The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG – When it comes to pumpkins, Charlie Brown’s got nothing on Waitsburg gardener Gail Broom, whose very own ‘great pumpkin’ placed first in the weight class at the Walla Walla County Fair. Broom can’t wait to compete again next year and is hoping to have some area youngsters join her and step up the competition.

“I decided to plant a pumpkin patch because I thought it would be neat for kids to be able to grow big pumpkins and enter them in the fair,” said Broom. While school teachers were notified of the opportunity and a couple of children initially expressed interest, the proj- ect never quite got off the ground.

Broom, an experienced 4-H, Girl Scout and Path- finders leader says she knows how to teach and work with kids, but didn’t quite know how to go about getting something organized from the ground up. She’s hoping her personal success this year will rouse some interest and that she’ll have a group of children ready to join her when it comes time to start seedlings this spring.

Groom, an avid gardener who has held plots in the Rees & Sumach Community Garden the last four years, is looking forward to garden- ing at home in Waitsburg next spring. Several large trees were removed from her shady back yard this year, which will now allow the sun necessary for a garden. The plot for the pumpkin patch was provided by Broom’s neighbor Carol Weir, who lives adjacent to Broom and offered the use of her land for the project.

Broom says that while her pumpkin, weighing an impressive 114 pounds, placed first at the Fair, she still learned a thing or two. “I learned a mistake I made,” said Broom. “If you want to have a really big pumpkin, you need to buy seeds from an actual grower who has grown an award winning pumpkin, not just a seed company.”

While Broom wiped out area competitors – the sec- ond place gourd weighed in at a mere 92 pounds – world record winners are truly astounding. In October of last year, Ron Wallace of Rhode Island took the cur- rent spot for world’s heaviest pumpkin with a 2009 pound pumpkin. Wallace exceeded by 199 pounds the previous title-holder, who grew an 1810 pound gourd in 2010.

Broom is anxious to get her hands on some award- winning seeds, even if not those from actual world record holders. “They can be pretty spendy. It can cost $15 for one seed, but they’re the size of a peach pit!” said Broom. “I just think it would be really fun and interesting for the kids.”

Broom asks interested parents to keep her patch of ‘Great Pumpkins’ in mind come spring. She plans to get the word out “better than last year” and hopes to have a group of young gardeners join her next year, providing some extra competition at the fair.