Winner tops 2,000 lb. at annual pumpkin weigh-off in Smoky Lake, Alta.

Credit: https://goeastofedmonton.com/

A Lloydminster man's hard work in the garden has paid off, with his gourd taking home the top prize this year at the annual giant pumpkin competition at Smoky Lake, Alta.

Don Crews's pumpkin weighed in at a whopping 2,037.5 lb. this weekend at the Smoky Lake Great White North Pumpkin Weigh-Off.

Crews, who is a mason by trade, says he's been participating in the competition for more than 20 years and has won several times including last year, when his pumpkin weighed more than 2,500 lb.

Crews said controlling the environment and growing conditions "right from Day 1" — from when he starts to germinate the plant and soil conditions to the right environment, which can include a greenhouse — are central to his process in trying to grow the largest pumpkin possible.

"You need to extend the growing season, so you have to have a super long growing season, which we don't have here," Crews told CTV News Edmonton. "I have a plant started before the snow starts to melt this year, (but) not in some years."

This year's pumpkin sprouted in early April before morphing into a ton-plus monster.

"It doesn't take very long and you have to plant it out in your patch, your garden or your greenhouse, so you've got about 10 days from the time that sprouts to (getting it into) soil," Crews said. "And then you have another month or so before you pollinate. So I pollinated this thing. It already had almost 20 feet of vine on it by June 7, when I pollinated."

Plans for the fleshy fruit post-show include a lot of pumkpin pies, cookies and the like — or food for deer if they get to it first.

"There's a lot of pumpkin there, though," Crews said. "Not every one is a really good pumpkin for cooking, but most of them are. They're just eight inches thick of meat that you just puree up. We'll give it to all our friends. They all take a chunk of pumpkin, attempt to turn it into cookies."

Crews says the pumpkin will be on display next weekend in Lloydminster.