The king of long carrots

Steven Desmond meets Medwyn Williams, the man who knows more than anyone about growing and showing giant vegetables

- Steven Desmond

A VISIT to Anglesey will always be a special treat, not least when it involves crossing Thomas Telford’s illustrious Menai Bridge of 1826, with the superbly picturesque strait far below. The significance of the approach is underlined by the wording of the sign on the first tower—Môn, Mam Cymru: Anglesey, Mother of Wales.

Only a few miles from this memorable scene lives Medwyn Williams, himself a kind of living monument of the best kind. He is the greatest of our show growers, a king of long carrots and immaculate cauliflowers, who was awarded an MBE in 2006. He would be entitled to live in state, but, instead, greets me in his cosy sitting room, lined with family photographs and mementoes of his brilliant career. The anticipated masterclass soon dissolves into a friendly chinwag over a marvellous pile of bara brith and Welsh cakes furnished by Medwyn’s wife, Gwenda, an inseparable part of the family enterprises over the years.

In case you wonder on what authority I sing this man’s praises, let me be clear. In 2005, Medwyn won his 10th consecutive Gold Medal at the Chelsea Flower Show, a record for a vegetable display. That show is held in May, a month known to all gardeners as the Hungry Gap, because winter stores are at an end and fresh supplies are still at the seedling stage. There is a good reason why vegetable shows are usually held in late summer. Being told that it can’t be done in May is, to a man of Medwyn’s mindset, an irresistible challenge.