It all starts with a seed....

When I posted my last pumpkin post of 2012, I knew I wanted to start the story of the 2013 great pumpkins earlier....at the seed.  I was thrilled when my friend (and giant pumpkin grower) told me he was putting together a seed auction.  So here is where it all begins, with the seed.

When he reached out to other growers for seeds, they responded with seeds coming in from as far as Alaska.

All neatly packaged, listing the size of the pumpkin the seeds came from, and the pumpkins history (the seeds of the 2 plants that were crossed to grow this giant pumpkin).

If you followed the giant pumpkins on my blog last fall, you may remember a world record was set in 2012...the first pumpkin the weigh in at over 2,000 pounds.  The grower sent one of his seeds from that giant, for the auction.  Just how big of a seed does it take to grow a giant pumpkin? Well, it's about the size of a quarter.

Long gourds (the ones that look like over-sized green baseball bats) will be included in the auction too. I was surprised how different their seeds look from pumpkin seeds. For these seeds, the numbers are the length in inches of the gourd (and it's parent gourds).

The seeds from the pumpkin and long gourd I watched grow were all collected and ready to be planted (both this growing season and in future growing seasons).

These are the seeds from the 102" gourd from last season. last year's gourd

Last year, I watched our friend achieve his own growing record, a 923 pound pumpkin. I loved watching that pumpkin grown, following his progress as he grew, and seeing him weigh in at the end of the season. I can't wait to photograph the backyard giants that grow from these seeds.

Have you wondered about growing your own giant pumpkin? I have to admit, spending so much time in the pumpkin patch, I've thought about attempting my own.  Now is your chance to get your own giant pumpkin seeds.  There will be lots of giant pumpkin seeds up for auction this Friday night.  All you need to do is log on to http://www.bigpumpkins.com/ and create a user id and password.  On Friday night, you could be on your way to growing a giant pumpkin of your own.