Here Are A Few Tips For How You Can Grow A Giant Pumpkin

Pumpkins are a staple of the fall season. When the leaves on the trees begin to change color, pumpkins will start to show up in grocery stores, where people will gather to select the largest, best-looking ones to carve and display on their front porches.
Those who don’t head to the supermarket to pick out pumpkins often grow their own. A personal pumpkin patch allows you to have the ultimate autumnal decor.
However, some people don’t grow pumpkins just for the decorations or even to eat as food. Their aim is to cultivate truly massive pumpkins so that they can enter into giant pumpkin competitions.
One man named Travis Gienger from Anoka, Minnesota, won the 49th Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off with an enormous pumpkin that weighed 2,560 pounds. It set the record for the heaviest pumpkin in North America.
You may be wondering how it’s possible to grow a pumpkin that big. If you want to give it a shot, here are a few tips on how you can grow your own giant pumpkin.
Your backyard garden is the perfect place to house a giant pumpkin, but you’ll need to make sure the fruit gets enough sun, water, nutrients, and space.
Once your pumpkins start to grow larger, they will need plenty of room for their vines to spread. They need at least 1,200 square feet and about 120 days to mature.
The first step is to plant plus-sized pumpkin seeds into small peat pots. Before the seeds go into the ground, the soil must be prepared for planting. Apply fertilizer about six inches below the soil’s surface. The seeds can then be transplanted into a garden bed about ten feet in diameter once the danger of frost has passed.
Consistent watering is crucial to the growth of a pumpkin. As it gets bigger, it will need more water. But be sure not to overwater because it can actually explode from too much water! Water enough so that the ground is evenly moist but not soggy.

David Johnson – stock.adobe.com- illustrative purposes only
Install a fence around your pumpkin plant to protect it from harsh weather conditions, children, pets, and curious passersby.
When pruning your pumpkin’s leaves, you’ll want to trim back the lateral vines once they reach about eight feet long. The lateral vines are the ones that develop from the main vine. Vines can grow fast, so check your pumpkin regularly!
Also, keep in mind that giant pumpkins aren’t suitable for eating after they’ve gotten over fifty pounds. If you can maintain the strict regimen that giant pumpkins require, you’ll end up with a titan of a pumpkin!
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