UK: Grower of giant veg shares secrets of success with rapper Snoop Dog

It’s not every day you get to chat to Snoop Dog's favourite vegetable grower, about the tricks of growing giant marrows, but that’s exactly what I did when I asked world record holder, Ian Neale, to teach me how to grow award winning vegetables. Mr Neale, 70, of Langstone, Newport, who lovingly nurtured a mammoth 85.5lb vegetable to claim a Guinness World Record, met the hip-hop star Snoop Dog in Cardiff two years ago, who asked the gardener to tell him the secrets if his success.

“I had never heard of him to be honest, but my friend had so I went along to meet him in Cardiff and gave him some advice on growing, and I gave him some root grow.” The retired farmer who grows swedes, carrots, parsnips, marrows and melons, amongst other vegetables, advises growers to invest in a polythene tunnel or some sort of protection for the vegetables so that they can be planted earlier in the season giving them longer to grow.

“You can start planting now as long as you give the plant some sort of protection because if you were to plant outside to early it just wouldn't grow as well,” he said.

Click here to learn more at southwalesargus.co.uk