(lighthearted instrumental music)
- Good day! (laughs)
We grow giant marrows, four foot in a month.
45 inches.
These marrows would taste exactly the same
as a normal marrow.
Nice and tender and lush.
Some of them look a bit tough,
but once you cut into them, they cut like butter.
My name is Phillip Vowles.
I live in Llanharry, Wales and I grow giant vegetables.
(lively instrumental music)
I've been growing giant vegetables now
for the last 30 years.
I come from a very large family.
My mother had 17 children.
13 of us survived, and I think, you know, that was something, you know,
big vegetables feed big families.
You know, I’m up here every morning, every night,
every single day of the week.
There's a lot of love and care goes into it.
Sometimes I do a bit of talking to them as well
to encourage them to grow
which is a bit of, you know, a bit of fun.
I think he's just about finished growing there now.
I got to be very careful the wife is not about
when I start talking to my vegetables,
but it's all good fun.
I broke the world record for the heaviest cucumber
what, 25 years ago.
It weighed 18 1/2 pound and it was just incredible
the way it grew.
When I started, if we had a marrow 20, 30 pound in weight,
you had a big marrow.
Now, we're up over a 100 pound in weight.
A normal cabbage would be two pound in weight,
but we're growing 'em 120 pound.
You know, you can feed 120, 130, 140 people off one cabbage.
This is why I supply the local pub,
and they use 'em up for Sunday lunch.
I've developed my own strain, more or less, now.
I select my own seed every year,
the biggest and the best seed,
and it just seems to be improving which is incredible.
I grow organically.
I had to think, if I can do it, anybody can do it,
and it's a big thrill every day.
The wife say, "What am I doing up the lot every day?"
And when she comes up she realize.