A Giant Pumpkin Awaits Halloween

By Kendra Bobowick

“It’s his baby,” said Lisa Ryan. Lopsided and squat on the ground where it was still attached to the vine sat the 300-pound Atlantic Giant pumpkin that James Ryan grew this year. Smiling at his “new hobby,” James Ryan said this is his first year for a “biggun.”

Walking toward the patch where it rested beneath its “cabana” of plastic protecting it from rain, he said over his shoulder, “I sacrificed the others for this one.” By cutting away buds that also would have developed into pumpkins on the vine, he explained, “all the energy went into this one.” Kneeling beside the one large pumpkin that was broad enough to wrap his arms around, Mr Ryan admitted, “It’s a passion, what can I say?”

The details: Mr Ryan’s pumpkin traces back to New Hampshire, and is a “high maintenance” plant. With 40 pounds of manure, 40 pounds of compost, fertilizers, antifungal treatments, and a great degree of his own TLC, Mr Ryan nurtured this one pumpkin this year. He hopes to have a 1,000-pound specimen one day. “I have been trying for a long time, and got more serious about it last year,” he said, pointing to the results where the one pumpkin — as yet unnamed — sat alone in the patch.

His father had initially planted the pumpkin from seed, and Mr Ryan placed the plant in his garden in June. He began contemplating a giant pumpkin of his own in January, however. Setting his goals higher, he noted that some of the species can reach more that 1,600 pounds. Estimating his pumpkin to be roughly 300 pounds, he said, “This one is just a baby.”

Will he carve it? He is not sure if he will make a jack-o-lantern, or just try to move it to the front steps of his Boulevard home for Halloween. “I am definitely going to take the seeds,” he said.

The only question he must now answer before Halloween arrives on October 31 is how to get the pumpkin the roughly 30 feet to his front door. A couple of strong men and a pallet beneath his pumpkin might be the answer. Mr Ryan thanks the staff members at Lexington Gardens for their help and advice.