London, August 3

A 75-year-old Sikh in the English city of Derby has grown a giant cucumber. He says praying to it daily has helped the ribbed vegetable grow to a potential world-record size, the 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 inches) cucumber in his greenhouse.

Sanghera, a priest at a local gurdwara and a keen gardener, said the cucumber continued to grow in girth and length.

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

“I have made a seat to sit next to 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,” he was quoted as saying by ITV channel.

“I’ve been growing vegetables all my life, but I’ve never had anything like this. I think the hot weather may have helped it grow,” he said.

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

Sanghera and his wife Sarbjit live in Normanton, Derby. “Our children and two grandchildren love coming to see it. They are very proud. It is like another child,” he was quoted as saying by Derby Telegraph.

Peter Glazebrook, an expert in growing giant vegetables, says it appears to be an Armenian cucumber (Cucumis meloflexuosus), making it a muskmelon as opposed to a standard cucumber (Cucumis sativus), which is part of the gourd family.

“We have seen these presented before at giant veg shows, only to be rejected,” Glazebrook was quoted as saying by the BBC. However, it is a fine specimen of its type, and he has done well.”

Only members of the Cucumis sativus species can qualify for the Guinness World Record of the longest cucumber.

A spokesman for Guinness World Records said they had no current record for the longest Armenian cucumber, “but anyone can apply to create a new title via our website”. — PTI