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Whistler, BC, Canada

Just wondering, why do you all grow giant pumpkins?
Also, I know that a lot of people already know each other but where ya from? and what are a few of your other hobbies.... Kyle

1/7/2003 6:07:24 PM

Key West, FL

Because the AG is a crazy thing to watch grow. It is like a radioactive plant that grow a foot or more a day and if you have a good plant the pumpkin can grow 30+ pounds a day. Its fun to watch

1/7/2003 6:11:18 PM

Newville, PA

hey, I grow pumpkins and things like that (gourds, squash, indian corn) Cause I think it is just a fun hobby. My other hobby is, besides going to school, is going to vo-tech for culinary arts...cooking. I am from Newville, PA which is about 25 minutes away from shippensburg or I am an hour away from harrisburg

1/7/2003 6:12:01 PM

canal winchester ohio

I grow because I've been around giant pumpkins my whole life ( Being from Circleville Ohio).I grew in the mid 70's when I was younger, but I desire to play in a country rock band & then to pursue bodybuilding took up my time. But thanks to my father-in-law the spark got re-lit a few years back & now I'm hooked again..........Paul

1/7/2003 6:19:35 PM

Webster, NY

I first tried to grow jack o lanterns and failed. After a few attempts, I was given some AG seeds, and advice on how to grow and then I was hooked.

1/7/2003 6:51:01 PM

Whistler, BC, Canada

For me, I got hooked from always growing something, if it was pumpkins, squash, carrot, then someone introduced me to giant pumpkins, been hooked since. Now I mainly grow for self accomplishment, a great hobby, just something I love to do. Some hobbies, love all extreme sports, farming cattle and crops, and just being outside day after day.
Kyle

1/7/2003 7:01:55 PM

Morris, Connecticut

I grow pumpkins for the challenge and because I just love to be in the garden. I also grow because of stir it brings to onlookers. There's nothing quite like driving down the road with a giant in the back of the truck or unloading one at a fair and witnessing the excitement.

Other hobbies are collecting trees and shrubs and rock climbing.

1/7/2003 7:11:20 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

The look in the Kids eyes, the people that knock on the pumpkin to see if its paper mache. Once you start growing you are hooked.

1/7/2003 7:21:27 PM

Western NY

because i refuse to be normal.

1/7/2003 7:37:22 PM

syracuse, ny

now, there was a question that anywhere else might have lit a few fires---but as the growing community is as we know it to be, it is only fitting that all the answers above are as true as anything i've ever read! i had nothing to add except 'the mild rush one feels when his or her pumpkin's
weight is announced, and it is greater than what was hoped for'----
that's it! i could think of nothing else!
you all said it all! and thanks for asking, Kyle!

1/7/2003 7:46:25 PM

syracuse, ny

okay, never mind the 'fires' part...

1/7/2003 7:47:11 PM

Down Stream

Because I like pushig mother nature past her limit. In a good way of course.

1/7/2003 7:58:07 PM

Commack, NY

i like andy's response, and i'll second that

1/7/2003 8:12:53 PM

North Ga

I have nothing else to do

1/7/2003 9:14:35 PM

Chesterfield, MO

it keeps my mind off school! And of course i have never seen anything grow that big!!

1/7/2003 9:21:17 PM

Long Island,New York

Because they told me I couldnt do it.............G

1/7/2003 9:53:26 PM

Aberdeen, SD

because when i drive into the fair to drop off the pumpkin next year i want to hear the local high school marching band playing the "imperial march" from star wars.. ya know the one song that is played when darth vader walks into the room.

1/7/2003 9:56:14 PM

Montoursville, PA

Because I don't have to eat it. There are only two of us. I didn't really want to mow any more grass. You folks sucked me under your wings.

1/7/2003 10:17:25 PM

Appalachian Mtns.

Because I'm normal to be refuse.

1/7/2003 10:58:37 PM

Paradise Mountain, New York

Why do I grow Atlantic Giant Pumpkins? It's interesting where you can take a seed that weighs less then a 1/10 of a ounce, and make it grow thousands of times it's own weight. It's a lot of fun to go out in the patch everyday and see how you yourself is making something grow. But I like it where people come around and ask this and that and think i'm crazy for what i'm doing. Also it's a piece of mine for what you can learn and you can apply it to make something that other people have never seen or done.

1/7/2003 11:30:37 PM

Washington, The Evergreen State

Because there is just something magical about watching a giant pumpkin grow.

1/8/2003 12:00:51 AM

Puyallup, WA

I guess its just because I'm such an "irregular" person. There is no doubt in my mind that AG growers are listening to the beat of a different drummer than the "masses"!!

1/8/2003 12:18:01 AM

Deer Park WA

Excellent question, I have asked myself that every year for the past three years. Truefully though, the answer is quite simple I believe it takes a gifted, and thoughtful Artist to be able to coax something as magnificant as a World Class Atlantic Giant from the ground. I do it because I believe I can be the best at it one day...

1/8/2003 12:23:47 AM

Deer Park WA

Ps. I have a crapy little garage Rock Band (I play lead guitar & sing) I think I will be the best at it too one day so take my pumpkin prediction for what its worth! Neil Young Rules......

1/8/2003 12:48:12 AM

Caceres, Spain

Because I love to watch vegetables to grow and AGP is the crazyest of all fruits you can grow in your garden. And I can mend my soil, prepare the environment, I can transform it to the best, is up to me, and then, take care of it until it is the hugest of all the living fruits. Is a complex creative task, is a game as well, and competitive, first against yourselsf. You have to learn from Nature and became Nature ally. I can't write a simphony like the best or play football like the best, but I can grow an enormous pumpkin, and I will do!!!
Hobbies: mountains, travelling, write books, make wine, play pc fighting games, read pumpkin growers opinions here.
Don

1/8/2003 1:06:55 AM

Knopp, Germany

i played golf for years, just as crazy a sport, you make your first par and think you can par every hole. i love to get my hands dirty, i grew a small field pumpkin two years ago, then i found AG's, i grew one to 165 pounds, now i want to grow it bigger, and i bet no matter how big it goes next year, the year after i am sure i will want it to be even bigger....

1/8/2003 1:26:28 AM

Sequim, WA

It's a challenge, and a treat, to grow something so big in one short season that it makes you feel small again like when you were a kid and everything was bigger. I've always loved gardening, and had a competative nature, so now I compete in extreme gardening. Peoples reactions to them are great, kids love them, the list just goes on and on, and it all boils down to this, in my own weird way, it gives me satisfaction. I also like exhibiting roses, camping, fishing, softball, homebrewing, but these are all secondary now to this pumpkin addiction.

1/8/2003 2:27:53 AM

Deer Park, WI

First and foremost, its the personal challenge. After that its the attention, relaxation, excitement, profitibility, etc. Other hobbies include Guitar, Drums, Agate hunting, weightlifting, running, Diablo II, reading, and consuming beverages of alcoholic nature.

1/8/2003 8:50:15 AM

Cooks Creek, Manitoba, Canada

I have to blame my parents. When I was 4 years old I had nothing to do one summer day and after asking my parents what I should do fro the hundreth time they told me to go watch the garden grow. So I pulled up a chair and watch the garden for over a hour - nothing happened, I was very dissapointed! From then on I was determined to find something I can grow that would allow me to pull up a chair and actually watch it grow. AG's come the closest.

1/8/2003 8:50:51 AM

Pulaski Tn [email protected]

bECAUSE I DONT HAVE TIME..I RUN 2 BUSINESS, HAVE 3 YUNGUNS,2 HORSES,3 DOGS A CAT,2 TRACTORS,ONE SAWMILL, ONE SKEET SHOOTING FEILD,A DUMP TRUCK,50 ACRES,2 HOUSES,WORKING ON A THIRD,PLUS I HUNT DEER,SQUIRREL,TURKEY,DOVES,RABBITS,COYOTES,COON,POSSUM,FOX, TRAP A FEW MUSKRATS AND MINK,GROW A FEW ACRES OF JACK O LATERNS,SWEET CORN, GOOD OLE MATERS,MAKE HO MADE WINE,FENCE, BUSHHOG, AND CUT WOOD,DIG CIVIL WAR RELICS,FISH IN SUNDAY MORNIN BASS TOURNAMENTS(WHEN I SHOULD BE IN CHURCH)RELOAD SHELLS,(SHOTGUN RIFLE AND PISTOL)PLUS A FEW MORE VARIOUS HOBBIES WHEN I GET EVERYTHING ELSE DONE.....

1/8/2003 9:07:54 AM

Choctaw, OK

its [an] addicting (obsession) for some unknown reason....anyone else have that problem?

Case

ps....just think, what would your summer be like without giant pumpkins??? i cant even stand to think of it!

1/8/2003 11:18:48 AM

Indiana

It would be girls.....girls......girls without pumpkins!!!!

Tom Beachy

1/8/2003 11:54:18 AM

come on everyone knows its because the aliens are making us do it...in the end the planet will be one giant tangle of vines and pumpkins..

1/8/2003 12:03:35 PM

Flowery Branch, Georgia

As a local grower said a couple of years ago
"It is an addiction, but at least it is a legal addiction"
Bob Attaway

1/8/2003 12:10:29 PM

Mastic Beach, New York

I needed a new hobby,building street/strip cars(drag racing) took alot of money to do...

billy

1/8/2003 1:50:01 PM

Pulaski Tn [email protected]

iTS KINDA LIKE A COCANE HABIT BUT MORE ADDICTIVE AND COST MORE..

1/8/2003 2:20:57 PM

Liverpool , England

Yo kyle,
I grow em cos I can.

Alun

1/8/2003 2:21:25 PM

Kuna, Id.

Parked my stock cars when I started my own business, needed something to feel free time. Stock cars have been on jack stands for 3 yrs now.......Damn pumpkins..........lol
Ken

1/8/2003 3:06:00 PM

Billerica,Massachusetts

always liked pumpkins from when i could crawl, as a kid my parents yard was basically woods no sun couldn't understand why pumpkins wouldn't grow, heck i could grow tomatoes! i remeber reading in the local paper back sometime in the 70's about a man in the next town that grew what he called SQUMPKINS that man was Hugh Wiberg, then i remeber when my oldest sisters boyfriend bought her this huge pumpkin (maybe around 100lbs) well it was huge to me, then i saw an article in a Phillip Morris (yeah the tobacco people) newsletter about the WPC wow look at those monsters!
well one thing lead to another, well you all know the story roto-tillers, pick-up trucks full of manure, seeds seeds seeds, shade trees being cut down, lawns,kids play yards disappearing and turning into patches, timers,hoses 55 gal drums, every kind of snake oil imaginable, computers,chat groups, websites, digital cameras, scales arrrhhhhhhh it doesn't end the madness the madness 15 years of A.G.'S behind me.


Glenn Peters

1/8/2003 3:54:34 PM

Key West, FL

pumpkin growing is a hardcore (legal) drug. It would probably take a 12 step program for many of us to stop.

1/8/2003 5:41:10 PM

Topsfield, Ma.

Biggest Jack-O-Lantern on the street braggin' rights !!!

1/8/2003 7:52:52 PM

Tipp City, Ohio

My father grew a 109 lb Big Max back in 1977. As a young kid I was always Impressed with that. So when my wife and I bought a little land, I did not want to mow all of the acrage, so an assortment of pumpkins on 1 acre was the solution. A packet of AGs from the seed catalog got me started in this hobbie. I also enjoy my kid's smiles at the end of the season when they get to pick all the smaller pumpkins....Tom

1/8/2003 11:06:42 PM

Montoursville, PA

The neighbors all think I am goofy. By the end of this summer I pray they will have no reason to think otherwise.

1/8/2003 11:31:38 PM

porterville,california usa

`cause it`s the only way i can put more piles of crap in my back yard than my dog........(manure) Heeeee..Haaaawwww!!!

1/9/2003 2:06:48 AM

porterville,california usa

hobby is putting 20lb piles of my dogs poop in neighbors` yard and trying to convince him i saw his tiny dog do it.

1/9/2003 2:26:31 AM

Cologne / Germany

In 2000 I had to buy my first lawn mower, and when I came home I thought that something had changed in my life.
One time this summer I came home with a tiller and once again something had changed...
How boring life would be without change or challenge! Welcome back, I hope anyone had some happy holidays. It´s 5 deg. here but nothing can stop the 2003 season...

1/9/2003 6:51:16 AM

ipswich, ma usa

Halloween was always big in my book. As of this day I run a haunted house in my town for charity every year. Big pumpkins only seemed natural to get into. It lets me extend the beauty of Halloween for an extra nine months or so! That and it's kinda cool to drive around town with a monster in your truck and have everyone point and talk about it.

John (5150)

1/9/2003 8:47:24 AM

Garden State Pumpkins

First picture in my photo gallery! been trying to grow one big enough to do it again! Now obsessed with the task! little kids in the neighborhood are heard saying "Don't worry it's just old man radcliffe...thinks he's growing a pumpkin or something....he always goes out and buys them at the end of the year and let's us "pick em" like we can't tell there not on the vine! " YIKES....THIS YEAR! favorite saying

1/9/2003 1:21:04 PM