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PUMPKIN, continued from page 17
purchased at the Topsfield Fair, which
he used to grow his first 952-pound
gourd. Since then, he has become a
card-carrying member of the New
England Giant Pumpkin Growers
Association and returned to the fair
each year with a fall fixture fruit of his
own to enter into the giant pumpkin
weigh-in contest.
“This used to be all grass,” Keenan
said, pointing to the pumpkin plant.
“We had a little garden over in this
area, and one year, my son said, ‘Dad,
let’s plant a pumpkin.’ So we planted a
pumpkin using a seed that I got from
one of these guys at the Topsfield Fair
and took over the whole year. All the
other stuff that I planted — tomatoes
and all the standard stuff — it all had
to be pulled out to make room for this
giant pumpkin.”
The fair’s record for heaviest
pumpkin was set by Jamie Graham of
Tyngsborough, whose 2022 pumpkin
topped the scale at 2,480 pounds —
only 80 pounds lighter than the national
record of 2,560 pounds. Keenan
said he will not take a break from his
pumpkin growing until he hits the
state record.
“Just like a runner has a time that
he would call his personal best, crazy
pumpkin growers have the same
personal best. The record in Massachusetts
now is about 2,500 pounds
— that’s the goal,” Keenan said.
In 2017, Keenan donated his
1,284-pound pumpkin to the Police
Department. He said after this year’s
fair, he plans to either donate his
pumpkin to the town or give or sell it
to an interested business.
When asked if he has a secret trick
for successfully growing massive
gourds each year, Keenan responded
that it’s key to balance the plant’s
water and nutrient intakes.
“The thing that a lot of pumpkin
growers do is overwater and over-fertilize,”
Keenan said. “Less is more.
Too much water will destroy a plant.
Leave it alone.”
Tom Keenan takes a moment to admire the giant pumpkin that he's grown in his backyard.
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