This gardener regularly grows 100-pound vegetables

Growing up in a very large family, Phillip Vowles learned to appreciate the effort it took to feed all his brothers and sisters. So when he started harvesting his own crop, he decided to supersize his project. As Phillip says, “big vegetables feed big families.” Today, his giant veggies top-out at over 100 pounds and can feed more than just a few families.



Good day!
We grow giant marrows, four foot in a month. 45 inches. These marrows would taste exactly the same as a normal marrow. Nice and tender and lush. Some of them look a bit tough, but once you cut into them, they cut like butter.
My name is Phillip Vowles. I live in Llanharry, Wales and I grow giant vegetables. I've been growing giant vegetables now for the last 30 years.
I come from a very large family. My mother had 17 children. 13 of us survived, and I think, you know, that was something, you know, big vegetables feed big families.
You know, I’m up here every morning, every night, every single day of the week. There's a lot of love and care goes into it. Sometimes I do a bit of talking to them as well to encourage them to grow, which is a bit of, you know, a bit of fun.
I think he's just about finished growing there now.
I got to be very careful the wife is not about when I start talking to my vegetables, but it's all good fun. I broke the world record for the heaviest cucumber what, 25 years ago. It weighed 18 1/2 pound and it was just incredible the way it grew.
When I started, if we had a marrow 20, 30 pound in weight, you had a big marrow. Now, we're up over a 100 pound in weight. A normal cabbage would be two pound in weight, but we're growing 'em 120 pound. You know, you can feed 120, 130, 140 people off one cabbage. This is why I supply the local pub, and they use 'em up for Sunday lunch.
I've developed my own strain, more or less, now. I select my own seed every year, the biggest and the best seed, and it just seems to be improving which is incredible. I grow organically.
I had to think, if I can do it, anybody can do it, and it's a big thrill every day. The wife say, "What am I doing up the lot every day?" And when she comes up she realize.

Dog with the Longest Tongue

Self-study activity:
Watch this short video clip about a dog holding a world record and complete the gaps below with the missing information.



Puggy’s tongue is (1) ______ inches long, which makes him the Guiness World Record holder for dog with the longest tongue. It means a great deal to us that he’s accomplished what he has. Coming from being a stray dog, dumped in the (2) ______ to a Guiness World Record holder it’s just phenomenal. It’s just, I can’t believe it. What I do for Puggy is I have to chop his food up into really small (3) ______ , which enables him to eat with as much ease as possible since he does chew his with his (4) ______ , and he manages just fine. The reaction I get from people when they see Puggy is just total (5) ______ because they’ve never seen anything like this before in their life. So he’s definitely a headturner and a sight for sore (6) ______ . He’s great. When we first found Puggy, we had no idea that one day, he would be the Guiness World Record holder for dog with the longest tongue. It’s absolutely (7) ______.

Key:
1. four and a half; 2. country; 3. pieces; 4. tongue; 5. ashtonisment; 6. eyes; 7. amazing

Fastest text message

Self-study activity:
Watch this You Tube video from a British TV entertainment programme which shows an attempt to break a Guiness World Record and answer the questions that follow.

What do these figures refer to in the clip?
2003
About 2,000 a month
Peak to 4,000
26
160
43.2
51.3

You can check your answers by reading the script here.