A tale hard to beat

Andrew Voerman
James Campbell has a tall tale to tell but his is 100 per cent true. The main attraction of his Timaru garden is a 2.3 metre tall silverbeet plant. Mr Campbell said he was surprised by how tall it had grown and the other residents of the aged care village where he lives always comment on it. It was planted in January and has now grown so big that it has hooked on to the spouting. Mr Campbell and his wife, Isabel, have been eating from the lower leaves of the plant all winter and said it tastes just like normal. Mr Campbell said gardening was a very pleasurable hobby that he was encouraged to keep up when he moved into the village. He also grows celery, beetroot, leeks, lettuce and rhubarb in a little plot. He said the only thing he adds to the garden is sweat from [his] brow. New Zealand must be a kind environment for silverbeet the worlds tallest plant was grown here in 2008 and measured 3.6m. T See next weeks South Canterbury Herald for a Timaru-grown carrot of unusual size.

Beet this: James and Isabel Campbell admire their 2.3-metre tall silverbeet plant
Photo by: JOHN BISSET/FAIRFAX NZ