Farmer reveals recipe for scarily big pumpkins

4 hours ago

Luke Deal,at Fen Farm Dairyand

George King,Suffolk

News image — Frances Crickmore's pride and joy - a 55-stone (349-kg) giant pumpkin which has brought smiles to the faces of visitors to Fen Farm Dairy

Luke Deal/BBC A woman wearing a white jumper and black trousers stood next to a giant pumpkin. — Frances Crickmore's pride and joy - a 55-stone (349-kg) giant pumpkin which has brought smiles to the faces of visitors to Fen Farm Dairy

A farmer who has grown a scarily big pumpkin for the second Halloween in a row said she hoped to break the world record for the largest winter squash - as she finally revealed the secret of her ginormous gourds.

Frances Crickmore, from Fen Farm Dairy, near Bungay, Suffolk, competes with her son Jonny to see who can grow the biggest pumpkin.

Last year she won with a 58-stone (368-kg) whopper, compared to his 2.9-stone (19-kg) effort, and this year her 55-stone (349-kg) pumpkin beat his 7-stone (44-kg) attempt.

She says her success in the inter-family grow-off is all down to her granny's green tea recipe of manure and water, which she feeds to her pumpkin twice a week.

Shaun Whitmore/BBC Frances Crickmore standing behind a very large light green pumpkin. She has white shoulder-length hair and is wearing a cream Aran-style jumper. The pumpkin is resting on a wooden pallet. Behind her are pumpkin vines, grass and beyond the grass, a hedge. — Frances with the 58 stone (368kg) "flea-bitten" plant she managed to grow last year

But, like last year, she also invested a lot of time and effort into caring for it to ensure it had the best chance of fulfilling its potential.

"I spend so much time with mine - I covered it every night from when it's tiny to when it's finished with blankets, coats and towels," she said.

"If it rained, I would whizz out there and put something on top of it - I just love growing everything. I'm just one of those hands-on people.

"Jonny's was a complete flop, it was tiny, and he's not going to beat me, ever, and now I want to beat the world record."

Luke Deal/BBC A giant orange pumpkin. — While she was pleased with how her winter squash turned out, she did admit it had flopped a little at the back

Earlier this month, American farmer Ron Wallace's pumpkin was declared the heaviest ever, weighing 225.4 stone (1,431kg), according to Guinness World Records.

It came just days after the UK's Ian Paton was told he had grown the biggest pumpkin after it tipped the scales at 204 stone (1,295.8kg).

While Crickmore's fell a little short of the mark in comparison, she said she had "done quite well" and was "very proud".

'We'll need a chainsaw'

"I would love it to be big, a lot bigger, but it's lovely to just see it sitting there and at the moment it is really beautifully round at the front," she added.

"People think it is plastic, but it is as hard as a rock."

Once the season is over, Frances plans to remove the pumpkin's 400-500 seeds and give them out to people so they, too, can have a go at growing their own next year.

And, so as not to waste the fruits of her labour, the rest of it will be fed to the farm's cattle, provided it can actually be cut-up.

"Whether we'll carve it or not, [I don't know], I think we'll need a chainsaw," she said.