Sikh man in UK grows world’s longest cucumber

A 75-year-old Indian-origin Sikh in the city of Derby has grown a giant cucumber and says praying to it daily has helped the ribbed vegetable grow to a potential world-record size, British media reported.

Raghbir Singh Sanghera, who worked as a farmer in India before coming to the UK in 1991, grew the 129.54 cm (51 inch) cucumber in his greenhouse. Sanghera, a priest at a local Gurdwara and keen gardener, said the cucumber — whose species has not yet been determined — continues to grow in girth and length.

The current Guinness World Record for the longest cucumber, which was grown in Wales in 2011, is 42.13 inches (107 cm), the BBC reported.

“I have made a seat to sit next to it and where I can see it and watch it,” he said. “I pray that it grows, that it keeps us all healthy and that everybody stays well and happy — it makes me happy seeing it.”

Sanghera feeds the plant with water and fertiliser in the morning, lunchtime and evening, and sits next to it for three hours a day. “Last year I grew a 39-inch cucumber with the same seeds but this year I wanted to do better. I sit next to it and pray for my health, for my family and for the cucumber,” he was quoted as saying by ITV channel.

Sanghera plans to submit the giant cucumber to the Guinness Book of Records when it stops growing.

First Published: Aug 03, 2018 22:22 IST