Nurturing Giant Pumpkins – Part IV, The Final Episode

Several months ago I began my ongoing tale about the exploits of my brother and several of his neighbors to grow giant pumpkins in their North Carolina neighborhood. This blog story is the final one in the series about the adventures of the pumpkin growers and their gourds.

Terry Buettner with Their Big Pumpkin

Loretta with their 100+ Pound Gourd

Starting with great hopes for growing pumpkins weighing hundreds of pounds, the neighbors faithfully planted seeds to grow “giant pumpkins.” These pumpkins initially grew to impressive weights in their infancy but the long hot North Carolina Summer stymied them and as a result, the “giant pumpkins” grew to a much more limited weight than had been predicted.

Certainly the gourds from the Day’s, Buettner’s, and Harples’ pumpkin patches grew impressively under their umbrella and natural shade but Mother Nature had other plans. The Buettner’s grew the largest one at just over 100 pounds. Lessons have been learned for next year’s growing season.

David Day in His Patch

Large Pumpkins from David

Harples Decorative Pumpkins

The previously pictured plastic inflatable “pumpkin” located on 5th street in Hendersonville, NC, is the size the growers aspire to attain in the future. But this year we must be satisfied with it being the giant pumpkin we hope to see in the future from these neighborhood pumpkin farmers.

Note: The previous stories in this series are Part I, Part II, and Part III. The photos below are courtesy of the Buettners and the Harples.