GOURDS GALORE
Huge pumpkins grow at Shelton home
SHELTON — The Fahey family planted three pumpkin seeds each in six dirt mounds in their backyard in hopes of getting one or two quality pumpkins.
The result knocked the family off their gourds.
Entering this past weekend, Jack and Debbie Fahey’s backyard garden at the rear of their Misty Lane home had nearly two dozen sizable pumpkins, one weighing as much as 109 pounds, with a dozen or more vines, some reaching 40 feet in length. One of the largest pumpkins was 5 feet in circumference.
“We started in May with pumpkin seeds in six small dirt mounds and expected to get a
crop of handful of small pumpkins for the grandkids to carve,” Jack Fahey said. “Well, it grew massive, and we are amazed at the size and quantity
that grew.”
The Faheys said they plan to keep a few pumpkins — perfect for their grandchildren
Katherine and Alexis, who now happen to live with them — to car ve.
“We will donate the rest,” said Jack Fahey, or PaJack as his grandkids call him.
Fahey recently retired, which has left him plenty of time to spend on his gardening hobby.
This year, he said his wife recommended growing pumpkins, so he took the seeds and planted them at the rear of his property, near a stream where he regularly dumps mulch.
“We knew the area was good for growing,” Fahey said, “but what we got here is incredible. Next thing we know, there are vines … 5, 10, 15 feet long, some as long as 40 feet. And huge pumpkins. Never expected this.”
This makes a perfect Halloween happening for the Fahey’s daughter, Renee Fahey-Lamb, who, along with her daughters, now live with her parents.
“We just moved out here from San Diego … and we have never seen anything like this out there,” Fahey-Lamb said.