John Evans and His Giant Vegetables

My name is John V. R. Evans, I was born in Dungarvan, Ireland and was raised on my family estate in Brecon, South Wales. I come from a line of expert horticulturists, so the genes must have been passed down to me.

In the 40 years of gardening experience, I have accumulated a great wealth of knowledge from different climactic and soil conditions in 6 countries and 4 U.S. states. I also do extensive research in the chemical, physical and biological properties of my garden and experiment on different plants of the 60 to 70 vegetables seed varieties I grow each year.
In the seven years of competition at the Alaska State Fair my wife, Mary, and I have accumulated over 180 first places in both quality and giant vegetable catagories, with 18 State and 7 World Records.

If you could, imagine what it would be like to dig up a carrot from your garden and not knowing how big it is until the last minute, and then finding out that it's 19 lbs. Now thats exciting!

Over the years, I have developed my own fertilizers, bio-catalysts, and growing techniques and it would take a whole book to explain, so I can only give basic information on each record:

Red Cabbage (brassica oleracea capitata rosa) 45.25 lb 1994 world record
(Photo: The weigh- in at the Alaska State Fair.) Cabbages require rich soil with a high ph and require high nitrogen fertilizer throughout the growing season, it is important to support the lower leaves for good air flow and to give them plenty of space to grow.

Green Cabbage (brassica oleracea capitata) 76.00 lb 1998
(Photo: My daughter, Lauren, dwarfed by cabbage!)

Carrot (daucus carota) 19.985 lb 1998 world record (single root mass)
(Photo: The world record carrot at the fair)
Carrots requiring a long growing season and should be started in February. Transplant in a high raised bed that has been dug very deeply and enriched with compost and sand.

Kale (brassica oleracea acephala) 28.75 lb 1995 world record
Kale should be grown the same way as cabbages, they are very beautiful plants and well worth growing.

Zucchini (Marrow) (cucurbita) 59.00 lb 1998 State record
Zucchini are very easy to grow and require rich soil and plenty of water. We nicknamed this one 'BABY'and put a blanket on it at night so it would not get chilled!

This is Mary and I with our world-record certificates, the zucchini got a state record at the fair in 1999 at 29.6495 lbs.

Kohlrabi (brassica caulorapa) 39.50 lb 1998 world record
Kohlrabi, like all brassica's require a ph above seven, this one decided to to grow small ones off the main plant.
I put many hours pampering with this plant , the roots were so extensive they grew more than 4 feet in all directions.

Garden Beet (beta vulgaris) 42.75 lb 1999 world record
Beets take about four months to grow with the ph about 6. As you can see from my expression it required a lot of effort to harvest this monster 80co - I have to take a rest before going to the state fair with the beet.

I grow many different varieties of potatoes and in 1998 I harvested over 2,700 lbs. in just over 500 linear feet. One plant produced exactly 50 potatoes All my a extra produce is donated to the Palmer senior citizen center, here in town.

Brocolli (brassica oleracea italica) 35.00 lb 1993 world record
This was our first World record, so you can imagine how proud we were when we brought to the state fair and realized what we had done

Artichoke (cynara scolymus) 1997 State

Cauliflower (brassica oleracea botrytis) 31.250 lb 1997 (unlisted) national record
We put a tomato on it, so as to establish the size of the plant in a photagraph.

Rutabaga (napo brassica) 53.350 lb 1994 national record
Rutabagas are easy to grow but require a lot of T L C, they have a tendency to get mold so support the leaves like cabbages for good ventilation. I grow these plants every year for their beauty and their taste.

Swiss Chard (no photo) 71.750 lb 1995 (unlisted) world record It was over 9 foot tall and took three people to carry it to the trailer.

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