China wants to grow giant vegetables!

We know that China has the world’s fastest-growing economy - but now it wants to be have the world’s biggest-growing vegetables, too. And a delegation of Chinese politicians and business leaders has come to England to tap the knowledge and expertise of one of our champion growers.

Northamptonshire-based Clive Bevan, a giant of the giant veg world, recently took a delegation from China’s Jiangsu Province on a tour of his humble allotment in Great Doddington. He said in an interview in the Mail on Sunday: “The Chinese have told me they want to become world-record holders in giant vegetables – and get their people to grow them to eat.” He added: “The idea is that I will go out before the end of the year, all expenses paid, to look at the land and meet the people who will do the initial growing. Then I will go on tour, speaking to ordinary people about growing giant vegetables to eat themselves.”

Future trips to China are also likely. “The plan is for an eco area to be created within which I will have set up a giant vegetable zone. Next year I will make a longer visit to oversee the project,” he said. The Chinese delegation visit was set up by David Loh – a Birmingham-based trained chef and food artist from Malaysia. Clive said: “I showed them all around. They came into my polytunnel to see onions and carrots, and the cucumbers that I grow in my wife’s old tights. Then they went to see my giant cabbage.”

Clive grows organically and, he says, the secret to growing giant vegetables is using the right seed, the right soil, the right temperature, hours of work and a very big bank balance. “It can cost thousands to set up the right environment on a giant scale,” he said. Clive also has a fan, in the form of Prince Charles. In 1999, Clive created a prize-winning vegetable garden for the Prince at the East of England Show.