here's an old story about a farmer who grew a turnip so big that he needed his entire family to help him pull it out of the ground. For Warwick resident Kevin Santucci this story isn't a folktale, it's the story of his life.

Mr. Santucci recently pulled a beet out of his garden that weighed 6.5 pounds, the weight of a healthy newborn baby. For a vegetable this big you'd probably have to have a big garden, right? Wrong. His garden is about ten feet by 20.

"Let's see, how many vegetables do I have in this piece of ground?" Mr. Santucci said when the visited his home. It took him a little while to count it all up.

"Let's see there's the carrots, different types of watermelon, pumpkin, ... four....five...six and there's the beans...ten...eleven...Did I count the kale? I have about 15 different kinds of vegetables in there. That's not counting the fruit trees."

Mr. Santucci said he has combined old fashioned farming techniques with square foot gardening methods to produce some unusually large vegetables.

"The beauty of this is, that these vegetables were grown using natural methods," he said. "I use old industrial methods of farming in a home setting. The difference would be that industrially you plant carrots 20 inches a part. In the square foot garden you plant your vegetables closer. It is the quality of growth versus the quantity. It is just all natural. I can't over express using natural products."

Mr. Santucci does not use pesticides to keep the insects away from his crop.

"To keep the bugs out, I use parsley as a border," said Mr. Santucci.

"I use scallions as a border and I also use thyme. That is within the vegetable kingdom, but also within the flower kingdom. As a protective agent within the garden itself I use marigolds and zinnias."

He is an elder and a Bible teacher at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Devonshire. He started the garden a couple of years ago after he and his wife returned from a missionary trip to South Africa.

"I have been married for 20 years, so I have been gardening for my own self for at least 30 years," said Mr. Santucci. "We have had this garden since 1999 when we came back from South Africa. In South Africa we were helping the people find a better way of life. We were part of a group called The Willing Workers. We go worldwide and do missionary work and volunteer work at no cost to the people."

In Bermuda, Mr. Santucci could easily sell his vegetables. One of the beets he showed us was 20 inches long. However, he prefers to give away or eat what he has grown.

"I am a vegetarian," he said. "My vegetable bill has dropped tremendously. It has been a blessing. My family has always had vegetables. This is one of our passions. Vegetables from the garden taste one hundred percent better than what you get in the store. You can't get around that.

"With a lot of industrially grown vegetables chemicals are used to force the plants into moving quickly," he said. "I don't use that. Everything is natural. The beets I am growing here are known as Egyptian Beets, but they don't normally grow this big. The secret is just tender loving care. Knowing when to plant, where to plant and how to plant makes a big difference. I use the old methods; they work."

While most beets make a good sidedish, Mr. Santucci's beets could easily make a full meal ? possibly for a small family. He likes to eat them raw and grated with carrots.

"I have been a vegetarian for 23 years and I find that to be a vegetarian you have to know how to plant, otherwise it can get expensive," he said.

"It shouldn't be so expensive because there is so much ground around. I feel that Bermuda and its people with its agricultural department need to encourage people to plant a garden."

Mr. Santucci said over the years he has learned a lot about growing a garden by talking to Bermuda's old time farmers.

"We plant the old fashioned way using the old fashioned methods of farming," he said. "We burn off the ground after the harvest to purify the ground. We use horse manure and compost as fertiliser."

He also uses other secrets like planting from east to west to maximise sun falling on the crops. Larger vegetables are planted further east in the garden to provide shade for more delicate plants.

"Planting on the eastern side of the property you will have a better crop versus planting on the western side," he said. "You want to get the early morning sun. That is very important for growing. You want to plant vegetables and flowers together because flowers attract bees, and you need bees to pollinate the vegetables. Whatever you do with planting, you need to complement the environment. I think that is also important in planting."

Although spoke to Mr. Santucci in early June he still had vegetables in his garden that are usually considered a winter crop.

"Right now I have broccoli and kale in my garden and they are out of season," he said.

"If you plant from the east going west, you are more liable to have a late crop than to have no crop at all.

"Certain vegetables complement others. Next to the beets I had romaine lettuce which is actually a water plant. That makes a little bit of a difference. I have also found that root crops grow better out of the earth than in the earth."

Most importantly for Mr. Santucci, he turns to his own personal faith to help him garden.

"Before I put any seeds down I prepare the ground and I have a word of prayer," he said. "I ask the lord to bless the ground. After doing that it is all in his hands. Being that I work in the ministry I only put into the ground one hour four days a week."

Mr. Santucci is from a huge family with six surviving sisters and two brothers. When the vegetables are ready to come out of the ground, he plans to hold a big family picnic.

He said growing the vegetables is almost as good for health as actually eating them.

"I find it is good exercise and cuts down on your stomach and you are able to enjoy yourself," he said.

"It is not rocket science. You don't have to be out bursting your head open. That is how I have done it for years. It has been a blessing."

He said his special philosophy about gardening is "be quick to listen and slow to speak".

He encouraged anyone else interested in starting a garden to give him a call and he would be happy to share his tips and tricks.