Brian Moore likes big plants and he knows how to grow them. In 2007, his record-breaking amaranth topped 23 ft. Want to grow your own giant plants? Learn how Brian does it.
Brian Moore with a row of giant sunflowers; the tallest sunflower is about 16 ft. The seeds came from a grower in the United Kingdom.
One of my three-year-old twin daughters standing in front of a row of corn and amaranth that's more than 20 ft. tall.
Inspecting a self-sown sunflower growing on the edge of a patch of giant Jala maize (corn) from Mexico.
A mix of different English vegetable marrows. Marrows are very similar in taste to zucchini when cut under 12″. Marrows are not grown much in the U.S., but they're common in the United Kingdom. Some varieties can grow to over 200 lbs.
Picture of Mercer County, N.J., Weights and Measures, measuring my 23 ft 2″ tall amaranth, which is listed in the 2009 Guinness Book of World Records as the world's tallest amaranthus. More: Video of the amaranth being measured
Centaurea rothrockii is a hard-to-find biennial that produces enormous blooms on plants that are generally 4-5 ft., but I've had them over 7 ft.
Brian Moore likes big plants and he knows how to grow them. In 2007, his record-breaking amaranth grew to 23 ft. 2″. Want to grow your own giant plants? Here's how Brian does it:
How tall are the sunflowers in your photos? Any record-setters?
Most of the sunflowers in my pictures are around 14 to 16 feet. The world record is a little over 25 feet; so there are no record-breakers. I had a world record for amaranth in 2007 at 23 ft. 2″, breaking the previous world record of 15 ft. 1″. The record is listed in the 2009 Guinness Book of World Records. My record was then broken by a 27 ft. 10″ plant from someone in I sent seeds to in upstate New York. Hopefully, I will get the record back this year. Last year, my tallest amaranth was 24 ft. 4″, so I'm getting closer.
What's the key to getting extra-large plants?
No matter how great of a gardener you are, if your plants do not have the proper genetics then you will never get a large plant. When growing sunflowers I use varieties that I trade with other giant-vegetable growers. Those seeds usually produce the tallest plants. I then grow them and save the seeds to the best plants. Most sunflower varieities from commercial seed companies do not produce plants as large.
When growing tall corn, look for tropical varieties from Mexico, Columbia or Ecuador. When I first started growing corn, I used a type called Mexican June and it grew about 15 ft. on average. Now I grow a variety called Tehua, and this year it averaged about 25 ft.
What are some of the gardening techniques you use?
Proper spacing is one of the best ways to get plants tall. If you plant them too close, the plants will not reach their ultimate height. However, if you plant them too far apart, they don't compete for sunlight. In the case of some plants, such as giant amaranth, they will bush out instead of growing up. I also find that controlled competition is good for my plants. I'll plant a row of sunflowers and I will get various weeds and self-sown plants from my garden growing alongside the sunflowers. I let them compete to a degree, but as the sunflower gets taller and the root zone extends outward, I cut down or pull out the competitors. The competition for sun and resources speeds up growth so I can get more growth into a season.
Do you start seeds indoors?
The only time I start the sunflowers indoors is if I have a limited amount of seed and I want to guarantee to get a plant. Sunflowers do not transplant well. There are some seeds that I always start indoors. For instance, giant amaranth (Amaranthus australis) is much more sensitive to day length; so the longer the season the taller they grow. I start them in pots in January. I've been able to get those amaranth to 21 feet direct-sown (planting outdoors), but the season is too short to get them much taller.
What about staking and support?
Many of my sunflowers were grown without any stakes. If you do not stake your plants, be prepared to lose some of your crop by the end of the season. I think it makes the growing season rather exciting by not staking plants. It's much more challenging to grow these plants without stakes. If I think a plant has a shot at a world record, I will get serious with staking. When I had my world-record amaranth I used a 21-ft. aluminum flagpole to secure the plant. When I grow plants along my house I use twine to tie them up from inside my second story window. I also find that if you just tie plants to one another, they all help keep one another up.
What's your fertilizing routine?
I fertilize once or twice a day with small amounts of high-nitrogen, water-soluble fertilizer. However, the average gardener can still grow giants with little fertilizing. Every year I grow sunflowers at my wife's parents house. I throw down some Espoma Garden-Tone when I turn the ground in the spring. With this approach, I've had them grow to almost 15 feet.
How does a person get started growing giant vegetables?
You have to do some research online. That means going on a search engine and type in "tallest sunflower" or "largest sunflower head". There are communities of giant-vegetable growers on the internet. They usually deal with giant pumpkins, but those same people also grow other giants as well. Another good resource: your local county fair. Get to know some of the growers and try to get some seeds from them. Many growers are willing to help out someone new with some seeds and advice.
Gardener's Supply staffer Debbie Page goes to Nicaragua with a few packets of seeds and the goal of starting a garden.
Rudi and I planted a garden in a cement box that was part of the hospital ruins.
Nurses from the Miskito villages along the Rio Coco in northwestern Nicaragua choose seeds to plant.
Local children are curious about the garden. I hope they will care for it, too.
During Vermont's winter months, our stores (where I work) get pretty quiet, so it's a good time to get away. This year I traveled to Nicaragua with Dr. Karen Burke from Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington. Three Spanish-speaking college students accompanied us.
Our destination was the town of Wespan in northeastern Nicaragua, which is on the Rio Coco, near the country's border with Honduras. We visited the Miskito villages surrounding the town and brought them medicine and medical supplies, sheets, towels, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, books as well as seeds from Gardener's Supply. We lead workshops in the different villages, where we discussed nutrition, hygiene, composting and planting. We gave seeds to the lead nurse in each village so he or she could distribute them. The seeds and the headache medicine were the biggest hits.
Our home base was a medical clinic on the grounds of a hospital that was burned by the Sandinistas in 1981. Some lovely browalia still grow and bloom among the concrete ruins of hospital's foundations. Dr. Burke asked me to plant a garden with Rudi, the clinic's groundskeeper.
We chose an open cement box that was 10 ft. x 5 ft. and 4 ft. tall. It had been the water filter for the hospital's cistern, but was now filled with weeds and sand. Growing in a contained, elevated planter would give the plants some protection from being trampled or munched by the cows, horses, pigs, goats and chickens that roam free. The garden would also be within sight of the clinic, so it might get some ongoing attention. We removed the weeds from the planter and topped it with 3-4″ of compost from the pile Burke created on her visit a year ago.
Rudi and the clinic's cook, Vilma, looked over the seeds we'd brought down, and decided what they would like to plant. They chose plants they knew would grow well in their climate: tomatoes, melons, green beans, peppers and carrots. We also planted sunflowers, Swiss chard and marigolds. The Swiss chard was to add some greens to their diet, which is mainly rice and beans. The marigolds were to repel bugs and the sunflowers were for the birds. To make planting easy and keep things organized, we divided the surface of the garden into a grid of 12″ squares, just as we recommend in our Kitchen Garden Planner. Wespan gets at least a little bit of rain every day. As soon as it stops raining, the sun beams down. No wonder the seeds were already sprouting just four days after planting.
We also planted lots of flower seeds in front of the clinic. I am not as hopeful about this garden because it is within the drip line of the roof and doesn't get much rain. Maybe the nurses will remember to water it. The "weeds" Rudi removed to clear the area contained some pretty pink-tinged caladiums.
The area is part of a pine savannah, and most of the soil is sandy and acidic. Pine trees and palm trees provide some shade around people's living areas. A few people make compost, "tierra negra," but most of the animal manure is left where it's deposited. Children run through when playing — we saw a child's bare footprint in one of the cow plops.
I had a wonderful experience in Nicaragua and was happy to share the seeds and some of my gardening experience. But who were we to tell these folks how to plant a garden? They have been planting beans and rice since their ancestors the Mayans were living there. As a gardener, I'm always eager to discover new gardening techniques. My hope is that maybe I left behind a few new ideas for them to experiment with.
—Debbie Page
Williston Store Sales Associate, Gardener's Supply
Craving a little garden-fresh crunch? Sprouts deliver! Start a “kitchen garden” on your windowsill and discover a new source of fresh, locally grown vegetables and greens.
Pea and bean seeds sprout in just a few days and add flavor and crunch to stir-fries and salads.
The Sprout Growing Kit's stacked trays hold different seed mixes and take little space on the kitchen counter.
“Kitchen garden” took on a new meaning for my family this winter when we discovered a new source of fresh, locally grown vegetables and greens. Our own kitchen counter and windowsill are as local as it gets and the food goes from harvest to table in five minutes. But the best part is the flavor. By midwinter I crave the garden-fresh crunch and intense aroma and taste of fresh food. Sprouts deliver!
We received the Sprout Growing Kit for Christmas that included a set of small, stacked trays and a couple bags of organic seed mixes. The instructions said to soak a few tablespoons of the seeds for 8 to 12 hours in a clean jar of water, rinsing once after 4 to 6 hours. After their overnight bath, the seeds had more than doubled in volume. I gave them a thorough rinse and poured them into the trays and set them into a warm corner to germinate.
The only maintenance for the next three days is regular rinsing. It’s very important to thoroughly rinse the sprouting seeds several times a day to keep them clean and moist.
After several days, the protein powerhouse blend of dark red adzuki, creamy garbanzo, and green mung beans and snow peas was ready for a stir-fry. I added the sprouts to a mix of carrots, shrimp, garlic and onions and the results were fantastic. The fresh sprouts gave the dish just the right amount of intense pea flavor and crunch. I also sprouted a bean salad mix of lentils, mung, adzuki, and radish seeds. We tossed these into a salad of lettuce, cabbage, carrots, walnuts and dried cranberries.
My family will be eating a lot more sprouts this winter and next summer, too. It’s the cheapest, freshest, and most local food on our menu.
—Ann Whitman
Green Goods Supervisor, Gardener's Supply
If you haven't tried starting your own plants from seed, make this be the year you give it a try. Sweet peas are among the easiest.
Sweet peas are easy to grow. The variety above, Painted Lady, is from Renee's Seeds.
The Easiest
The following annual flowers are especially easy to start from seed:
Sweet pea
Marigold
Zinnia
Nasturtium
Cosmos
Sunflowers
If you haven't tried starting your own plants from seed, make this be the year you give it a try. Sweet peas are among the easiest. The large seeds are easy to manage and most varieties germinate readily. Plus, the resulting blooms are gorgeous and sweetly scented.
Sweet peas thrive in the cool temperatures of spring, so it's important to start early. The vines grow quickly and produce lots of flowers — especially if you cut them regularly for bouquets. Once summer's heat and humidity arrive, the vines are likely to wither and turn brown — giving you room for something new.
Sweet peas come in a huge array of colors and patterns. Most will grow to 5 or 6 feet, but there are shorter varieties "bush type" that are well-suited to containers. To extend the blooming season, choose a few different types. Read the seed packets to find varieties that bloom early (“short-day”) and late (“long day”). Although most sweet peas are annuals, you can also get perennial sweet peas (Lathyrus latifolia).
Slideshow: Powerscourt Gardens To see captions, click on the image. To share comments or explore further, go to Flickr.
Wherever I travel, great garden visits top my list of must-do activities. My family spent a week in Ireland last summer. While our kids attended a Metallica concert in Dublin, my husband and I enjoyed a peaceful afternoon at Powerscourt Gardens about 30 minutes away. This magnificent estate is nestled in the Wicklow Mountains just south of Dublin and dates back to the 12th century.
I find inspiration in estate gardens and appreciate the design and engineering required to envision and construct them. At Powerscourt, the designers used Sugar Loaf Mountain as the focal point from the upper terrace and house. The concept of borrowing the surrounding landscape is an old one and well used in this garden. The carefully designed the formal gardens spread out below the terrace before blending into the farm fields and mountains beyond their borders.
The central Italian Garden sweeps down from the house in a series of terraces to the man-made lake near the bottom of the slope. Plants in this formal, symmetrically designed space serve only to add blocks of color and texture. The manicured turf frames the wide walkway and intricately patterned steps and terrace paving. Surrounding the garden, groves of huge trees, many of them rare species from around the world, soften the transition from this formal space to other gardens and natural landscape.
The walled gardens nearby predate the Italian garden and have a much less formal atmosphere. Deep perennial borders lie between the decorative gates, encroaching upon and softening the wide gravel path. Unlike the more formal areas, plants are the feature here. I loved the swaths of color and texture and happy plant combinations in this garden. Although large in area, the ancient brick walls give a feeling of privacy.
At the other side of the lower garden, the Japanese Garden, begun in 1908, symbolizes the transition from the outer, public world to our inner selves. Increasingly narrow paths lead from the open lawn and formal azalea borders of the outer landscape down into the damp grottos and closely planted inner garden. Bridges span the winding brook that bubbles and falls between moss-covered rocks and Japanese maples. Ferns grow from the towering ledges.
The most familial part of the Powerscourt Garden is the Pets' Cemetery tucked into the trees near the bottom of the Italian Garden. Formal headstones with fond epitaphs mark the resting places of family dogs, horses and even a cow. This intimate place is a quiet reminder of those who lived here and shaped the land over the past 700 years.
—Ann Whitman
Green Goods Supervisor, Gardener's Supply
Not to be outdone by the White House, the folks over at the USDA started up their own organic vegetable garden outside the agency’s headquarters on the Mall.
No matter how you feel about the new administration and about our new Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, Washington’s newfound enthusiasm for gardening is pretty darn wonderful.
Last spring, not to be outdone by the First Lady's new vegetable garden on the White House lawn, the folks over at the USDA started up their own organic vegetable garden outside the agency’s headquarters on the Mall. The 1,300 square foot vegetable garden is the centerpiece of a master plan that calls for converting the USDA's entire 6-acre site to a collection of ecologically-sensitive demonstration gardens.
The USDA is calling this new landscape The People’s Garden, taking inspiration from Abraham Lincoln, who, when founding the Department of Agriculture in 1862, referring to it as the People’s Department.
In a short video clip, below, Secretary Vilsack talks about the highlights of this year’s garden and how the initiative is catching on in other parts of the country.
Recently, the USDA recognized the valuable services provided free by certified Master Gardeners.
Equally encouraging was a press release from the USDA that came out this past summer. The agency gave its Extension Service Master Gardener program some well-deserved recognition, acknowledging the incredibly valuable community development and educational services being provided free by almost 100,000 certified Master Gardeners.
With so many eager new vegetable gardeners just starting out, there are more demands than ever for the sage advice of Master Gardeners. If you're interested in helping out, learn how you can become a certified Master Gardener. Most areas offer certification courses at least once or twice a year.
Tom Vilsack, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with an update on the USDA’s People’s Garden initiative.
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