Hello, first things first, thanks so much for reading this blog post (and any of the other pages on the site) I appreciate it.
Second thing I’ll mention is I’ve fixed up the Photos Page on the website. I’ve got a bunch of photos from different pumpkin events from around New Zealand from as far back as 2010.
Things slowed down after 2021, some events shut down and I wasn’t going to as many. If you have pumpkin photos from an event in NZ I don’t have, send them in.
End of Season
I’m not sure where the time went to be honest. I’ll touch a bit more on that at the end of the post.
In an ideal world you’d want to have the plant for most places in NZ still intact and still attached to the pumpkin until the end of March or even into April for some locations.
For me the plant was toast. It was dead and appeared burnt to a crisp. I take full responsibility for that. Before we get to how the pumpkin is, let me recap the season.
It Started Slow
What a mission it was to get the seeds started this year.
This put me a bit behind where I would like to have started. Now that I am at the end of my season I can say that delay was a bit of a bummer.
I would have liked the plant and the pumpkin growing a lot sooner. It would have led to better results… if I had kept on top of everything.
Happy with the Patch’s Performance
This growing season the plant actually looked really good. Last season growing in the same area, the plant looked crap.
I didn’t do anything too different between the seasons. I do think more of the aged mushroom compost probably helped. Looking ahead to next season I will need to get my hands on some more, and have it sit around during the off season.
I dug out more tree roots from old stumps this season as well. It’s a slow process, but I’ll be happy when more of this old wood in the ground is removed.
Digging as I Went
This season I had the idea of digging out parts of the patch as the vine grew. My thinking around this was I was unsure how the plant was going to grow. So I decided to go this way.
Like most things it works if you do it. It wasn’t ideal, but it seemed to be OK.
Pumpkin Growth
I let nature do it’s thing with pollination this year. Every time I was about to hand pollinate things didn’t work out for whatever reason.
I was happy with where it ended up on the vine.
I did neglect to put sand down. Rookie mistake. I also didn’t track it’s growth. If you are picking up on a theme of me not doing much this season you are correct.
Marks on the Pumpkin
There was a weird mark on the side of the pumpkin. It healed up OK and didn’t seem to cause any problems. I was sure an animal had made it, but didn’t give it too much extra thought.
Removing the Vines
Today was the day. The vines were all dead and shriveled, it was a fine day and I needed to clean up outside.
Vine removal is easy, you just need somewhere to put them. Cutting the pumpkin from the vine allows you to pull the vines away.
Moving the Pumpkin
With no local public competitions being held, there was no need to get this pumpkin anywhere.
I did a weight estimation measurement and this pumpkin came in at 45kg. Pretty small in the world of giant pumpkins, but from doing very little this season I was happy with that.
I’ve moved a lot of giant pumpkins over the years, and this one was solid and felt heavy. Much more than the 45kg estimated.
When moving it I found extra holes into the pumpkin. Mice or rats look like they have been having a go at it. Not something I have had to deal with in the past, we have caught some rats recently. This is something I need to be prepared for next season.
Getting the Seeds Out
I used a spade to cut into the pumpkin. The more I cut into it the more pumpkin there was. There was no cavity.
It was solid pumpkin.
This would account for the extra weight I thought it had. I also wonder if this meant the pumpkin if grown to it’s best would be a very decent giant pumpkin.
There were seeds in it, they seemed good and I will do some germination tests once they have dried out.
The Seasons Problems and My Problems
I really had the best intentions at the start of this season. Then things went of the rails.
A slight tangent before what went on. Having worked at a few different places and doing the personality tests companies love doing, I know I fall into the category of people that love starting things, getting people hyped, creating things etc, but also finding it hard to get things to completion.
The season started later and I had to resort to a different way of starting the seeds, which I talk about here.
My record taking, weed removal and digging out the patch went OK in the beginning. I think my downfall is having Christmas, then my birthday mid January.
I even had big plans for blog posts, but seem to have fallen into the same trap I did last season, which I was mindful of and wanted to avoid. Video, well that’s a similar beast and I have footage shot and unedited sitting here.
One thing I am working through is I previously had a job for 10 years where I could work on anything on a computer while I was at work. It was a strange job, and I was very fortunate to have it. I am now at a regular office job, where I am very busy all day long, and some days I am mentally wiped out.
Things started to fall by the wayside as I got busy.
You don’t need a lot of money to grow a giant pumpkin at a small simple backyard scale, but it sure does help. My budget this year for giant pumpkin growing is very small to non existent compared to previous seasons. I am hopeful this will change in the near future.
All this is to say I’ve got to figure out better ways to work, and get things done. If you’ve read this far, thanks. I just need to write this stuff out sometimes.
Looking Ahead at Next Season
I’m already thinking about next season.
I’m going to spend a lot more time trying to get this tiny patch sorted during the off season. Plan out things a bit better, and I hope to have more things for you, the reader.
All while working through and updating this website.
Out of all the things I have on the go, GPNZ is the thing I could easily work hours on. I just need to balance it out with everything else.
How’s Your Season Go?
If you are growing right now, how did it go? If you are about to start growing for the 2025 giant pumpkin season how prepared are you? What are you trying?
I’d love to hear from you, leave a comment below, or flick me an email.
Growing giant pumpkins is a passion that I love sharing. 🎃 If you’ve found my content helpful or entertaining, why not say thanks with a coffee? ☕
It’ll fuel my next giant pumpkin adventure!
