World Record-Busting Growing Tips From Giant Veg

One of the most beneficial things we can do is grow our own edibles and ornamentals. So STIGA has asked gardening expert and the Yoda of growing world record-busting veggies, Kevin Fortey of Giant Veg, to offer up some MASSIVE tips to share with you all!

Over to Kevin below …

Over the past few years, we have managed to secure 9 Guinness World Records in our Giant Vegetable-growing endeavours. This year we are hoping to make it to 10. Fingers crossed…July has, until this year, often been one of the hottest months of the year and a great time to sit out and enjoy your garden. The season so far, has been unseasonably grey with limited sunshine. There have been the occasional breaks in the clouds to tease the plants with a little sunshine.

Our season is about 3 to 4 weeks behind previous years. There’s lots to do out in the garden over the coming weeks and we’ll take you through a few top tips below to get your garden blooming and producing fresh nutritious vegetables with a hint of added Giant Veg.

Deadheading and Weeding

As plants grow throughout the season, in an effort to keep plants looking good, make sure you regularly deadhead bedding plants and repeat-flowering perennials (snip off the flowers that have finished) and you’ll enjoy a longer display of blooms.

Keep on top of the weeds as they compete for nutrients and moisture. A regular hoe when they are small will prevent you from having to take buckets of weeds off your patch.

Watering

Watering is one of the most important jobs when growing plants in containers or in the soil. Make sure you keep new and established plants watered. Add a few drops of seaweed into the watering can to provide the plant with nutrients, including nitrogen, potassium, phosphate and magnesium.

Marrows and Courgettes

We’ve just started to hand pollinate our giant marrows, our target this year is to beat our 203-pound personal best. The fruits will keep growing for at least the next 8 weeks with the help of a fishing umbrella to prevent them from ripening and a bed of sand underneath to keep them moving.

If you don’t have the space for giant marrows, growing courgettes is a similar family member. Make sure you regularly pick the fruits to encourage more to grow. These can still be planted now for a harvest into late September.

Cucumbers and Tomatoes

The kitchen garden tomatoes are just starting to ripen and the giant tomatoes have been recently pollinated. Both types of tomatoes are grown taking off the sideshoots to provide plenty of airflow into the plants. It’s often called a tomato haircut! Remember to use a tomato feed to maximise your yield.

The cucumbers are producing lots of fruits now. The giant cucumbers are all set and we’re regularly topping up their food to maximise their potential. I wonder if there will be a 30-pounder this year?

Sweet, Smaller Fruits

Onto smaller fruits… We grow blueberries in containers. We haven’t managed a giant blueberry yet. Blueberries will benefit from a weekly feed of Ericaceous plant food. This will help to produce healthier plants as well as a bumper harvest of fruits.

If you’re growing in a container, we would recommend a tray under plants to allow the plants to absorb water/nutrients from the base. This encourages the roots to go searching and leads to healthier plants.

Lawns

Off the topic of fruit and veg and onto the lawn. With all the rainfall our lawn is looking lush and green here in Wales. Regular weekly cuts will keep on top of the growth. Define the borders with an edging tool. If you have a robot mower, sit back and watch your garden be mowed. On the other hand, if you have a battery mower or petrol mower get them out each week and mow away. Whatever you have, enjoy your garden this Summer.

Kevin will be heading over to Los Angeles in September to talk at the Rare Seeds Expo.

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