Grow a Giant Pumpkin

• The world record has been broken for 13 of the past 14 years. The current world record for a giant pumpkin is, I believe, held by Jim and Kelsey Bryson who grew a massive 1,818.5 lbs (825 kg) pumpkin in 2011, which was exhibited at the Wellington Pumpkinfest. Awesome!
• You will need lots of space. The pumpkin foliage feeds the fruit and there will be a lot of it.
• My more modest plan was to just give a big pumpkin to my nieces for Halloween but they grew even better than I expected. Kids got into the allotment site and tried to steal them, but fortunately they were too big for them to move! I didn't weigh them, but they were too large for me to move without help.

Sowing and Growing

• Sow seed individually in early April, just under the surface of 8 cm (3 inch) pots of multi-purpose compost and germinate indoors at 20–24ºC.
• Sow the seed sideways into the compost (vertically on its thin side) to stop it rotting. The seed should germinate within two weeks at the most.
• Keep the plant warm in a greenhouse or coldframe, bringing it into the house if there are late frosts to avoid checking growth.
• The plant will grow fast. Pot up into larger sized pots if the roots start showing through the bottom of the pot.
• Prepare the soil by digging a hole just over a metre (2 feet) square and deep. Space the plants at least 2½ m (8 feet) apart. Fill with good quality compost or well rotted manure. Add a couple of handfuls of general purpose fertilizer (blood, fish and bone or Growmore). Finish off by mounding the soil slightly.
• Start hardening off and then plant out, placing the plant into the top of the mound when all risk of frost is passed. If the roots are circling in the pot, tease them out carefully. Protect with a cloche until the plant becomes too large.
• Keep weed free and well watered in dry weather.
• One there are three fruits starting to form, remove any further flowers. When the three small pumpkins have started to grow, pick the best one and pinch off the other two. All the plant's energy needs to be concentrated on one pumpkin.
• Place a pallet or at leat some straw under the fruit to ensure good ventilation and avoid it rotting on the ground.
• There are lots of secret recipes and suggestions for feeding giant pumpkins, most of which I think are made up. Use a liquid feed such as Miracle Grow or a liquid comfrey feed with added sulphate of ammonia to increase the nitrogen content.

Harvesting

• Get a friend to help you lift the fruit at harvest time!

Pests and Problems

• Slugs are the only real problem.

Varieties

• Varieties of giant pumpkins have been selected for size and not flavour! Having said that, many seed suppliers extol the flavour of their giant pumpkin varieties.
• I grew Dill's Atlantic Giant Pumpkin. It has regularly produced large specimens weighing over 600 lbs (272 kg) and it is claimed to be delicious, but I was just aiming for size.
• Pumpkin Hundredweight is a competition variety and reported to have a good flavour.
• Pumpkin Mammoth is another recommended variety and often produces fruits weighing over 22–55 lbs (10–25 kg).