I’m writing this post late, I’m behind in my self imposed schedule and it got me thinking about time, and how much you should put into growing a giant pumpkin.
Lots of Hours on Something Else
Over the weekend I helped out with a short film. Over the 2 days I was there for 27 hours, all unpaid. We did get fed really well, for most small film projects the food is really good, as it’s the only thing that they can offer people.
So why did I spend so much time on something like that? Well I like the process of making a film. I get to meet new interesting people on everything I help out with, and I always learn something new.
All of these principles can be transferred over to giant pumpkin growing.
After a massive weekend, and recovering from the lack of sleep. It made me think about the hours put into growing a giant pumpkin. The more you put into it the better your results will be.
How Much Time to Put into Giant Pumpkin Growing?
There is no hard and fast rule on this. It comes down to what you can afford to do. Time is non renewable. Once it is gone, you can’t get it back. So make sure your priorities are set, and be flexible.
You can have the best intentions, but something might come up. Don’t beat yourself up about it, just go with the flow.
Back to the pumpkins. The more you put into them, the better the results. From burying vines, to applying products, researching, weight estimation and everything else. The more you do, the more you will learn, the in theory the results will be better.
At some point their has to be diminishing return on the time invested. You’ll have to work this out as you go along.
Weigh Off Insight
Earlier today was the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Weigh In, it’s usually a massive event. Due to Covid there was no spectators allowed, but due to Covid they live streamed it. And they did a really good job. Other events need to pay attention to how they did it.
While the pumpkins were getting taken to the scales, they had interviews with growers. 2 things stood out to me. The grower that won the best looking pumpkin award (sorry couldn’t find his name anywhere) said that after years of putting in lots of work into the pumpkins, he eased off to spend time with his family. He still grows and still produces good sized pumpkins.
And the other interesting this was the winner, Travis Gienger whose pumpkin weighed in at 2350lbs (1065kg) and is the heaviest pumpkin grown in North America this year, and the 2nd heaviest ever weighed in at Half Moon bay, actually traveled from out of state. It took him 35 hours of driving to get there, 35 HOURS…..
That is longer than driving the entire length of New Zealand, and blows my mind. Oh and for winning he got $7 per lb, or a total of $16,450
Time can take on different forms, you can spend it doing all sorts of different things.
Do what works for you, what you can afford to spend, and hopefully you can increase your pumpkins weight by using your time wisely.
