The Great Pumpkin Race: Some Inspiration

Monday, June 20, 2011

Some Inspiration

"Today's Pictures" on Slate.com had some very apropos photos for our competitors–"Giant Veggies"–

a collection of photos from various British farm fair vegetable growing contests.

Let us all be inspired by these amazing British vegetables, and their growers.

God Save the Queen!

I can't get over this photo - this is a REAL cabbage. It really scares me, this one.

You could lose a small child in there. I mean, it's so big it seems like it could walk away, or hug the guy who raised it, or smother him and move in with his wife. Scary scary.

I know this guy doesn't have a pumpkin in his hands but this leek is unbelievable. He looks like a noble chieftain about to put on his glorious headdress.

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What is this?

This blog is to document the hard work, vision, courage, perseverance, and devotion of the amazing participants of this distinguished competition.

Who are we?

We are an international group, currently residing (and often times bored) in Luxembourg. We represent many countries: Estonia, Mexico, Iceland, Georgia, South Africa, and the United States (USA! USA! USA!). We may be diverse in nationality but we all share a common passion to grow the BIGGEST damn Pumpkin that we can, using any means possible.

The Rules?

There are only 2 ...

1. No buying a new pumpkin (we will all have to provide photos prior to "harvest" to prove that your plant indeed produced your contestant pumpkin)

3. You must disclose ALL details of what you did to grow your pumpkin (if asked...we may not want to know)

The PRIZE for the biggest pumpkin?

Besides the respect of your peers and a great sense of pride and accomplishment, you will get something very American and worthy of your feat. In other words, I don't know what the prize will be yet. But it will be GREAT!

Racers, tend to your pumpkins!

Growing Tip: Milk Feeding

Some say that the only way to get one of those crazy, multi-hundred pound state fair prize-winning pumpkins is to feed your pumpkin milk. How?
The easy way: pour some milk around the pumpkins for some extra nourishment.
Or, if you really want to "go big" then try the following:
Clear all the smaller pumpkins off the vine and choose the one you want to nurse to greatness. Next get a bowl of milk and sugar and place it near the fruit. Then carefully make a small slit in the stem where the pumpkin is growing from the vine. Soak a cotton wick in the milk and sugar and insert one end in the slit and the other end in the milk and sugar mixture.
Keep the bowl filled with fresh mixture until your pumpkin reaches the desired size.

Some blogs even suggest adding ground up fish to the soil. I would skip that, we all have neighbors living sort of close by.