Photo by: Pumpkin Weigh-Off Coordinator
By: Reilly Buselli
On Sunday, September 28, people gathered in Ridgefield, Connecticut, to see a pumpkin that weighed more than a thousand pounds—but this pumpkin’s story began long before the crowds, ribbons, and even before planting.
Every good pumpkin farmer knows that to grow a record-breaking pumpkin, you must wait for the perfect day to start the planting process. For the Sandercocks, this day is always April 19, and it is when the seeds began their growing journey—not quite ready for the ground yet. They were not planted outside until May 1, when they began to overgrow their planter. From the planter, each plant was planted in its own cold frame (miniature garden-bed-sized greenhouses) with an electric soil heater to simulate the warm weather in which these plants thrive. The vines continue to grow until mid-June when they are finally ready for pollination. Once a pumpkin is set on the main vine, it matures in 90 days— a relatively brief time when you consider the size that these pumpkins grow to be.
Though this season appeared to be fruitful, it came with its struggles. Mrs. Sandercock commented, “This year we fought Mother Nature. May brought rain, and July and August brought nothing—except deer, rabbits, and woodchucks. We battled by watering morning and night and our have-a-heart traps also came in handy. We won despite the odds.”
All that hard work came to fruition when Mrs. Sandercock, her husband Ned, and their pumpkin drove more than two hours to Ridgefield’s 12th Annual Pumpkin Weigh Off Festival. When weighed, their pumpkin came in at a whopping 1,121 pounds, earning the Sandercocks 7th prize.
One weigh-off down, but who knows what this week will bring? Stay tuned for updates on how Paupack’s favorite pumpkin does this weekend against the competition in Grahamsville, New York.
