You've gotta see the size of the lettuce Arturo grew this year

"This one's got to be about a kilo," says Arturo Chiarello, as he presents our cameras with an enormous head of lettuce plucked fresh from one of his many planter boxes. 

It was earlier this week that SooToday received a call from Arturo, who insisted we had to come and see his garden, which has produced leafy heads of lettuce this summer twice the size they usually are.

So we headed over there.

Originally from southern Italy, Arturo grew up on his father's farm. After a lifetime of working at Algoma Steel, Arturo is now retired and spends most of his free time tending to his garden. 

"There's no where to go," he told SooToday. "So I spend more time in the garden"

That extra time has been rewarded in the form of some monstrous vegetation.

Apart from a little extra care and attention, Arturo isn't really sure what he did different this year. With the late frosts we had locally he wasn't sure anything would really perform that well at all. To his surprise its looking to be one of his best seasons yet. 

Arturo tells us he plans on giving most of the produce away to friends and family and insists we return mid August to see his already incredibly lush garden in full bloom. 

Stay tuned . . .