Nutley man crowned the ‘zucchini king’ for his amazing vegetables

<p>Nutley resident Charles Ardonetto, 86, has gained some fame thanks to a <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/tanyachen/charles-the-zucchini-champ?utm_term=.hcEEvlqrO#.oyvZawPXB">BuzzFeed</a> article about his prize-winning zucchinis.</p>

News 12 Staff

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Sep 7, 2017, 11:58 PM

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Updated 2,666 days ago

All hail the “zucchini king” of Nutley!

Nutley resident Charles Ardonetto, 86, has gained some fame thanks to a BuzzFeed article about his prize-winning zucchinis.

“It’s something I love…I like to win,” Ardonetto says.

Ardonetto first entered a local contest in 2015 and won with his 9-pound zucchini. He won the contest again this year with a zucchini weighing 6.57 pounds. He says that the secret behind growing his large vegetables must remain hidden.

“I don’t want to say because somebody else [may] take my stuff,” Ardonetto says.

The Nutley man says that just one of his zucchinis can feed a family of 10. He says that he thinks he’s grown 1,000 so far.

Ardonetto’s wife says that she uses his zucchinis to make a variety of dishes, including spaghetti and parmigiana.

Ardonetto even takes some zucchinis and utilizes them in Halloween costumes. He used one particularly long zucchini to depict the pope’s cane when he dressed as the pontiff.

“I’m a funny guy,” he says.

Ardonetto says he has been gardening ever since he moved to the United States from Sicily almost 60 years ago. He started gardening full time after he retired from being a carpenter.

He says that he will enter the gardening competition again next year.