Our team rounded off the end of September in the South at the marvelous Malvern Autumn Show. The event is a celebration of all things Autumn and more importantly – the setting for the CANNA UK National Giant Vegetables Championship – where “Size Does Matter!”.
The competition for Giant Vegetables was strong this year, both new and expert growers were out in force to take the title for biggest, longest and heaviest categories.
This is the first year including the Heaviest Chilli and the Longest Chilli categories and 2017 saw new World Records set for Longest Chilli (401mm, Ian Neale).
Between them, our sponsored growers Peter Glazebrook and David Thomas won a number of classes, with Peters Tomato weighing at a new UK record 2.88kg and another UK record for the heaviest parsnip.
Our very own John-Paul's pumpkin weighed in at an impressive 488lb – had this been entered he would have scooped up a worthy second place for heaviest pumpkin! Instead pumpkin carver Simon McMinnis produced an amazing display by carving CANNA's iconic Gorilla artwork complete with “The Gods must be crazy!” slogan.
With numerous media outlets photographing and filming throughout the weekend (including East Midlands, BBC and the one and only Countryfile), it is safe to say that the Giant Veg scene is really taking off and drawing more well deserved attention.
The CANNA team was able to impart knowledge to visitors who had signed up to our seminar, talking through plant nutrition and cultivation with speakers Peter Geyelin and Pieter Klaassen. Our sponsored growers Peter Glazebrook and David Thomas also presented to the audience, showing the progress and experiences within their projects.
As a weekend packed full of fantastic Autumnal fun with visitors taking in great food and top chefs, vintage village nostalgia and of course world record breaking vegetables – The Malvern Autumn Show is a date to make sure is in your diary for 2018.
