Move over Costa - there's a new gardener in town.
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Canberra boy Romeo Cowley, 9, used his school holidays more than productively by pulling a whopper 1.3 kilogram potato out of the family veggie garden in Curtin.
The potato, named Chip, has now put Romeo in the box seat in a veggie-growing competition he has with Mr Davis, a teacher at his school, Holy Trinity Primary.
The potato, which was pulled up a couple of weeks ago, has been carefully stored, waiting for the return of school this week. It lost a little bit of moisture, falling to 1.2 kilos, but is still impressive. And ready-made for show and tell - and to reveal to Mr Davis.
"I think I might be in the lead," Romeo said, with a cheeky smile.
The year four student dug up the spud with dad Anthony, amazing mum Julianne and siblings Raphael, 5, and Silvia, 7, the discovery akin to pulling a gold nugget out of the ground.
"As I dug it out of the ground, I saw part of it, and tried to pull it out but then I realise it must have been stuck in the ground," Romeo said.
"So I asked dad to shovel up another bit and there I saw it. I was just amazed by how big it was. It's just really big. We were thinking we might have got the record, but then we saw the record was seven times this."
Romeo said the potato was probably planted two years ago and forgotten. All the rain had helped. And the sunshine.
"We have some beautiful soil and lots of compost for it," he said.
Romeo may have been closer to the record than he thought. The Guinness record for the heaviest potato is a 4.98 kilogram spud grown in England in 2011.
In any case, Romeo is quite the gardener, explaining facts and figures about the family's lush backyard patch with the aplomb of a Gardening Australia host.
Whether it's explaining that a big brandy tomato is "very beautiful for having on toast", or that donkey balls tomatoes may be "a little bit rude" but are definitely aptly named or that the special variety of chillies they grow are good for pickling but lack spice, he is the consummate professional.
And he is pragmatic. Chip the potato's days are numbered.
As soon as Mr Davis and the kids get a gander, the whopper potato will be peeled and made into chips for the whole family to enjoy.
"There's going to be a lot of chips," Romeo said.
Anthony said the family was very proud of their little gardener. Growing their own veggies had a positive impact on all the kids, especially encouraging healthy eating habits.
"It definitely does," he said. "They'll come out and just nibble on peas and beans - and strawberries, of course."
