How do you grow a pumpkin as heavy as a car?

Growers move the pollen by hand and keep one pumpkin per vine.
In late summer, a giant pumpkin can gain 50 pounds a day.
In October 2026, one pumpkin weighed 3,156 pounds.

And the jack-o'-lantern? It started as a turnip in Ireland.

Words for the text

giant: Very, very big.
grower: A person who grows plants or food.
weigh-off: A contest to find the heaviest vegetable.
pound: A unit of weight. One pound is about half a kilogram.
strap: A long, strong piece of material. It holds things.

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Monday on the scale

Half Moon Bay is a small town on the coast of California, south of San Francisco. Every October, on the second Monday, it holds a famous weigh-off. The full name is long: the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off. Growers call it the Super Bowl of pumpkins.

In 2026, the contest was fifty-three years old. About 45 growers took part. They came from California, from other states and even from Europe. Hundreds of people stood in the street to watch. Everybody wanted to see one thing: the heaviest pumpkin.

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