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Entry Date
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Nick Name
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Location
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Tuesday, December 09, 2025
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GreenQueen
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Moscow, Russia
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Entry 2 of 8 |
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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.
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