While you’re out here babying your sad little tomato plant that might give you three tomatoes this summer, farmers in Alaska are casually growing cabbages the size of BEAN BAG CHAIRS.
I’m not kidding. We’re talking 90-pound cabbages. Zucchinis longer than baseball bats. Turnips that look like they could star in a horror movie.
What Are We Even Talking About Here?
Alaska grows vegetables that are FREAKISHLY huge. We’re not talking about slightly bigger tomatoes. We’re talking about:
- Cabbages: The current record is 138 pounds. That’s heavier than most full-grown humans. You could hollow one out and use it as a kayak.
- Zucchinis: Some reach over 8 feet long. That’s not a vegetable, that’s a CRYPTID.
- Pumpkins: We’re talking 2,000+ pounders. You can’t even carve these things. You’d need a chainsaw and three friends.
- Carrots: Imagine a carrot so big you could use it as a baseball bat. Now stop imagining because THEY EXIST.
One guy even grew a 35-pound broccoli. A THIRTY-FIVE POUND BROCCOLI. That’s enough broccoli to traumatize an entire elementary school.
Where Does This Happen?
In Alaska! You know, the frozen place with polar bears and people who wear shorts in 40-degree weather.
The Alaska State Fair in Palmer is where all the magic happens. Every year, farmers bring their absolute unit vegetables to compete for prizes, glory, and the right to say “yeah, I grew a cabbage bigger than your dog.”
People show up with vegetables so massive they need dollies and trucks just to move them around. It’s like a monster truck rally, except with produce.
When Did This Start?
Alaskan farmers have been growing giant vegetables for DECADES. The Alaska State Fair’s Giant Vegetable Competition has been running since the 1940s.
But it’s been blowing up on social media lately because, let’s be honest, a 100-pound cabbage is extremely clickable content. These vegetables have become internet famous, and now everyone’s losing their minds over Alaska’s mutant produce.
The growing season is short but INTENSE, basically from May to September when the sun decides to never leave.
Why Are They So Massive?
Here’s where it gets wild: Alaska gets up to 20 HOURS of sunlight per day in the summer. Twenty. Hours.
That means while your vegetables are getting their normal amount of sun and calling it a day, Alaskan veggies are out there soaking up rays like they’re on a never-ending vacation. It’s like they’re on vegetable steroids, except it’s just the sun refusing to go to bed.
More sunlight = more photosynthesis = MORE GROWING.
The plants basically get to work overtime every single day for months. They’re putting in 20-hour shifts while your garden is working a normal 9-to-5. It’s plant math, and it’s insane.
How Do They Actually Grow These Things?
It’s not JUST the sunlight (though that’s doing most of the heavy lifting). Alaskan farmers also:
- Use special seeds: They pick varieties that are known to grow big.
- Constant watering, perfect soil, nutrients, and basically treating these vegetables like they’re training for the Olympics.
- They plant at exactly the right moment to maximize that endless summer sunlight.
These farmers are SERIOUS. This isn’t just tossing some seeds in the ground and hoping for the best. This is advanced vegetable warfare.
Which Vegetables Get the Biggest?
Cabbages are the CHAMPIONS. They consistently break records and get absolutely ridiculous in size. If there was a vegetable most likely to achieve world domination, it’s the Alaskan cabbage.
But zucchinis, pumpkins, turnips, kohlrabi, and even broccoli all get freaky big up there. Basically, if it’s a vegetable that CAN grow large, Alaska will make it grow EXTRA large.
Root vegetables and brassicas (the cabbage family) seem to do particularly well with the long daylight hours.
Who’s Growing These Monster Vegetables?
Mostly hardcore hobby farmers and competitive growers who treat vegetable growing like an extreme sport. These people are DEDICATED.
There are legendary names in the Alaska giant vegetable scene, people who’ve been winning competitions for years and guard their secrets like they’re protecting nuclear codes.
But regular Alaskans also grow bigger-than-normal vegetables without even trying that hard. The sunlight just does that.
Can You Actually Eat Them?
Technically yes, but here’s the catch: the giant ones don’t taste as good as normal-sized vegetables. They’re kind of watery and bland.
So basically, Alaskan farmers are out here breaking world records with vegetables that are more for bragging rights than actual eating.
Most people grow normal-sized vegetables for eating and save the giant competition ones for glory. It’s like the difference between a practical car and a show car, one’s for using, one’s for winning.
How Can I See These Things?
Go to the Alaska State Fair in late August/early September! The Giant Vegetable Competition is a huge draw, and you can see these monsters in person.
Fair warning: seeing a 100-pound cabbage in person is a RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. Photos don’t do it justice.
You can also follow Alaskan farmers on social media who post their giant vegetable progress throughout the summer. It’s oddly addictive content.
Why Should I Care About Giant Alaskan Vegetables?
Because Alaska said “we may be cold and dark half the year, but when that sun comes out, we’re growing vegetables that could WIN IN A FIGHT.”
And honestly? Icon behavior.
These vegetables prove that with the right conditions (and a LOT of dedication), nature can do absolutely wild things. Also, it’s just funny. There’s something hilarious about a place known for ice and snow being secretly incredible at growing produce that looks like it belongs in a sci-fi movie.