A green-fingered gardener has grown an onion so gigantic it could feed up to 30 people.
David Stothard, 74, spent months nurturing the massive vegetable during the UK’s sweltering summer.
His prize onion weighed in at a whopping 10lbs and measured 27 inches across.
Mr Stothard, who hopes his monster creations will be named the biggest in his town, grew the onion under artificial light with his son David, 52.
David Stothard, 74, grew an onion so gigantic it could feed up to 30 people – the largest he has grown so far
For the last four years, Mr Stothard has planted the seeds on Christmas Eve to begin an eight-month growth process.
The size of his crop has increased steadily each year – but he hit the jackpot in August when he unearthed the biggest he has grown so far.
He said: ‘I started growing huge veg about four years ago.
‘I have grown vegetables for the family for the past fifty years but I thought I would try my hand at growing really large vegetables.
‘The heaviest one I have grown up until last year was just over eight pounds so I couldn’t believe it when I dug this one up.
‘I have always loved gardening and this has become my passion.’
Mr Stothard, a retired furnace operator, generously gives away the vegetables to friends and family.
The gigantic vegetable (pictured right next to a regular onion) weighs a massive 10 lbs and measures 27 inches across
Mr Stothard has been growing the huge vegetables for four years, and gives the crops away to friends and family
Incredibly, his partner Yvonne took one of his crop with her to bingo and it was used to feed 28 people who attended.
She said: ‘David always keeps one back for me to take to a ‘hot dog and burger’ night at the bingo hall.
‘We chop it up into as small pieces as we can and everyone can then use the onions on their food.
‘Anything which is left over is then shared out between everyone, it always goes down as a hit.’
Mr Stothard said: ‘I always give away the onions after I have grown them, ready to start the next crop.
‘Yvonne decided to take one with her to bingo a few weeks ago and everyone seemed to love it – it fed all of them.’
He said the best way to grow the massive vegetables is to source the very best seeds (Pictured, Mr Stothard with his prize onion)
This isn’t the first time Mr Stothard (pictured at his greenhouse) has grown a crop of gigantic vegetables – he also harvested a set of colossal carrots in 2017
Mr Stothard said the trick of growing the gigantic vegetables is to source the best seeds.
He said: ‘You have to use the right seeds from people who know what they are doing. I plant them every year on Christmas Eve and the following August they are ready.
‘This is the fourth summer I have tried it and they always keep getting bigger.’
Mr Stothard, from Doncaster in South Yorkshire, also grew a set of colossal carrots in 2017.
Granddaughter Ellie Bater, 21, said her grandfather is always in the garden tending to his crop.
She said: ‘He looks after his vegetables like they are his children.
‘He really does spend hours looking after them and making sure they are the biggest and best they can be.
‘He gives all his fruit and vegetables to the family. There’s not much left after it’s all gone around.’
The Guinness World Record for the globe’s biggest onion belongs to gardener Tony Glover who grew an onion weighing staggering 18lbs 11oz.
It was weighed at the Harrogate Autumn flower show in North Yorkshire on September 12, 2014.
Mr Stothard said he is up for the challenge of beating the record, but his limited garden space may stop him in his tracks.
He added: ‘I don’t know if I will ever beat it but hopefully the ones I grow keep getting bigger.
‘Other gardeners might have a bigger set-up but I just use my garden.
‘I am only an amateur but I really enjoy the whole process.’