Gourd growing, everyone!

Harlow Pope overruled her father as he eyed up the sunflower seeds in Tākaka’s Hammer Hardware.  

The four-year-old was drawn to the packet with the smiley face on it, and those seeds just happened to be for giant pumpkins.

After several weeks of laid-back plant care, Harlow was crowned the under-10 winner for her hefty gourd at Motueka’s Giant Pumpkin Growing Competition on Sunday.

About 20 pumpkins were entered into the weight section, with another 10 in the “arty-farty”/dress-up category. The heaviest gourd overall was grown by Helen and tipped the scales at a fleshy 76kg.

The weigh-in was held in Hotel Motueka’s carpark, and the venue put on a pertinent vat of pumpkin soup to warm attendees who were hiding inside from the bucketing rain.

Organiser John de Jong says that the committee was “absolutely stoked” with the afternoon, aside from the deluge.

“We were especially pleased to see so many children there and being so enthusiastic about the event,” he says.  

“We were over the moon with the response we got from people attending the afternoon.”  

He says the feedback was fantastic, with people approaching the organisers and sharing that they had enjoyed the whole journey.

Prizes were also given for the ugliest pumpkin, the most creative entry and the smallest gourd, which barely moved the scales at 0.5kg.