Melbourne’s Harry Singh is claimed to be the proud grower of Australia’s largest bottle gourd.
A supermarket site manager, Singh has organically grown the largest calabash family vegetable.
The calabash, or bottle gourd, is one of the chief culinary vegetables in many tropical and temperate regions around the world.
In India, the calabash is known as Ghiya, kaddu or lauki .
Living in Clayton in Melbourne’s east, the Singh family has a passion for gardening.
“We have been gardening from last ten years. My wife Harinder has always been keen to grow vegetables in the backyard. No doubt, it’s fresh and healthy,” Singh told SBS Punjabi.
“We have a small backyard garden where we grow all sorts of vegetables, herbs, and other plants.”
“Go green, go organic is my message to the community,” said Singh who has been growing vegetables without the use of any man-made chemicals.
Proud gardener Harry Singh with his impressive vegetable Source: Facebook
Harry has done further research into whether there was any such preexisting record. “The Australian Book of Records did not have this type of record. So, I sent in my entry and was glad to be accepted for this achievement,” he told SBS Punjabi.
The award-holder bottle gourd weighed in at 8.9 kg and measured 130 cm.
“A Chinese family holds the Guinness World Record for bottle gourd. But I have beaten the world record holder in India.”
“There is no other mention of this type of record in Australia. Last year, I had this record in the weight category. But it was a bit short in the length.”
“The size of this one was something that I had never seen before. So, this year I have broken both weight and length record,” said Singh. “The bottle gourd growth has been exceptionally well from the last two years. The award credit goes to the favorable weather conditions in Melbourne.”
Singh hails from a small village near Rajpura in Punjab, India. He migrated to Australia 19 years ago.
