Congratulations to all the harvest festival winners. Isn’t this a great time of year? Reaping the harvest of what we have sown and tended is surely one of life’s most satisfying experiences.

So it’s October, and for me October is all about pumpkins. Do you know the legend of the Jack O’Lantern? Well there are many variations, but they all start with an old obstreperous drunken soul who went by the name of Stingy Jack. Stingy Jack was an Irishman who lived many centuries ago. Stingy Jack was a bit of a sod, and took what he liked from whomever he liked, whenever he needed anything, and pretty much stayed one step ahead of those who would put a stop to him. Old Stingy Jack came upon the devil one day and somehow tricked him into climbing an apple tree to get some fruit. Once the devil was up the tree, Stingy Jack piled crosses around the trunk of the tree so the devil couldn’t get down. He made a deal with the devil then and there. If the devil would promise not to take his soul he would let him out of the tree. So the devil made the promise. Not long after, Stingy jack met his death and went to the Pearly Gates for his reckoning. St Peter met him with a list of his misdeeds and told old Stingy Jack that he wouldn’t be allowed in. So off he went to the Devil. The devil, true to his word, wouldn’t accept him either and told him he would have to roam the nether world between heaven and hell. Old Stingy jack cried out, “How will I see where I am going!”, so the devil threw him a piece of glowing ember. Stingy Jack had loved turnips and always had a few in his pocket. So he took one and hollowed out its middle and placed the ember in it to roam the netherworlds for all eternity. Since then, each year on All Hallows Eve, Irish folk have carved out turnips, rutabagas, gourds, potatoes or beets to ward off evil and keep Stingy Jack away. When the Irish came to America they soon realized pumpkins were much easier to carve and so the legend and tradition continues.

Growing Giant Pumpkins

The winning pumpkin this year at the harvest festival was 193 pounds. I know we can do better! The record so far was set in Topsfield Massachusetts in 2002 with a pumpkin that weighed in at 1,337 pounds which is a bit more than a VW Beetle! Just how do you grow a pumpkin that big you may ask, well let me share a few secrets with you all and see if we can kick it up for next year.

Preparation should begin now with getting your soil ready. Choose a site in full sun. Each pumpkin is going to need about 25-30 feet in circumference of space. To this space add 2-5 yards, yes that’s right 2-5 yards of compost and composted manure in a circle 25-30 feet round. The pros really like cow and horse but use whatever you have access to. Turn this into the ground this fall and cover crop with winter rye. Pumpkins are huge feeders so the better your soil the larger the pumpkin.

Next you want to choose the right pumpkin variety. All the national winners since 1979 have been from Dill’s Atlantic Giant. There are a few other giant pumpkin varieties available but Dill’s is the one you want if you are serious about winning. Come next spring you will want to start your pumpkins inside about 4 weeks before our last spring frost. Use large peat pots, something in the range of 6 inches or more. Plant each pot with one seed pointed end down and cover with about a half inch of soil. You are going to need a heat mat since pumpkins really like warm soil and need it to germinate well. The soil temperature should be at least 72 degrees and 80 degrees is better. Once the sprouts are up, and you have one or two sets of true leaves, you will want to transplant it to the garden. Now it’s still pretty chilly out there so you will want to protect them with cloches, or floating row cover, or some kind of mini greenhouse.

Once they have begun to produce flowers you will want to identify the male and female flowers. The female flowers will look swollen at the base of the flower; this is what becomes the fruit. Now there are two ways to go here. The professionals hand pollinates the flowers, but it is perfectly reasonable to let nature do its thing. If you choose to hand pollinate, here’s what you do. Choose a male flower that is freshly open and peel away the petals to expose the stamens, the long thin things in the center that hold the pollen. Take this to the female flower and swab it around the inside of it.

Pumpkins take a long time to develop and can grow up to 25 pounds a day so getting an early fruit set gives you a longer growing time which means more time to get big!

Once the pumpkins are growing you will want to position them so that the stem of the pumpkin is growing perpendicular to the vine. This aids the flow of nutrients. Pruning the vines also conserves nutrients by channeling them into the fruit and away from un-needed leaves. Each main vine should be tip pruned when it is 10-12 feet beyond a fruit. Side shoots off the main vine should be tip pruned to no longer than 8 feet. Bury the cut tips in soil to reduce water loss.

Fertilize, fertilize, fertilize at least once a week. Everyone has their secret formula. You can foliar feed or root feed, use compost tea or fish emulsion, just be used to feeding weekly.

By July it will be time to start culling the smaller pumpkins so the energy can go into the producing the bigger pumpkins. Lots of growers will measure the pumpkins daily for a week or so to determine which seem to be growing fastest. Then they choose one or two and pick all the rest off of the vines.

Pumpkins are fairly shallow rooted, so providing adequate moisture is important. Drip or soaker irrigation is ideal because pumpkin leaves don’t like to be wet. A last tip that the pros use is to shade the pumpkins from the sun. While the leaves need to be in full sun to produce sugars for the developing fruit, the actual pumpkin can develop a prematurely hard shell in direct sun which can limit just how big it can get. Any kind of shade device will work; throwing a burlap sack over the pumpkins is an easy solution.

Here’s the information you need to be a competitor in next year’s giant pumpkin contest, let’s see if we can beat this year’s winning weight!

Happy Halloween, and if you see Stingy Jack, shine a light in his direction to chase him away.