Pumpkins are everywhere right now, and twice this week I have seen pieces on giant pumpkins. This pumpkin to the right was grown by Chris Stevens from Wisconsin and was featured in an article in the Star Tribune on 10 October. The pumpkin weighs 1,340 pounds.

I am not sure what the fascination is with giant vegetables, but this time of year big vegetables are king. Maybe Stevens is right when he said that “nothing turns a grown-up into a child so fast” as seeing a giant pumpkin. Big vegetables recapture that moment of childhood fascination when you see something grow and it turns from seed into something completely different. But as adults we have lost a lot of that fascination, but super-sized veggies still bring it out in us.

I remember one time when I was young, a carrot survived both the fall extraction and the northern winter, and then it just continued growing through the next year. When I finally pulled it out, it was bigger than my arm. I’m still fascinated by that carrot and think about when I plant my own carrots. 

But the realization of how popular ‘garden giants’ are hit me several years back when I was driving through Arkansas. After seeing a bullet-riddled sign advertising “Hope, Arkansas: The Childhood Home of Bill Clinton,” I decided to make a pit stop and check the museum out.  At the Hope Visitors Center and Museum there were two types of items displayed prominently: (1) Bill Clinton paraphernalia and (2) pictures of giant watermelons. And the melons did more than compete with the former president, they were the star. Here is an article on the Hope Visitors Center that talks about it. I can’t remember one thing I saw about Bill Clinton, but I still remember the watermelons. 

So back to pumpkins. Here are some interesting facts and tips on growing huge pumpkins taken from the article.

• Giant pumpkins cannot be entered in more than one weigh-off contest and they can’t have a crack in them. Those are the rules.
• The pumpkin above gained 1,200 pounds in 40 days. 
• Pruning the vines is key to ensure there is only one pumpkin being fed, and the vines can consume 600 square feet.
• It takes about an hour per day in care to raise these pumpkins, and they need to be covered on hot days.

If you need seeds to grow giant pumpkins, howarddill.com sells seeds for the Atlantic Giant variety of pumpkins. The late Howard Dill from Windsor, Nova Scotia was a legendary pumpkin grower and his site is still up and running and dedicated to growing large fall vegetables.