Adrian’s plot ‘o’ pumpkins
A Matamata farmer may have produced a New Zealand record of the most crown pumpkins grown from one plant.
Adrian Holmes has plenty of the hearty plant, thanks to the 52 pumpkins he recently grew.
At the beginning of the year Adrian and his dad Graeme noticed the large crop in his home garden.
‘‘They just grew and grew - like Jack and the Beanstalk,’’ he laughed.
Adrian attributes his love of gardening and his skills to Graeme who taught him all he knows.
But even Graeme, with all his years of gardening experience, was blown away by what his young apprentice had produced.
‘‘In January there were about 30, then they just went crazy,’’ said Graeme.
He said the plant escaped the garden, stretched across the yard towards the driveway.
They kept turning it around, and cut off the runners.
When the pumpkins were ready to harvest two weeks ago Graeme couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
‘‘They were connected to one plant the roots were ginormous, I have never seen anything like it.’’
Adrian took to the internet to see if he could find anything similar.
When he couldn’t find anything, he posted a pic of the crop onto the NZ Vegetable Gardners Facebook page.
The post received over 1000 likes and 180 comments.
Members couldn’t believe what they were seeing either. Some suggested it could be a record.
Nicola McBurney of Matamata’s Four Seasons Garden Centre was quite impressed.
She had never heard of anyone growing that number of pumpkins from one plant. She couldn’t say whether Holmes’ pumpkin plant may have produced a record amount.
Oakley’s Premium Fresh Vegetables managing director Robin Oakley was equally fascinated.
He, like McBurney, had never heard of anyone growing such a large number from one plant.
He was even quite skeptical pumpkins came from one plant.
Both Adrian and Graeme confirmed, it was definitely from one plant.
So, whether or not this is some kind of phenomenon or record remains a mystery.
But Graeme thinks the answer may lay in the rich soil.
Adrian attributes his success to a good fertiliser of calf manure, pot ash and big fat worms.
See the video on the Neighbourly page.
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