It’s the Great Pumpkin, Jon Holland
If you know us personally, you probably know we LOVE Halloween, but Jon ESPECIALLY. He collects vintage Halloween, starts decorating in July, and LOVES to grow pumpkins.
This year Jonathan has a goal is attempting to grow a giant pumpkin, and by giant I mean over 300 pounds. He has a few pumpkin plants in ONE of the front yard gardens (yes, that is now a thing) that came from a pumpkin that weighed in at 650 pounds. The backyard garden has a few plants that came from a 1,000 pound pumpkin. He also planted giant sunflowers, the parents were 17 feet tall and the heads were 30 inches across.
Before I go any further I want you all to know that everything I know about growing giant pumpkins I've learned against my will. Now that I think about it, growing any giant fruit or vegetable I've learned against my will.
HOWEVER I'm now incredibly invested in this dang pumpkin adventure and I thought I'd bring you along for the ride. The world can certainly use something fun and lighthearted to look forward to right now.
Here's some things I've learned:
This is serious business. People spend incredible amounts of money on everything from the dirt, the soil amendments, fertilizers...THE SEEDS.*
Once you grow said giant pumpkin and it survives being lifted via crane onto the bed of a truck, it's weighed at one of the giant pumpkin weigh offs at fairs (hey guess where we're going in the Fall). There's prize money for the largest pumpkin BUT that's not where the money is. It's in the seeds.
*Depending on the size of your pumpkin you can sell your seeds for $10-500+ EACH. GIANT PUMPKIN SEEDS. Think about how many seeds are in the pumpkins you carve for Halloween, now imagine how many are in a pumpkin that weighs 500 pounds.
There are several weigh offs each year and you can enter as many as you'd like until your pumpkin busts. "People do this full time, it's a great business"
The largest pumpkin grown in Georgia is 1,300+ pounds, which was a few years ago.
As I learn all of this I smile and quietly say to myself "It could be drugs, alcohol, women, gambling....". I'm going to update the progress on the blog and social media. Buckle up, it should be fun!
Our 1,000 pound pumpkin patch
Motivation for the 650 pound patch
The 650 pound patch in the front yard.
The 1,000 pounder grew about 6 inches overnight.
