A UK farm in Wisbech has set a UK record after growing 11,000 watermelons this year in a challenging climate. The farm’s harvest has been dubbed as “the largest yield ever produced in Britain”.
Although, watermelons are “not that easy to grow,” Oakley Farms doubled its production. According to Tesco, the farm, which also grows pumpkins and courgettes, is the UK’s biggest producer of watermelons,
The farm had test different methods in order to produce more fruit per plant, and doubled its previous production record from about 5,500 in 2020.
Nick Molesworth, the Oakley farm’s manager said watermelons “fit in perfectly between [the] production of courgettes in late spring and pumpkins in early autumn”.
“We have tried several different methods of growing the watermelons and are now getting more fruit per plant so the hard work is starting to pay off,” he said. “They are not that easy to grow and the British climate can also be challenging but we’re very pleased with this year’s crop.”
