A Silkstone man got the surprise of his life in late February when he dug up a sweet potato the size of a soccer ball.
Stanley Dick, a retired artillery instructor and avid gardener now in his 80s, said he’s never seen anything like it.
“I put a plant in about four months ago, a cutting… and it came up [as] about eleven sweet potatoes all grown together,” Stanley said.
“It’s just like a big ball! It weighs over three and a half kilos.”
He immediately showed his wife, and told his neighbours, who came around to check out the staggering vegetable.
“You’d have to see it to believe it… The neighbours said: ‘ring up the paper!’
“It should be shared — you know, a bit of a joke!”
Stanley bought the plant for about four dollars on a whim during a rare day out with his daughter Virginia.
“We don’t usually get [time for] just the two of us. We went for morning tea and then we had lunch out, and then we went to Bunnings.
“Virginia said: ‘Dad, why don’t you buy that and put that in the ground?’’
So he did. And four months later, he remains shocked by how much the plant has taken over the garden since.
“I put it in, and it grew, and it grew, and it kept on growing, and it covered over about four or five square metres.”
In the 24 years since moving to Queensland, Stanley and wife Pamela have developed a reputation for making homegrown preservatives for Ipswich RSL fundraisers.
