Growing giant pumpkins can be an exciting and rewarding challenge that will transform your vegetable garden into something truly unique. In late winter/early spring, start the pumpkin seeds in peat pots about a month before the average date of last frost in your area. Secondly, use a pot with ample drainage holes and fill it with a light, free-draining compost. Plant the seeds individually, pointy end down, just under the surface to prevent waterlogging. Yellow flowers will start to appear on your plant, look for a female one. Female flowers have a small pumpkin at their base and only have stigma. See our flower structure diagram to help you identify this flower. Start hardening off by opening the frame in the day and when the risk of frosts is passed it is time to plant out, preferably under a cloche until the plant gets too large. Preparing the Soil

Competitive giant vegetable growing is not as popular in Australia as it is in the UK and the US, Sansom said, which could explain why Australia’s records are slightly lower than those set overseas. In April, take a seed and gently file it along the edges so that it will be easier for it to break through when it germinates. You can start them off by placing between some damp (not wet) paper towel, or sow direct in a 5 litre pot filled with seed compost with the pointed end down. They won’t germinate well at room temperature, so place them in a warmer environment at 25-28C. Germination will take 1-4 days, at which point the temperature needs to go down to 18-20C. Then the young plant can grow on in the pot which needs to be placed somewhere sunny. After 7-10 days it will need to be transplanted to a ‘pumpkin patch’ outdoors or in a large polytunnel. The Pumpkin Patch – Preparation Spread 6 inches of composted cow manure over the bed and till it in. This will be the base of fertility for the giant pumpkin next year. Look after the plant and keep it healthy. Continue watering and feeding until the end of the month.In the UK we have a few varieties of seed suitable for giant pumpkin growing, all available from the allotment shop: pumpkin seeds. Dill’s Atlantic Giant Pumpkin Seeds Marturana, Amy (October 5, 2012). "Ron Wallace Grows The Largest Pumpkin Breaking World Record (VIDEO)". Huff Post. Our soils’ resources on digging clayand sandy soils can advise the best treatment for particular soil types. We have been helping growers reach new personal bests since 1992! We have two World Championships and 7 Half Moon Bay Championships, and more than enough experience to help you attain your goals. We offer the highest quality products available and have distributed close to 20,000 videos to help growers do their very best. Eventually as a plant nears the end of its 120 day cycle it becomes more susceptible to mildew. At that stage its not really worth losing too much sleep over if you have done your very best to water, mulch and foliar feed. I often cut away leaves that are particularly covered if only to slow down its spread across the plant if a fruit still shows signs of gaining weight. You might also like to try spraying with milk – see here.

Using bamboo canes again, train each of the secondary vines to grow away at 90 degrees from the main vine. As the secondary vines grow, they in turn will produce tertiary fines at the leaf nodes – these should be pinched off. If you don’t pinch them off, the plant will rapidly turn into a tangled mass of leaves, which will encourage disease and rot. You’ll also find rogue pumpkins lurking in there too, taking energy from the main one! So it’s important to keep up with this work, because at this stage of growth the plant is growing rapidly, with vines increasing in length from 4 – 8 inches per day! To grow a truly giant pumpkin it’s very important to start off with the right seed. Good genetics is vital if you’re trying to end up with a potential prize winner. The seed to have is from an Atlantic Giant, and the best seeds can be bought on the internet or acquired direct from a past grower. BigPumpkins.com congratulates Al Eaton on his 173.75 inch long gourd measured at the Bracebridge Agriculture Society Fall Fair in Bracebridge, Ontario on September 17, 2022.BigPumpkins.com congratulates Todd and Donna Skinner of Barnesville, Ohio on their 2164 pound squash weighed at the Oakland Nursery Weigh-off. Australian Kathy Ffoulkes, from Shoalwater in Western Australia, was also entered into the Guinness World Records in 2020 for growing the world’s longest snake melon, which measured 136cm. Walker, Matt (January 13, 2015). "The biggest fruit in the world". BBC Earth . Retrieved January 15, 2015.