Ontario Man Hopes to Break Record for World's Biggest Zucchini With 8-Foot Gourd

Zucchini is one of the easiest things to grow in a vegetable garden. That’s why every summer, friends and neighbors will try to pawn off some of their zucchini harvest on you.

Zucchini can grow pretty big, but Ontario resident Henry D’Angela claims his zucchini is so long it squashes the competition. Here’s D’Angela’s story — and how he and his zucchini may end up in the Guinness Book of World Records.

D’Angela, of Thorold, Ontario, is petitioning Guinness World Records for the title of longest zucchini in the world. His giant squash measures 8 feet and 4.79 inches, reports ThoroldToday. He grew it in a strip of ground on the side of his home, where he usually grows tomatoes and sunflowers. The zucchini eventually choked out the other plants as it continued to grow, according to ThoroldToday.

“I didn’t start out to grow the longest,” D’Angela told ThoroldToday. “It just happened to be in a new area I had never grown before. The soil has done really well for it. It’s amazing.”

D’Angela told the Canadian news outlet that he grew the zucchini with manure and “plenty of water.” It is technically a Sicilian Cucuzza squash, which are known to grow longer and thinner than a typical zucchini. According to Gardening Know How, the ideal size for a Cucuzza squash you want to eat is about 8 to 10 inches long.

D’Angela’s zucchini is well past the point that it can be eaten. After he cut it from the vine, its shell hardened and turned brown, he told ThoroldToday. He plans to hang onto it and maybe display it at the Thorold farmer’s market next year, he said.

While D’Angela waits to hear back from Guinness World Records, his zucchini has gotten some attention from The Late Show host Stephen Colbert. “Lord, that’s a lot of gourd,” Colbert joked during the Nov. 2 episode, as per ThoroldToday.

D’Angela told CHCH News that he has tried to grow other large vegetables in the past, including a pumpkin and watermelon. “Some stuff grows, some stuff doesn’t,” he told the TV station. “I don’t really go out to set records. I really grow my garden to enjoy the fruits of the vegetables that come out of it with my family and friends.”

The record D’Angela and his zucchini are trying to beat is one set back in 2014 by another Ontario resident. Giovanni Batista Scozzafava of Niagara Falls, Ontario, grew a zucchini that measured 8 feet and 3.3 inches. According to the Guinness World Record website, Scozzafava didn’t use manure or fertilizer to grow the squash, just “plenty of water.”