There are three things that Scott Murray believes you need to grow a giant pumpkin.
“It’s a little bit of dumb luck, a little bit of a green thumb and a lot of free time,” Murray said.
As the owner of Murray Farms Greenhouse in Penacook, Murray has no problem with the last two items on that list. It’s the first one that typically ends up being the deciding factor of whether your pumpkin grows big and strong or turns into a big pile of mush. And unless things have changed, there’s no controlling dumb luck.
It just so happened that luck was on his side this summer. While the conditions were not ideal to produce the kind of gourds that could allow you to make a year’s supply of delicious desserts, it didn’t stop Murray from taking home first prize at the Hopkinton State Fair with his 844-pound pumpkin – the second year in a row he brought home the blue ribbon. To put that into perspective, that’s 41 pounds more than the entire New England Patriots starting secondary from Sunday’s dominating win over the Bengals.
Murray’s prize grow from this season never made it to the orange stage of the coloring process, but that’s typical for pumpkins that end up that big. Instead his stayed white, with some greenish hints to it, and had a soda can size stem and about a foot thick skin. But growing giant pumpkins isn’t about the beauty factor.
“We’re trying to grow them big and heavy. It doesn’t matter what it looks like,” Murray said.
In the world of giant pumpkins, Murray’s was just a little tyke. It’s nothing compared to the one that tipped the scales at 2,032 pounds last year, and that’s okay because Murray knows that just getting to an official weigh-in is a huge accomplishment – especially when it needs to travel.
“In the grand scheme of things for giant pumpkins, it’s just a baby,” Murray said.
Murray begins the process in April by germinating some seeds in his greenhouse before transplanting them outside in June. And once in his garden, the real magic of the giant pumpkin seeds takes place. Many pumpkins will begin to grown off the main vine, but it’s all about identifying the one that will hopefully turn into a prize winning monstrosity.
“Not every seed is going to give you a giant pumpkin,” Murray said. “It’s a blind draw that you get the right seed.”
Once the other pumpkins have been picked off and just one remains, the process really begins. Each leaf on the vine acts as a little solar panel and allows for it to increase about 35 pounds and two to three inches a day at the height of the growing season.
“You can actually look out the window and say, ‘Wow it really grew today,’ ” Murray said. “It’s like watching Jack and the Beanstalk.”
So you can probably guess that it will jack up your water bill for a few months.
“You’re looking at about 100 gallons a day when it’s really hot,” Murray said. “You’re trying to push it as fast and as hard as you can.”
But there’s plenty of things that can derail your world record pursuit.
“The pumpkins can get so heavy that it can build a trench and buckle under itself,” Murray said. “Everyday your pumpkin is growing, something can go wrong.”
There’s also the wildlife.
“One year the deer came in and ate 2,500 pounds of pumpkins on me in a week and a half,” Murray said.
But even if you get to the end of the growing season with your pumpkin intact, you still have to move it – and the slightest defect can mean the difference between the glory of victory and the agony of what could have been.
“There are definitely heartbreaks in growing pumpkins,” Murray said.
Luckily for Murray, the dumb luck has really been on his side.
