What's up, everyone? Kevin from Epic Gardening here. And actually, I have my UK counterpart,

Kevin 40, of Giant Veg on the podcast today. I've been excited about having Kevin on for a long time,

because I've been obsessed with giant vegetables for quite some time. And it really seems like

people in the UK are experts at growing them.

And so I figured why not have the expert on the podcast?

So today we're going to talk about the history of giant vegetables.

And it's a pretty interesting history.

And Kevin 40 is pretty well connected to it.

So Kevin, thanks for coming on.

And do you mind giving us a little bit of background on how Giant Vegg kind of got its start? Yes, it's good to meet a fellow Kevin,

and hopefully you're going to get the bug as well. Yeah. Yep. Yeah, my dad started off UK Giant Vegetable

growing in very early 1980s in a local traditional British pub. It was over a chat really amongst fellow pub

goers and they challenged one other to see who could grow the biggest pumpkin. And that lasted

for about two years in that particular pub because the pumpkins were getting that big that they

couldn't get through the single pub door,

so they had to have them outside of that time. And as usual, the British weather is pretty

inclement. So they had to find a venue with double doors. And from there they went to Cumbrand

Workingmen's Club, which is a traditional workingman's venue in Wales.

And from there, it basically mothballed then into something which has become a worldwide phenomenon really.

And my dad started off all the art of growing giant vegetables in terms of seed saving.

We'll talk to you again about how he developed seed saving techniques.

And then from there, the UK giant vegetable championships went all over the UK.

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