What's this for? It's a barbecue cum smoker. Yeah. I smoke or I barbecue or sometimes smoke. Brilliant. And I've used it at the moment as a receptacle to hold all these tomatoes in the hanging basket. It's got a lovely warmth from the sun here. It's radiating out heat. It's a great idea. By the way, Ben, that old chimineer there saves my bacon in the spring when my potatoes are just coming up. Okay. And if there's a danger of a frost, just before it gets dark, I'll light it with just ordinary offcuts of timber, which I've used in the workshop. And if the wind is insufficient, I put a fan over there and it blows the heat over the top of my potatoes. That is genius. Stops the frost from killing them. Absolute genius. I'm curious about what's in these. Now, I'll just cut them off, put them there and then how about that? That's handsome, that is. These are like almost jet black, some of them. That's incredible. They will be red inside. You know, if you want to show off and have a dinner party, you can have posh mash, you can have pink mash. Oh, what a great idea. I love that, I love that. That is a biggie, a big, big beet. Gerald, what's your secret to this one? Just good quality soil. You know, nothing extraordinary, just good manure. I use horse manure, well rotted, a minimum of six years, a little bit of fish blood and bone. And once a week, I spray my whole garden with seaweed, liquid seaweed, just a small solution. 10% seaweed, 90% water. Is it a special variety? No, most of the giant veg seed is collected by enthusiasts who share them around. But just lately, it started to get more professional. There's companies knowing the merits of growing something big. But I just, I'm old school and I just work on personal bests. You know, if something is one ounce heavier than what I grew before, I'm happy. These are my compost bins. That's the first one with horse manure in. Nothing special. Most of my vegetables are grown in tubs and raised beds. And so I replenish all the time. What's this then? This is compost. Help yourself, Ben. It's beautiful. This is compost, which is four years old. It's just like professional stuff you're getting. It's beautiful. It's what I've had leftover from growing potatoes, carrots, anything in a tub, goes in here to regenerate, re-rot. You watch. Yeah. See? Perfect. And this one is fresh material. All my kitchen waste, kitchen to here. Any waste vegetables, but not potatoes, because potatoes just reshoot. One little shoot will reshoot. But anything else, gorgettes, marrow, beans, goes in here. And then next Christmas, that is my runner bean trench. That there. And by Christmas, this bin will be full up of rotting vegetation. And it will be, I will dig a trench and it will go there. And that's all those beans have. And look at that voluminous growth. Clearly, they're getting their teeth into it, aren't they? Yeah, yes. And it hasn't cost me a penny. Once you've got a few, save your own seed and regrow. You don't have to keep buying every year. What we have to be careful of with any sort of compost and decomposition is vermin. Oh, yes, of course. Rats and mice. These sort of things are perfect for composting and controlling the vermin. Keep it all contained. Keep everywhere around them open so you can see if anything is happening vermin wise. And vermin don't like movement. They thrive on neglect. And in my workshop, once a month, I'll go in and move everything out, move everything back. It just stops any build up. It's a bit of a nuisance having to do that. But I guess it's worth it, isn't it? Gerald, you do look quite dapper in your dungarees, if you don't mind me saying so. And I know you've been scouted by Gucci. How on earth did that come about? Basically, social media found me. They found me through social media. And it was an incredible time. Of all the things which has happened to me over the last five years, the Gucci thing was just incredible. And is it just Gucci or have you gone on to other sort of...? Alexander McQueen was incredibly successful. Burberry. Rocket St George. White Stuff. I had visions when I was young, thin, tall, blond hair, of doing things like that. And as time goes by, I get older, fatter, no hair, but I still smile. A smile never changes. And I think many people clearly think you're still very beautiful, Gerald. Oh, thank you. Garlic is one of my favourite vegetables. And I can see you've got your latest crop drying out here. Now, these are garlic as well, aren't they? You were telling me earlier. What's the...? You've got a little system going to keep them going. These are a little boll bill, which... Let me try and find one. They attach to the outside. Yeah. And you just... When you're drying them, you just take them off and collect them and dry them like you would ordinary garlic. And then in October, I'll plant those, all these, in a raised bed. OK. Not so deep as a large one, only about that much. About an inch, yeah. And then they will grow up and produce something possibly about that big. Might be a little bit smaller. And then you lift, dry it off, take the corns from it, break it down and then plant it again. Each year you're planting, the cloves are getting bigger and bigger. Really? So how many years would you go for it to sort of reach full size? From that to that, three, possibly four. I'd say three. But you could use them from any size on, couldn't you? From the younger size. But those are for the sort of... But that is a monster, isn't it? Look at the size of that. Let's... These two. There is a... One of those is a small gross. I'll just break it off. See? I see. Yeah, there it is. Look. Gosh, look at that. From that to that in three years. Amazing. These are great. So these are sweet peppers? Yes. I think this one is called Marconi. Oh, yeah, yeah. This year we've had real problems with whitefly, greenfly. You have to do something, otherwise they decimate the plant and you will get no fruit. So I use a solution of 10 ml of baby soap. Okay. From a chemist, which is the mildest soap. Okay. And I had 10 ml of honey. Okay. Get the honey as local to you as possible. It does make a difference. Does it really? Wow. And then put that in with one litre of water in a spray gun. Okay. And then I spray it once a week. Okay. And it... All the flies stick to it. It makes this very sticky. Give it a good wash, which you should do before eating, and it is fine. And these plants are actually looking really healthy despite the sort of few whitefly. They're looking in good shape. So clearly your solution's working. And now it's an exciting time because they're just changing colour. Look at that one. Yeah, that's a beauty. I love them. Cut it off. Knock out the seeds. Yep. And fill it full of mozzarella. And then put it under the grill. That sounds divine. Yeah, that does sound good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gerald, you've created a real slice of paradise here, and I've thoroughly enjoyed looking around. Oh, thank you very much, Ben. This is my oasis of cool. Well, I think you've shared some real wisdom today, and I think we're all very grateful. Thank you. Thank you very much.