From titanic tatties to colossal cabbages they all grow (and grow and grow) in Jim Thomson’s garden.
For once again the retired civil servant is top of the crops. The green-fingered Dalgety Bay pensioner has truly dug for victory a record-breaking 24 years in a row.
Lettuce tell you and not in a corny way that Mr Thomson, 88, has once again finished in first place and shown he knows his onions by lifting the Beautiful Fife West Fife vegetable section.
That means his vegetables are victorious in a very large patch covering all of Dalgety Bay, Aberdour, Inverkeithing, Hillend and North Queensferry.
Jim gives some TLC to a variety of vegetables, nurturing them until they become legendary leeks, outrageous onions and mammoth marrows.
Now there is a bit of a squash in his house, in the Beeches, thanks to it being peppered with his bumper crop of horticultural honours.
On the cress of a wave, Mr Thomson put his succulent swede success down to hard work, a lot of spade work, and some “natural” fertilizer or dung.
Yes, “a well dunged garden” seems to be at the root of his continuing success. And not resting on his laurels, his vegetables are getting bigger and bigger.
“Last year I managed to produce a cabbage that was 4ft,” he said. “This year it’s about two inches bigger.”
Mr Thomson added he did not expect to win it every year, adding: “I’m getting on a bit now.”
Mr Thomson has also been awarded the top prize for best vegetable garden in the whole of Fife many times, which he has his green fingers crossed he is able to repeat this year.
He will find out whether he has scooped the regional award at an awards ceremony, recognising all the hard work and dedication local residents put into their gardens, later this year.
However, he is surely the frontrunner bean, having established a formidable reputation among his fellow competitors.
It would be a turnip for the books if it was otherwise and that’s shallot.