We meet a Friar Park man who has just got the Guinness world record at the Malvern show. It is for his cabbage which is the heaviest ever in the world.
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00:00So we're here on a rainy day in Wensbury and Mr. Evans how are you sir?
00:05I'm alright thank you.
00:06Good man, we've just done your plot. What's the name of the allotments here?
00:09Firepark Allotments Association.
00:11Cool, and not for the shallots, there's a cabbage involved in this.
00:19Go on, fill us in. Malvern Autumn Show. What happened then?
00:24We took a cabbage that I won last year in every red cabbage section.
00:31And this year, I knew it was bigger than last year's what won,
00:35but I never knew if it was going to tip the scales enough.
00:38But it managed to tip the scales and win one of them.
00:41So it's the heaviest, go on stand it up, heaviest cabbage?
00:45Yeah, heaviest red cabbage in the world.
00:47That's crazy isn't it. So it's not here because you have to leave it at the show don't you?
00:51Well you can bring it back, but I think Malvern, if there's anything left over,
00:55they've donated to soup kitchens and different charities, so that's why we leave it there.
00:59Because the only thing I want is the root, which is for next year's seed.
01:03Oh ok, so you take the root off it?
01:05Yeah, the root's still in the ground at the moment.
01:07Oh wow, ok.
01:08And then we'll lift it up, put it back in a pot and it'll throw little cabbages again
01:14and then they'll throw flowers and that's where it produces the seed for future years.
01:18So when you dig it up to take it to Malvern, does the root stay here?
01:23No, you have to only have a three inch limit, and the rest of the root stays in the ground.
01:28So once it's displayed at Malvern, you chop the bottom root bit off, bring that back and plant it again?
01:32It's already chopped off if you want to take it.
01:34Yeah, and then it just goes back in the ground ready for the next...
01:37Well yeah, like you say, you knew you were 20 pounds off last year?
01:43It was 69 pounds and a few ounces, so I needed to beat 31 and a half kilos.
01:51And when you hit the scale, as soon as I was less than 33 kilos, that was it.
01:55Yeah, well it was a bit of a surprise to yourself wasn't it?
01:58We was having a little chat and you were saying in amongst the leaves of a cabbage you get, what do you call them?
02:03They're called pups, we call them pups.
02:05It's basically little cabbages, heads, in between the leaf joints.
02:10So it's a bit like a little sprout if you could imagine it, and that's what gained your extra weight.
02:15So you were saying they can be quite brittle, so when you took this one to Malvern,
02:19you didn't want to start messing about with the leaves to look for the pups, because you might end up damaging it?
02:24We just rolled it into a piece of tarpaulin or an old bed blanket, and then just lifted it straight into the lorry.
02:32So when it come to weighing time, even you were surprised by the weight of some of them pups in between the leaves?
02:37Yeah, I didn't even know the pups was there, even at weighing time, I didn't check for nothing.
02:42So you were there at the time of them weighing it then?
02:45Yeah.
02:46So how did it feel when you knew you'd got the record?
02:49I don't know really, it's hard to explain to it.
02:52It's overwhelming I suppose, but I don't know.
02:59It's all I ever wanted was to get one world record and that's a treatment accomplished.
03:04That's good, that's good.
03:05Well you grew up here at Thriar Park didn't you, and the allotments are just over the road from your house,
03:10which is very nice and handy, especially when the weather's like today.
03:14But it comes in the family, this grubbing mark, family trait yeah?
03:19See what it was, it's a council run land, and the person who used to run it was named John Walker,
03:28and he used to run the actual site.
03:31He lived in my house and when he passed away, my parents moved in,
03:37because the house was empty for three years, and him and my grandad set all this allotment out.
03:43Where?
03:44Dennis Evans.
03:45Yeah.
03:46You know, because he used to have war fencing round.
03:49Yeah.
03:50And obviously when my grandad came back from the army, he had his allotment since he was 16.
03:55He passed away when he was 91 last year.
03:58Ah, so he nearly saw you get the record.
04:01Did he see last year's entry, £20 off?
04:04No, no.
04:05He's always had his allotment, but health got the better of him unfortunately.
04:10Yeah.
04:11But it would have been nice for him to see.
04:13Yeah, well perhaps he's shining down from above watching, smiling.
04:16Mate.
04:18So you've been into it ever since you was a young lad then?
04:21Yeah, I've only been showing for nine years.
04:23I used to show my allotment as an overall.
04:27Not any of this veg or giant veg, just like you showed your allotment.
04:31Yeah.
04:32Is that like an open day for the site?
04:34No, it was like a competition, you know, the best allotment, things like that.
04:38And when I first entered it, I won it straight out.
04:41Yeah.
04:42And then they knocked it on the head the year after.
04:45So I had to look for someone else.
04:47You retired as reigning champ though.
04:49That's how it works, if they knock it on the head.
04:52So is cabbage, is there anything particularly you like?
04:56You know, you've obviously got the record for the big cabbage.
04:58Anything else you go for in terms of size and that then?
05:01I do the biggest tomatoes.
05:03I had the UK record in 2016.
05:05Yeah.
05:06I lost it the year after, but that's only a UK record compared to a world record.
05:10Yeah.
05:11But I only do the fruits, so your tomatoes, your aubergines, your peppers,
05:17heavy onions, heaviest leek, longest chilli, and the cabbages.
05:25And I come second with the green cabbage.
05:27Yeah.
05:28So I come fifth last year, so it's bumped up a bit.
05:31So without giving away tricks to the trader,
05:33is there certain little things that you kind of do to try and encourage that larger growth?
05:37Like a special recipe that you put in the soil?
05:40No, I don't like tricks.
05:41No?
05:42It's down to the seed.
05:43We do not know the variety.
05:45Yeah.
05:46We had it off a company which is Giant Veg, which is run by Kevin Forte.
05:52We bought the seeds from that website.
05:54And then Neyland stumbled across it.
05:58Yeah.
05:59He's got allotment on here.
06:01Yeah.
06:02And he broke the world record when we took it to Mansfield.
06:04He's had the record for four years.
06:06And I only just grew them last year.
06:08Yeah.
06:09And he's been having the seed, reseeding it himself.
06:13And I had a seed.
06:14I won last year.
06:15Yeah.
06:16Now this year, I said, well, I'll be close to it.
06:19Yeah.
06:20So who had the record before you then?
06:22Neyland.
06:23And where's he based?
06:24He's from Warsaw.
06:26Oh, right.
06:27And he had the world record?
06:28Yeah.
06:29And he's on the same site as me.
06:30As here?
06:31Yeah.
06:32No?
06:33What are the chances of that, really?
06:34Do you know what I mean?
06:35Yeah, yeah.
06:36So how does he feel about that?
06:37Is it all a bit of happy competition-like?
06:40Well, we just do it together.
06:41So it's a competition between us.
06:43Yeah, yeah.
06:46I don't know.
06:47It's a bit like anything, really.
06:48It's not going to come and sabotage your roots in the night, is it?
06:51No, no.
06:52It's just one of them where the record's there to be broken.
06:55Yeah.
06:56And by anybody.
06:57Yeah.
06:58So are you growing mainly for show?
07:01Or are you growing, you know, for your daily veg and stuff?
07:04I grow mostly for quality vegetables.
07:07So it's showing.
07:08Yeah.
07:10And then a few joints.
07:12You know, we have got another pot where we just grow for the table.
07:16But at the end of the season, or anything I've got left over,
07:19I tend to give it to the old ones in the street,
07:21or just give it to somebody to donate it for the soup kitchen.
07:25Do you know what I mean?
07:26Yeah.
07:27That's good.
07:28But the main stuff goes back for stock for future seeding and things like that.
07:33And that's what we do.
07:35So what do you get out of it?
07:37There's quite a nice kind of social environment on these allotment plots, isn't there?
07:41There's quite a nice camaraderie.
07:43Is that part of the enjoyment, like?
07:45It's more like we go to the shows,
07:48and you see people from Scotland, Wales, and even Ireland,
07:52that come to these shows.
07:53And we only meet up really once a year,
07:55because otherwise, you know, you've got to go to the different parts of the country.
07:59Yeah, yeah.
08:00And then we have a night to see how we got on,
08:02and just general things, really.
08:04So how far do you travel for a show, then?
08:06Malvern's the furthest.
08:07Yeah.
08:08I do run the Midland Pot Lake Society,
08:11and we're the last one down here.
08:13Yeah.
08:14You know, I'm the youngest of 29 in the club,
08:17and the oldest is 86.
08:19Yeah, no way.
08:21And sadly, we don't get the veg show at the Samwell Show anymore, do we?
08:24It used to be great, didn't it, that, back in the day?
08:27Yeah, until the council wanted to pull the plug.
08:29What a shame.
08:30That used to be lovely, that.
08:31Used to get a good crowd in that tent, as well.
08:34They wanted too many people for voluntary work.
08:37Instead of spending it on rubbish,
08:39they should have put the show on to where it benefited everybody.
08:43And there's many people who go up that park and say,
08:46why are the giant veg tent on?
08:48Why are the show tent on?
08:50That's what they used to love about the show.
08:52That's a shame.
08:53Yeah.
08:54So, next year, are you, what, you've got your eyes on, is it?
08:57Is it a case of trying to just keep the record, you know,
09:00and kind of, do you think you can go bigger?
09:03If I can go bigger, I'll just beat my own record.
09:06Yeah.
09:07You're going to have your mate in competition with you, aren't you?
09:10I'll beat my own record, or if somebody else beats it,
09:13I will try and aim for something else, which I think is timeable.
09:17Yeah, go on, what, another type of veg or fruit, you mean?
09:19Maybe another fruit.
09:20Yeah.
09:21Like a pepper.
09:22I mean, the pepper got a broken world record this year.
09:24Yeah.
09:25So, to get, that's the length, isn't it, then, the pepper?
09:28No, it's for the weight.
09:29For the weight, yeah.
09:30So, anything in the fruities sort of section that, I mean,
09:34I do a good cowboy and mowers and everything like that,
09:37so I just pick sensible stuff that I know that it's possible for me to do.
09:43Yeah.
09:44I'm curious, when you've got a giant cabbage, would it,
09:48if you were to eat that, does it taste just the same as a regular-sized cabbage,
09:52or is there a difference in flavour?
09:54The way I look at it, as anybody's always asked me over this,
09:57they say, does it taste any different?
10:00Yeah.
10:01My answer is no, a leek tastes just as a leek.
10:04Yeah, yeah.
10:05It just means you've got more of it.