Fredericton couple rack up 3 pumpkin honours
One New Brunswick couple is making a big name for themselves in the world of competitive pumpkin growing.
Daryl and Maureen Tingley have won competitions for largest pumpkin in Fredericton, Neguac and in Edmundston on Sunday.
Daryl Tingley said he first got interested in competitive pumpkin growing about 13 years ago.
"People suggested to me I try [growing] the giant pumpkins, which I did, and I had some success," he said.
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Maureen Tingley said the key to growing large pumpkins is just to keep on top of the work and not to fall behind.
"There's always something to be done. If it's pouring rain you get the day off, but then you have to catch up," said Maureen.
The competitions aren't over yet. On Saturday the last of their giant pumpkins will be competing in Windsor, N.S. Daryl said the Windsor competition is special because of the history attached to it.
"[Windsor] is the home of Howard Dill … [he] was the person who really got interested in growing giant pumpkins for the world really. He's known by many giant pumpkin grower."
Weighing more than 450 kilograms, the pumpkins do make an immediate impression and many have been taken in by their enormous size.
"Part of the fun is the drive [to the competitions]. You keep getting people slowing down in your blind spot so they can take photographs," said Maureen.
The Tingleys grow between six and eight pumpkins per year to enter into competitions because each pumpkin can only be entered into one competition. A lot of work goes into the pumpkins, but Daryl said there is no magic or secret behind growing a great pumpkin.
"There's no secrets except good gardening. That's all, really is all," said Daryl.
Most of the couple's pumpkins have won competitions because of their size, but one of their pumpkins have also won a beauty contest for pumpkins. Daryl said the key to growing a beautiful pumpkin is choosing the right seeds.
Three of their prize-winning pumpkins are proudly displayed on the front lawn of their Fredericton home. They have different final destinations: the winners of the size competitions will have their seeds collected to be used next year. The beauty contest winner will have a more crushing end.
"That is the pumpkin that will be donated to [the Harrison House pumpkin sacrifice]," said Daryl.
Every year at Harrison House student residence at the University of New Brunswick, a giant pumpkin meets its maker by being tossed off the roof of the residence. The Tingleys have donated pumpkins to the sacrifice for the past five years.
One might expect a bit of melancholy from the farmers sending their prized pumpkins off to such a messy fate, but Daryl sees it as a fitting end.
"It's their time to be. Something final has to be done with them," he said.
The couple's final pumpkin will be judged on Saturday at the Windsor-West Hants Pumpkin Festival. Their beauty queen pumpkin will be destroyed on Halloween night.
