Size does matter when it comes to Beautiful Fife’s vegetable contest, which Dalgety Bay’s Jim Thomson has won 13 times.
Having been named top of the crop in west Fife for the 25th year in a row, Mr Thomson is hoping his burly brassicas and tremendous tubers, including a 21in carrot, will win him a 14th title.
“I’ve won the Fife-wide competition 13 times so I’m in the running to make it 14, but there is always somebody else out there so I can’t be complacent,” he said.
At 89, Mr Thomson is still full of beans and has no intention of throwing in the trowel.
“I’ll keep going as long as I’m able. It’s good healthy exercise. I’ve had a couple of knee replacements but I still keep going.”
Having served with 2nd Battalion the Cameron Highlanders in Italy during the Second World War, Mr Thomson joined the civil service on his return.
But one thing about his life that never changed was his love of gardening, which he inherited from his father and grandfather.
He said: “All my life, I have really enjoyed it. My grandfather on my father’s side, he was into showing onions and all that years ago.”
Mr Thomson hopes to have weeded out the competition by using his own soil mixture, growbags and liquid manure.
He manages to beet the bugs without pesticides and keeps parasites off his carrots without chemicals by putting a fleece barrier on either side of them.
“Years ago we could use chemicals for carrot fly, but they have all been banned now,” he said.
As an area winner, Mr Thomson will find out if his hard work has borne fruit at the Beautiful Fife awards ceremony taking place next month.
Competitors in the garden contest are also judged on the tidiness of their flower and vegetable beds, with marks off for weeds.