Pumpkin Gone Viral: Mattapan Man’s Giant Gourd Grown In City Garden Scores Big

Is that time of year...pumpkin showing season! After the growing, there's the showing, at state fairs, festivals and various other fall events. There was quite a show put on in Colchester, Vermont last weekend for the Vermont Giant Pumpkin Growers Association. Since then one pumpkin has gone viral- Mattapan man's giant gourd grown in the city scored big! Don't you love all the fun stuff Fall has to offer? How Big Is It? According to boston.com, Jamaica Plain resident Michael DeMarco somehow managed to grow a 376 pound pumpkin in just a 240 square foot community garden plot. I can't get my mums to stay alive! And they are hearty fellas. This is talent. Michael told the news site that he's had the plot at Mattapan's Shangri-La Community Garden since 2021. Apparently, he's tried to grow super-pumpkins before. He said it's very involved and time consuming. It takes about 100 days to grow a larger than life pumpkin. Size Isn't Everything If you've been to the Topsfield Fair, you've likely seen pumpkins much bigger than DeMarco's. Most of the "winning pumpkins" chime in at over 1,000 pounds. What made his gourd the big deal in Vermont was the fact that he grew it in such a small space and in city soil. That is quite a feat. Not to mention, he had to haul it up to Vermont. Michael's pumpkin placed 10 at the Vermont Giant Pumpkin Growers Association event. At under 400 pounds, a pumpkin there is no big deal. What is the big deal? The spotlight shined on it's ability to grow in not exactly ideal circumstances. And in a rather unusual place. Right smack dab in the middle a city. The 10th place gardener shared with boston.com, "living in the city, we don’t really have garden space on the property. If you want to garden locally, it’s a community garden or nothing.” Vermont's state secretary of agriculture, food and markets chimed in calling DeMarco's pumpkin a "big story" at the weigh-in. See the pumpkin gone viral-Mattapan man's giant gourd grown in a city garden that scored big! https://twitter.com/anson_ag/status/1703195952079634866 [select-listicle listicle_id="1118798" syndication_name="beyond-pumpkin-spice-8-other-fall-flavors-that-steal-the-show" description="no"]