Formerly unloved vegetable casts off lowly roots to feature in Great Pavilion after online craze among young gardeners.
They are an unloved root vegetable traditionally grown for cattle feed, and when pulled from the ground they look like an ingredient destined for a witch’s cauldron. But the humble mangelwurzel will be in pride of place in the Great Pavilion at this year’s Chelsea flower show (19-23 May), after becoming the subject of an online craze among young gardeners.
The vegetable stand in the pavilion has in the past showcased perfectly spherical tomatoes and straight-as-an-arrow carrots. But Kate Cotterill and Lucy Hutchings of She Grows Veg, who will be growing the vegetables on display at this year’s show, are more interested in showing new heritage varieties of vegetables than displaying symmetrical cabbages.
The duo, who own a seed company and aim to get the younger generation interested in growing their own food, have cultivated a giant, bright red mangelwurzel variety which has gone viral on Instagram, with many people growing it and marvelling at its size and vibrant colour. Cotterill said that mangelwurzels were now the best selling seed on their website.
“What we find is that when veg is really different, people get really excited about it,” she continued. “Usually they have been growing the same thing year on year so it’s exciting when it’s new. People that have allotments are very competitive about what they grow and when mangelwurzel comes out of the ground it likes so bizarre almost like a mandrake from Harry Potter. Loads of people have entered them into vegetable growing competitions and won prizes.”
The vegetables are very popular on social media. One mangelwurzel reel on the She Grows Veg Instagram account got 2.8m views and 58,000 likes. Of the online craze, Cotterill added: “The mangelwurzel has inspired a nation to grow a different, delicious, highly productive and very easy to grow variety that is accessible for everyone.”
