And the winner of the largest marrow from an N4 postcode is......

Brodiej

One of my friends was unfortunate enough to have a double hip replacement at the age of 28 and as a consequence spent a summer at home alone. To amuse himself he took up gardening and became a comeptitive vegtable grower in his local village in Suffolk. His facebook page, along with pictures of drunken nights, Arsenal games, ex-girlfriends etc, is now littered with glorius images of massive courgettes and carrots all with rosettes for "Best in Show". I have to admit that i'm a bit jealous. He has brought urban edge to the countryside. Why should Sufflok have all the fun? How can SG set up a competitive vegetable growing league, with shows taking place in local pubs, with the produce cooked up by local restaurants? I'm convinced the competive nature and middle class desire for organic produce will deliver something along the lines of The Premiership in our area.

graeme

Great idea, as long as this is the theme music!


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missisclack

Him indoors' great uncle used to win prizes for growing giant veg in the Netherlands years ago. Story goes that one year someone grew suspicious at the lightness of a massive spud; turns out great uncle Hans had been slowly pumping all the veg with with sewage water so that over time they got all gassy and their size was more to do with air than anything else.

(Unless that's another lie I've fallen for and believed for 18 years BBB?)

So, we might need some tight rules in case cheating runs in the family...

dorothy

I used to have an allotment and giant marrows and squashes were my favourite. There were some really long Italian ones I grew over an arch and hung weights from to make them longer. They were very impressive.

miss annie

I love this idea! I'll make rosettes. Can we have a proper village show with a cake competition too? I'm rubbish at growing veg but blooming good at baking.

Beek

I don't know when the judging would take place, but Wray Crescent Festival springs to mind... that's usually end of June, although I am not sure if that is the height of the growing season, it might be a little early in the year?

ADGS

We used to live next door to a competitive gardener and so would often get the resulting vegetables when their moment of glory (or failure) had passed. Leeks are boring enough to start with, but when the bloody thing is five feet long...

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Ali

That is how to get a lemon tree to flower

miss annie

The back room at the Stapleton would be a splendid venue, what say you Bethy? I could bring bunting and 'Best in Show' rosettes and I can make some lovely posters if you like.

When does one harvest marrow, could we pencil in a date?

bethyfowler

I say why on earth not? Sounds splendid indeed! If you want we can arrange a time and you can come in and have a chat about it? xx

miss annie

Marvellous! Who's game?

Competitive vegetables, a cake competition, maybe a jam stall -what else could we do chaps? I bet the local papers would give us a nice write up and perhaps we could cajole a local celeb to do a bit of judging.

Ali

Home made cheese

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Four Eyes

The Stapleton have confirmed on Twitter today that they're willing to host the SG Marrow Show and will even be growning their own giant marrows on the roof

PS: I am no longer sulking

miss annie

Hello Four Eyes,
Nice to see you back!

Good news about the Stapleton. I'm no marrow expert, when would be the best time for everyone to show off their potential prizewinners?

dorothy

It's late summer, September. Hello Four Eyes, glad you're no longer sulking.

sincers

Hello Four Eyes. btw. when are you supposed to sow them? Am I a bit late? Can someone post some tips?

Arkady

Welcome back. That was an epic sulk. Put my missus to shame.

Arkady

PS - I've been assuming up until now that this 'let's show off my prize marrow' business was a barely-veiled euphemism. But you're actually talking about growing veg, aren't you. Gutted.

Emma

I'm planning to bring along a smashing pair of melons.

Arkady

That's more like it.

Four Eyes

Helle people, yes that was a long sulk I had wasn't it (I was secretly lurking though).

@Arkady the giant marrows are not a badly veiled euphemism. I'm throwing myself wholeheartedly into this new project. The Stapleton have agreed to host the prize giving ceremony and I'm sure we can get the Islington Gazette/Hornsey Journal along for a photoshoot?

Until this morning I was not a giant marrow growing expert but the lovely people at the <a href="http://www.freewebs.com/egvga/giantmarrows.htm">European Giant Vegetable Growers Association</a> have given me some good tips. Early May is perfect marrow planting time

I'm even considering anti sabotage devices for when my potential prize winning baby starts to get huge.

miss annie

I'm very excited about this.

Bethy, can we come and talk to you about it after the Easter break?

@Emma
Me too, in addition to my baking.

Four Eyes

93.7 kilos is the giant marrow target to beat folks!

sincers

Can I show off my plumbs?

miss annie

Yes, as long as you are prepared to potentially have a large rosette pinned to them.

sincers

It wouldn't be the first time.

WillM

There's a joke about coming first there which definitely shouldn't be made.

Roy

@Misscara: you can knit cakes?!