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On vacation, so only a photograph taken last year at the entrance to the New Brunswick Botanical Garden. No pumpkins in that location this year, but the garden does have a live webcam of their giant pumpkin.
More about giant pumpkins via Wikipedia and Oregon State University: How to Grow Giant Pumpkins.
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I do a lot of vegetable gardening, and sometimes I am tempted to try growing a giant pumpkin.
What always stops me is the thought, "If I'm successful, what then? How do I get rid of the thing?"
They aren't good for eating or cooking with, and they weigh hundreds of pounds (competition weight is well over 300 pounds--record pumpkins are 600+). Even a smallish one would be more than I could move. It would rot before I could finish, week by week, cutting it into pieces and putting it in my organics recycle bin and it is far too big for my compost pile.
But it sure is fun looking at them!
I'm getting so tired of getting only half a picture!
A live web cam of pumpkin growing - now that's action! I have a neighbor who fills his front yard with growing pumpkins every year - large and small, orange and white. fun to see
This is sooo tremendous pumpkin picture I ever saw, considering that we don't grow that kind of pumpkin in my country.
Agree with Katherine's comment, if they are not good for eating, then what do we do with them, probably we can give them to the elephants, as they sometimes go to the village in our region looking for food.
We have always called these squmpkins because of the involvement with squash germplasm. Maybe it is our made-up word for this wannabee pumpkin. As to uses, the seeds are delicious and high in fiber and the massive size makes it challenging for the local kids to pick it up and run off with it. At the least, it is a conversation piece and during the flowering season you can probably use these for cooking. And I believe the world record is well over a half a ton.
It's like a walk through a sculpture garden. What fun! Thank you!
Stylish and innovative of the Botanical garden staff to place these freaks around the garden grounds for display. The pumpkins are very impressive, but kind of make me sad, too. They look like over-bred (and over-fed!) mutants. What is their horticultural history?
tis october fest time you scoop out some of the pumpkin
fill the cavity with ice and pack it full of beer and have a party
If you'd like to see silly pictures, try Google Images, using 'pumpkin' and 'boat'. Yes, they're large enough! Several friends of mine who practise medieval swordfighting have an annual pumpkin-killing party after Hallowe'en, when they hack at as many pumpkins in my friend's backyard as they can get for cheap. I'm sure they'd love to try a giant one. I agree with Ian that roasted pumpkin seeds are quite tasty. Megan, you can check backyardgardener.com/wgph for lots of information, or howarddill.com. Howard Dill, of Nova Scotia, is generally credited for originating these monstrous squashes by selective breeding over several decades.
I love these photos. The pumpkins look like an art installation; those amazing shapes buckling under their own weight. Imagine those things in bronze.
While my pumpkins are smaller and less dramatic, they are still no less handsome: Pumpkins pics.
...a farm in breentwood california...'Phillip's pumpkin patch'..acres of all types and sizes of pumpkins...mazes...corn teepees..baby animals..a great day outing..went there many years..
Now those are scary!
The one in front is 1066 pounds Katherine. A local record. Regards
Wow! I live near Half Moon Bay, and the Pumpkin Festival always makes the news, but the record-making ones are getting bigger than I remembered.
Too big for my husband's 1/2 ton pickup! I did think of one use for a giant -- if you grow some truly record-breaking pumpkins, you can probably sell the seeds on Ebay for $$ to other wannabe winners. I hear the winning growers do that.
Thanks for sharing the weight. It's fun to know how big the one in the photo is!
In case anyone is following this...
The Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival had its contest this last weekend, and the winner was a 1535 pound pumpkin! (Though this was not a record-breaker.) There were 14 pumpkins that were over 1000 pounds entered, though the contest did not attract as many out-of-state entries as in years past.
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_16310707 news article and photos
Gets better with age. The pumpkin is anticarcinogenic and the seeds are especially beneficial for old men, women I dont believe have prostates.
And I hope the giant size is not due to some GM genetical modification manipulation as the Americans are planning to genetically modify farmed salmon on PEI which I expect everyone will boycott. They will use GM pituitary which will produce growth hormone which of course induces or promotes cancer though not a direct carcinogen.
Incidentally most of the cellular mechnisms proteins DNA RNA even hormones are the same or analogous in pumpkins and salmon and humans.
So one doesnt mess with nature with impunity.