Why not Grow Other Giant Vegetables?

This question is more for myself I think, but it also touches on the whole giant vegetable thing as I see it here in NZ. I could be completely wrong, let me know.

Pumpkins are the Draw

I have no solid reason as to why giant pumpkins have more of a draw to me than say something else. But to me pumpkins being the largest vegetable in the world probably has something to do with it.

For me there is a couple of reasons other giant varieties are currently off the table.

One is that it is very hard to get seeds into the country, due to the strict and justified bio security rules we have.

Lack of space is another and if I had more space to grow, I might be in a better position to grow other things.

New Zealand and Giant Vegetables

There are people that grow other giant things. These people have probably been doing it for a long time within their communities.

They can usually be seen at some A&P show, which I think is the closest thing to an organised competition for these

Every time I think about how many people grow giant things, how many people show up to events and stuff, I always come back to how small and spaced out our population is. We have 5 million people for the whole of the country.

And with people all over the place, it can sometimes be hard to know who is doing what.

Giant Veges NZ

Over the years I’ve probably only had a couple of people ever ask about growing something else other than giant pumpkins, or inquiring about seeds for other things.

I toyed with the idea of setting up something for other giant veges here in NZ. It was probably going to consist of a website and somehow tapping into these A&P shows to get show results.

I even had a logo sorted out for it.

Giant Veg NZ Logo

But the more I looked at it, the more the idea peculated in my brain, the more unsure of it I was.

Sometimes you can see the demand for something, other times you just have to build it and they will come apparently. I was worried about spreading myself too thin, and not being able to juggle everything all at the same time.

So that all went on the back burner.

Benefits of Growing Other Varieties of Giant Vegetables

While there are different reasons on not wanting to grow other giant stuff, what would the benefits of doing this?  Being more accessible to people, some other varieties would take up less space, and could be grown easier for some people.

These other giant vegetables could be more edible than say the giant pumpkins. Sure they probably wouldn’t as they would be kept on display for a while.

If you are reading this, no matter if you have grown anything giant before. What would you like to grow? What have you grown before? let me know in the comments below.

Subscribe
Notify of
2 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Darren
4 years ago

Unfortunately due to moving house I don’t have fenced off space big enough for giant pumpkins as the wallabies would eat unfenced plants.
So, looking at giant tomatoes. Any suggestions?

2
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x
Scroll to Top