'Giant veg growers are friends, not rivals'

Derek Hulme's lengthy leek measured 1.432m (4.698ft) and his formidable runner bean weighed 196g (6.9oz)

A world-record breaker for growing giant veg says his rivals in the pursuit of oversized perfection are in a sharing community and are not ruthless competitors.

Derek Hulme previously uprooted the planet's longest leek and heaviest runner bean, in Sneyd Green, Stoke-on-Trent.

He is already hoping for big things in 2026, having recently planted onion seeds he was sent by another formidable gardener, Peter Glazebrook.

"His onions average 15lbs each," Mr Hulme explained. "[But] everyone shares with everybody. Just because you've got the seed, doesn't mean you've got the knowledge - that's where the skill is."

Mr Hulme's love of vegetables sprouted when he was a teenage barrowboy on Hanley Market, carrying produce for stallholders and customers.

That work grew into a hobby when he started finessing things at his Buxton Gardens allotment.

But it was inflamed into a passion when he visited a giant vegetable competition in Malvern, Worcestershire, where this year's national championship was staged, during which seven world records were broken.

On that first visit some years earlier, Mr Hulme came face to face with the UK's heaviest red cabbage.

"From the moment I saw that, that was it. It just flicked a switch in my head," he remembered.

Since then, he has broken two Guinness world records and continues to push boundaries.

"No one has claimed the record for the longest tromboncino plant - that's what that is," he smiled, holding a freshly cut 19ft vine in the air.

"It's unofficial, but I know it's a world record," smiled Mr Hulme, after Guinness World Records rejected his entry on this occasion

Mr Hulme spoke with fondness and admiration for the "absolutely amazing" giant vegetable community he has met at competitions.

"You cannot find a better group of people anywhere," he said. "They all share seeds, tips, ideas, growing techniques - it's an amazing group of people."

He has sought to expand that community, taking his sizeable produce into schools for children to weigh, measure and ask questions about.

"Pass on the end product to another group, link everybody together, that way there's no wastage," he promised, standing beside a massive marrow destined for a soup kitchen.

One of Mr Hulme's largets marrows weighed in at 55.97kg (123.4lbs)

Mr Hulme is a huge advocate of the mental health benefits of gradening too.

"Just listen to the sound," he paused in his Sneyd Green allotment, recently rated outstanding by the Royal Horticultural Society.



“We're slap bang in the middle of Stoke-on-Trent and all you can hear is the birdsong."

"It's so tranquil. It's so fantastic for the mind."

With the planted onion seeds, another vegetable growing adventure has begun, but one that will take a whole year before the giants leave the earth again.

"It's great when they go in, but it's even better when they germinate," he explained.

"The moment you see that first seedling pop up, oh, you're ecstatic."