In April 1898, Judge Lumley Smith of the Westminster County Court had before him two seedsmen named Hawcroft and Watkins who alleged that the Reverend Laycock of Hampshire owed them £24 for a consignment of cabbage seeds they had supplied to him the previous year. In turn, the Rev. Laycock was countersuing the seedsmen because, he said, the cabbage seeds were definitely not the variety that he had ordered.

Laycock explained that he used Hawcroft and Watkins’s cabbage seeds to plant 200 acres (80 ha) – but the plants, instead of stopping when about 18in (46cm) high, “grew on until [they were] seven feet [2.1m] above the ground”. On hearing this, there was much laughter in court. “A cabbage seven feet high?” asked the Judge incredulously. Laycock produced an example that was “seven feet from the root”, about 4ft (1.2m) of which was “stout bare stump, then a cluster of leaves from which several shoots ascended”. Laycock told the puzzled judge that he had grown 20,000 of these plants all of which were commercially useless.

An expert horticulturalist was summoned to the court. He identified the giant vegetable as being a variety of cabbage native to the Channel Island of Jersey. When asked whether there was any commercial use for such a plant, the horticulturalist explained that on Jersey they were usually made into walking sticks. Amid more laughter, Laycock spluttered that he had wanted seeds that “produced cabbage, not walking sticks”. Judge Lumley agreed with him and fined Hawcroft and Watkins £21 for breach of contract. 1

As the Rev. Laycock found to his cost, the Giant Jersey Cabbage (Brassica oleracae longata) is a rare, unusual and almost totally useless vegetable. Victorian commentators describe it as ‘strong and upright’ and capable of reaching a height of 20ft (6m) – although 6–10ft (1.8–3m) is more usual. On Jersey it was abundant and “cultivated in almost every garden” where its stalks were turned into walking sticks to sell to tourists at around a shilling apiece. 2 The plant was so rarely seen outside Jersey that in 1836 several specimens that were placed on public display in London and Bedford caused quite a stir with their seeds being sold for “a most exorbitant price”. 3

It is clear that the giant cabbage was once a very common sight on Jersey, but my own enquiries last year revealed this strange and wonderful plant to be practically extinct on the island. (It is apparently another victim of post-war agricultural subsidies.) Thanks to staff at the Société Jersiaise, I was eventually able to obtain a few seeds from an islander who cultivated a handful of specimens “for fun”.

My own attempt at growing the giant cabbage met with mixed success. The first set of seeds I tried were all duds. I was told to plant my second batch “on a Full Moon with a rising tide” which, in landlocked Hertfordshire, seemed a little odd.

Nonetheless, the seeds germinated and despite one of the coldest winters for years, obtained a height of over 8ft (2.4m). They did not, however, look much like the tall, proud examples I had seen in illustrations: my plants all had gnarled, twisted stems, some of which had divided into several shoots. There was certainly no way of fashioning a walking stick out of any of my misshapen specimens.

“Did you strip off the lower leaves as they were growing?” asked my advisor on Jersey. I admitted that I had not. “That’s what the farmers used to do,” he explained. “They used the leaves to feed their cattle. Much cheaper than hay.” So, I am now on my third generation of Giant Jersey Cabbage and, to my relief, stripping off the lower leaves seems to have done the trick. The current batch are growing straight and, even allowing for the current drought, they have already passed the 4ft (1.2m) mark and are still going strong. I have high hopes that my relations shall be receiving Jersey Cabbage walking sticks for Christmas.

One of the side effects of having grown these prolific plants is that I now have an abundance of giant cabbage seeds. Given their rarity, I am happy to offer seeds (free of charge) to anybody who wants them: I can be contacted via my website www.paulchambers.eu. The giant cabbage is easy to grow and will make your neighbours’ sunflowers look somewhat boring by comparison