http://www.lawrence.com/users/photos/2012/jul/30/238471/

I’ll be heading over to the fairgrounds tomorrow in search of the biggest vegetable in Douglas County.

Those hulking, twisted monster pumpkins we’ve seen pictures of filling up entire pickup beds come to mind. More realistically, extension agent Jennifer Smith tells me, the Douglas County fair will have a few big zucchinis and a couple other veggies in the contest (The categories are largest pumpkin, fall squash, watermelon, muskmelon, summer squash and zucchini).

Smith did not seem hopeful that any of our Douglas County veggies would be smashing world records. But I looked them up out of curiosity anyway. Indeed, this year’s fair would have to produce some seriously ginormous veggies to top any of these.

http://www.lawrence.com/users/photos/2012/jul/30/238499/

According to guinnessworldrecords.com:

– The world’s heaviest squash weighed
1,236 pounds and was grown by John
Vincent and Brian McGill (both
Canada) and presented at the
Cornerstone Landscaping Giant
Vegetable weigh off in Stroud,
Ontario, Canada, on Oct. 24, 2009.
– The heaviest pumpkin weighed 1,810
pounds 8 ounces and was presented by
Chris Stevens (USA) at the Stillwater
Harvest Fest in Stillwater, Minn., on
Oct. 9, 2010. The pumpkin measured
15-feet-6-inches in circumference.
– The heaviest watermelon weighed 268.8
pounds and was grown by Lloyd Bright
(USA) of Arkadelphia, Ark, in 2005.
Lloyd grew and weighed in for the
Annual Hope, Arkansas Big Watermelon
Contest on September 3, 2005.
– The longest zucchini courgette
measured 7-feet-10.3-inches on Oct.
17, 2005, and was grown by Gurdial
Singh Kanwal (India) in his garden in
Brampton, Ontario, Canada.
– The heaviest zucchini courgette was
grown by Bernard Lavery of Llanharry,
Rhondda Cynon Taff, UK in 1990 and
weighed in at 29.25 kg (64 lb 8 oz).

Incidentally, if you’ve ever considered taking up giant-pumpkin growing as a hobby, you’ll find everything you need to know at pumpkinnook.com — “The Internet Shrine and Library for Pumpkins.” There’s even an entry about naming your pumpkin. Personally, I’d have a hard time picking between Fertile Myrtle, Sasquatch or Jabba the Glut.

http://www.lawrence.com/users/photos/2012/jul/30/238498/