GREEN-FINGERED Hannah Carling has amazed gardeners by growing this massive marrow, which weighs half as much as she does.

The 23-inch-long vegetable, which weighs 21lbs, was planted in May.

And, despite Hannah's claims that she has no growing secret, her father, Mick, says it's the biggest marrow he's seen. Hannah, aged six, from Barkston Ash, near Selby, has been accompanying Mick to his allotment in Sherburn-in-Elmet during the summer holidays.

"She just sticks the seeds in the ground higgledy- piggledy and forgets about them, and they grow like that," said Mick.

"She talks to the old blokes down there, and I reckon one of them must have been giving her a few tips on how to grow them."

Hannah's success doesn't stop with marrows.

At the recent Sherburn Show, she won the junior trophy with potatoes and onions.

"She's been really interested in growing things for about three years," Mick said. "It seems she's just a natural at it."

Picture: Steven Bradshaw

Updated: 10:08 Saturday, September 01, 2001