Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 8 Entries. Tuesday, December 9 View Page How I got in the world of big pumpkins. Tuesday, December 9 View Page For several years, I had been visiting the exhibition of giant pumpkins in Moscow, but I never wondered who grew them, how they grew, or why they got so big. Pumpkins were just pumpkins. I took a photo and go home. But in 2024, when I came to the annual pumpkin exhibition, I suddenly became curious about how it all happens. I started looking for information online. And to my surprise, I learned that the people growing giant pumpkins are fairly young. The fact is that there's a stereotype that gardening is for retirees. These young growers wrote in their blogs about how they grew pumpkins, and it seemed incredibly fascinating to me. I also wanted to grow a pumpkin, but... I don't have a plot of land. So, I asked my brother if I could plant a pumpkin on his plot, and he agreed. I met Alexander, the Russian record holder for giant pumpkins; he told me how to grow a pumpkin and gave me several seeds from his pumpkin 893 Chusov 2023. This man wrote detailed instructions, sharing all his knowledge and experience. I asked him when I should plant the giant pumpkin, and he answered: on April the 7th. X-day has come. I scarified the seed, soaked it in an amino acid solution, and then planted it in the soil. Meanwhile, it had snowed outside. A lot of snow. Usually, there's no snow in Moscow in April, or very little. But April 2025 was cold. I have already starting to worry that I wouldn't be able to plant the pumpkin outside on time. The seed sprouted on April 12th. In Russia, this day is celebrated as Cosmonautics Day, the anniversary of Gagarin's first space flight. Just a funny coincidence. By April 28th, it had warmed up, and the fallen snow had melted. But the ground was still rathter cold. So,I clogged the warm cable to the pumpkin landing site. I also made a temporary shelter over the plant and placed a heater inside. On April 28th, my pumpkin was successfully planted in the ground. Tuesday, December 9 View Page The first half of May was cold and rainy. But inside the pupmking's greenhouse, it was warm and cozy. I often sat in the greenhouse, listening to the raindrops drumming on the plastic film. I gave my pumpkin a name - Gorky Park. All because of a dream I had. I dreamed I was walking with my pumpkin on a pumpkin playground. It's like a children's playground, but a pumpkin one, where everyone was swinging their pumpkins on swings and rolling them down slides. My pumpkin was s too small for such entertainment, so I was just carrying it in my arms. In the dream, it was a boy-pumpkin, and his name was Gorky Park. Gorky Park grew well; within a month, the main vine was already 5 meters long, so I had to dismantle the temporary greenhouse. My brother allocated 15 square meters for the pumpkin - 3 by 5 meters. I understood it wasn't much, but it was all that I had. Gorky Park started producing female flowers very quickly. But I was waiting for *the one*. On June the 5th, 2025 day of pollination. It was self-pollination, following all the rules of flower isolation. Within a couple of days, the fruit was the size of a tennis ball, and in 10 days - the size of a child's head. I had never seen anything grow so fast! It was incredible. I put a plaster skull next to the pumpkin to see the scale and growth rate. At DAP 10, I placed the fruit on sand to drain excess water. And there was a lot of water. June was cold and rainy. There was no sun at all, and daytime temperatures were only 11-15 degrees Celsius. That was very cold! And there was no way to treat the leaves from pests and diseases, because it was always raining. Tuesday, December 9 View Page On the summer solstice, when the world around should be rejoicing in sun and warmth, it was raining again. I came to my brother (I couldn't stay live there, but I visited very often), saw Gorky Park, and... burst into tears. I couldn't believe my eyes, but the pumpkin was scratched. Five scratches, like a trace from Freddy Krueger's hand, were on the pumpkin. I didn't know what it was. Maybe birds. Or maybe cracking from excess water. The fruit was already twice the size of the skull I'd placed next to it. But these cuts... I didn't know if they would heal. My friends tried to comfort me, saying the scar gave the pumpkin some charm (in Russian it sounds like *shram sharm*). In my blog that day, I wrote, "I love you anyway, Gorky Park, with or without a scar." The days passed, and the pumpkin grew over the scars! The long-awaited first measurement. At 23 days old, the estimated weight of my pumpkin was 30 kg. It was still growing very fast. At DAP 30 - 49 kg, meaning it was already heavier than me. DAP 34 - 80 kg. An incredible growth rate, despite the cold weather. Tuesday, December 9 View Page July. The weather improved. It still rained, but it got warmer. I really wanted my pumpkin to be orange, and in July it became clear it definitely wouldn't be white. It would be orange. I went on a short vacation. My brother and his wife watered Gorky Park while I was away. When I returned, the pumpkin was already 184 kg (DAP 44). 100 kg in a week - for me, that was still something incredible. The orange color turned�a beautiful�shade�of�pink. It was a very beautiful color, like a peach. Finally, normal summer weather arrived, with temperatures around +28�C. This contributed to good growth. At DAP 50, the pumpkin was 250 kg. The color of the pumpkin became more and more beautiful; people started saying that they wanted seeds from my pumpkin. It was very nice to hear. At DAP 60, the pumpkin was 311 kg. Although at that age it should have been growing more slowly, it grew well. I constantly had to redo the shelter from rain and sun because it needed to be made bigger and bigger. Tuesday, December 9 View Page August. The scar resembled the logo of some metal band. I talked to the pumpkin and even sang songs to it. I even composed a song about a pumpkin. And I drew Gorky Park, imagining what he would look like if he'll be human. I had become so attached. For me, it was no longer just a vegetable, but like a pet, a member of the family. Local media became interested in my pumpkin and came to do a report. Gorky Park - like a star! And I developed a desire: for the pumpkin to reach the 400 kg mark. At DAP 84, the estimated weight was 398 kg. Yes, I understood that the real weight could differ from the estimate and may be less. The weather was changeable. Warm one day, cold the next. Tuesday, December 9 View Page On September 16th, 2025, at DAP 103, the pumpkin was cut. A strange feeling wouldn't leave me. A feeling as if my child had grown up and was leaving home to work in another city... A mix of sadness, pride, and love. And indeed, the pumpkin went "to work." Namely, to the giant vegetable exhibition in Moscow. But at first - the long-awaited weighing. On September 19th, 2025, at the Apothecary Garden, the pumpkin was weighed. 402 kg! Hooray, the 400 kg mark was passed! And this was on 15 square meters. I was so proud of my boy, my Gorky Park. For me, he turned out to be like a ray of light in a dark kingdom. Amidst the bad news and chaos happening around. My first result. My first pumpkin. And immediately in 3rd place on the Russian GPC platform. Tuesday, December 9 View Page For a month, my pumpkin delighted visitors at the exhibition. It held up excellently. There wasn't the slightest spot of rot or mold anywhere. I felt sorry just cutting it open to get the seeds. So, after the exhibition, the pumpkin went to a caf�, where it became a Halloween decoration. On October 31st, 2025, I came to collect the seeds... and again, that aching feeling. Although I had already come to terms with the fact that the end had come. The end of this season. There werw a lot of seeds in my pumpking - 600! I washed them and dried them at room temperature for two weeks. Then I weighed every seed. Their weight ranged from 0.5 to 0.7 grams. I'm waiting for spring. To plant a seed from the Gorky Park. To go on this exciting trip again! I am waiting for spring. To plant a seed from Gorky Park. To set off on this fascinating journey again!