A SYDENHAM mum puts her "loving and tender" hands down to her giant home-grown veg which are the envy of her gardening neighbours.

Neighbours are mystified as to how Helen Guest rears the colossal crops on a tiny plot of land - seemingly without any effort.

This Is Local London: Helen Guest says her "loving and tender hands" are the secret to the giant veg

 

The 50-year-old, who lives in Collingtree Road, says she just "plonks" the plants in the ground and they grow double the size of anyone else’s.

The mother-of-one said: "It is amazing what I grow out there. I am quite surprised really.

"I just plonk them out there. But everyone stops and says ‘how do you grow them so big?’

"I have got loving and tender hands."

One recent whopper is a courgette which swelled to have a girth of more than one foot.

Miss Guest, who gives her bumper crops to neighbours, said: "People tell me their wives have been smiling all the time because they are so long and big."

This Is Local London: Helen Guest's giant veg in a small plot by a road are the envy of the neighbourhood

She says neighbours have even rearranged their gardens to match hers in a bid to boost their veg size but to no avail.

Keen gardener Jonathan Wren, who lives near green-fingered Miss Guest, said: "They just get bigger and bigger. Her courgette is a whopper.

"She doesn’t do anything to the garden really. There might be a bit of envy there, but I think it is really funny."

Teachers stop and show schoolchildren the garden and Miss Guest says the plot helps pull the neighbourhood together.

Among the gardener-of-three-years’ huge haul are yellow courgettes, butternut squash, chillies, beetroot and cucumbers.

She said: "I have really started to enjoy it.

"I just want to show people what they can do with their gardens, even a little garden, and how much fun you can have."

Is this the biggest courgette you have ever seen?