Peter Glazebrook with a giant onion. He has held eight world records in his time but is currently holder of only two with heaviest parsnip and longest beetroot, 12lb and 21ft. respectively. Giant vegetable growing is not a hobby for the faint hearted. The growers have to tend to the vegetables almost every day (including Christmas) spending up to 80 hours a week, tending, nurturing, growing and spending thousands on fertilisers, electricity and green houses. The reward is to be crowned world record holder of largest, longest or heaviest in class, cabbages weighing in at 100lb, carrots stretching 19 ft and pumpkins tipping the scales at 800lb. it’s a competitive business though and global; some times the record may stand for only hours before a fellow competitor, somewhere, knocks a grower off the coveted spot.