Five things to know about giant pumpkins and their growers

Pat Watson of Komoka grew a giant pumpkin this year that weighed in at 525 kilograms (1,157 pounds), almost half the weight of a small compact car. On a day when pumpkins loom large, Brian Williams checks in on the colossal variety you won’t find on Halloween doorsteps.

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WHAT’S THE MOTIVATION?

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Growing giant pumpkins is a hobby, although one for which a strong back – even a forklift and a pallet – is needed. Call it extreme gardening. Just like people who try to grow the largest tomatoes or zucchinis, growers often enter their giant gourds in fall fair and pumpkin festival competitions and dream of setting the world record for the largest grown pumpkin. Watson got involved in the hobby after attending an event near Wallacetown in 2010. “I thought I’d give it a try, and it’s just a lot of fun, you know, it keeps you outside all summer,” he said. “I enjoy working in the garden, and it just went from there. Some people go golfing in the summer, I go in the garden. It’s really that simple. And, you know, most of the people that do it, (are) just regular people. They’re not farmers.”

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THE WORLD RECORD?

That distinction, won this month, belongs to Travis Gienger of Minnesota, who grew an enormous 1,247-kg (2,749-pound) pumpkin. No rookie, Gienger has won three of the last four World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-off competitions. Watson noted he can’t claim the record even in Komoka, where he operates a small business. His next-door neighbor Mike McAvity, who credits Watson for getting him into the hobby he calls addictive, holds that honor for a 578-kg (1,276-pound.) pumpkin he grew in 2014. “You’ll catch the bug if you must. It’s really interesting. There’s just a lot of science with it,” McAvity said.

KEEPING UP

Unlike normal gardening, with a bit of weeding and tending required here and there, growing giant pumpkins isn’t something you want to leave for days at a time at the height of the growing season, not if you want to see the fruits of your plowing in real time. The mega-pumpkins can pound up quickly, adding up to 18 kgs a day. Many growers start early in the spring, sowing seeds individually in indoor pots before moving them outside when they leaf. Watson began in April for his latest gargantuan pumpkin.

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GETTING SEEDED

Watson said the best way to get growing is to find good seed, and the best way to do that is by joining the Giant Vegetable Growers of Ontario. It bills itself as the nation’s largest gardening club, a kind of clearing house for what you need to know to grow, and focuses on giant pumpkins and over-sized vegetables. Membership will cost you $30 a year or $40 for a family. The seed for giant pumpkins has evolved through selective breeding to maximize size. Growing a monster, many growing sites point out, requires both a lot of room in your garden and lots of water, which accounts for most of the weight. You’ll also need to fertilize the plant and plum vines and flowers that siphon water and nutrients away from your future prize pumpkin.

CHUCKING IT OUT

When you’re growing something that weighs as much as five or more men, getting rid of it isn’t as simple as hauling it to the curb or stashing it into your compost bin. Veteran growers have different ways of disposing of mega-pumpkins at the end, including by feeding them to livestock. Watson said he waits for his to decompose, to avoid heavy lifting.

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The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the government of Canada.

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