The self-proclaimed ‘‘gardening ignoramus'' said she knew little of what she was doing when she planted eight Desiree potatoes in October, and did not have great hopes for a highyielding crop.
On Tuesday, the retired school secretary unearthed more than 20 potatoes in her first shore including, much to her surprise, several ‘‘monsters'' - the heaviest of which weighed more than 2.5kg.
‘‘I couldn't believe it. I absolutely astonished myself,'' Mrs De Grauw said.
‘‘I had never planted a vegetable, of any type, in my life before this. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them all.''
Mrs De Grauw said she decided to try her hand at gardening after her husband, who was a keen gardener, died about nine months ago.
‘‘He was a very passionate gardener and when he died I thought I should at least try to keep his garden going.
‘‘But I found I didn't know what to plant, when to plant, or how to go about it at first.''
Although she enjoyed learning from scratch, she did not see herself maintaining the garden for much longer, she said.
‘‘It's a bit too much work for me to manage here on my own so I'll probably sell the house and let someone else tend to the garden.
‘‘I did put about 100 onions in yesterday though, so it will be interesting to see how they do - but I'm not expecting any more giant surprises.''
