Huge Pumpkin Grown In Castro Valley Yard

It's not Cinderella's carriage but the pumpkin parked in front of David Carter's home on Almond Road is one humongous gourd.

Carter, a lifelong Castro Valley resident, is a gardener, wine-maker and businessman.

This spring, for the first time, he decided to grow pumpkins.

traffic-stopper.

So he drove to Half Moon Bay -- site of the annnual Art & Pumpkin Festival -- and bought the biggest seeds he could find. 

"They were the size of a quarter," Carter told Patch.

He planted the seeds in the half-acre plot where he and his family also grow tomatoes, corn, cucumbers and other vegetables. The plot is fertilized by grape peels that are a byproduct of his wine-making.

The plant produced several pumpkins but Carter eliminated all but one. 

"It was amazing to watch it grow," he said. "It was like it grew the size of a cantaloupe every day."

When he harvested the pumpkin this week it weighed 150 pounds and measured 72-inches in circumference. It took three people to carry out to his front yard where he intends to leave it on display for a while.

Carter is justifiably proud of his pumpkin but a world record holder it's not.

The Guinness Book awards that honor to Chris Stevens of Minnesota. In 2010 he grew a pumpkin weighing 1,810 pounds that measured 15 feet, six inches in circumference -- arguably Cinderella's stretch-limo.

Carter isn't necessarily aiming at the world prize but next year he plans to grow an even bigger pumpkin. To do this he'll cut open his 2012 pumpkin and harvest its seeds. As gardeners know, they should be better acclimated to his Castro Valley soil.

In between now and that sacrificial time, Carter said he might send the pumpkin on a tour of Castro Valley schools if it seems like the sort of thing that would give the students a kick. Otherwise he has no plans his great gourd.

"All I care about now is getting my seeds," he said. 

Have you grown a big pumpkin? How big? Not a gardener. Get involved another way. Calculate the radius of Carter's pumpkin; and the radius of the world prize winner. Or just crack a smile.