Fort Simpson (Oct 20/06) - It's been a great growing season, according to one gardening enthusiast.

"This is the largest turnip I've ever grown," said gardener Paul Guyot, showing off his impressive tuber.

Paul Guyot holds the biggest turnip he's ever grown. He said it weighs about six pounds. - Jessica Gray/NNSL photo

"It's eight inches in diameter and about six pounds," he said.

Guyot had great success with his vegetable garden this year with carrots, potatoes, onions and broccoli all sprouting nicely.

His tip for gardeners? Though many garden delights need to be picked before the frost, he said some ice on the ground actually makes a turnip taste sweeter.

"This will feed me for quite a while," said Guyot.

Wendy Groat, one of the owners of Deh Cho Hardware, said she doesn't know exactly how many hobby gardeners are in the village, but she's aware there are many.

"Tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, they'll grow anything," said Groat.

Fort Simpson is a particularly fertile place to grow, she said, because the island is made of rich silt and the daylight in the summer is so long.

The community used to be an experimental farm, sometime in the 1950s, where grapes and even tobacco were tested as crops, said Groat.

Her tip for gardeners? Don't forget to use fertilizer.

"Everything likes to be fed," she said. "That's what I do with mine."

Groat said Fort Simpson is home to a lot of first-time gardeners looking to take up a hobby. Many like to use pots or containers so they can take plants with them if they leave.

Her advice is to grow things that are easy.