Man grows monster pumpkin weighing 84lbs, breaking family record

Giant vegetable required constant watering throughout the summer

(SWNS (Swindon Advertiser /SWNS.COM)

A man has grown an enormous pumpkin and finally beat his father’s record after 30 years of trying.

Mark Sarnowski from Swindon has spent three decades trying to out-do his father Henry Sarnowski’s 63lb vegetable, which was so big it attracted media attention in 1989.

Now, the farmer has managed to produce a monster-sized version of the orange vegetable weighing an impressive 84lbs.

“We’ve always been a gardening family. The allotment was originally run by my dad, mum and auntie,” Sarnowski said.

“As my mum had two hip operations, she had to drop out and then my auntie passed away. My dad kept going until he was 90, so that was only four years ago.”

Sarnowski started the giant pumpkin as a seed in his house before moving it to the family allotment where he took care of it with the help of his father.

The green-fingered gardener revealed he had to use about four watering cans worth of water on the pumpkin each day and believes that if it he hadn’t removed it, it would have continued growing.

(SWNS) (Swindon Advertiser /SWNS.COM)

Sarnowski added that his mother has created a pumpkin recipe to make sure the huge squash doesn’t go to waste.

“My mum has come up with a great recipe for soup. With the pumpkin, potatoes onions and tomatoes and it goes perfectly with garlic bread,” he said.

(SWNS) (Swindon Advertiser /SWNS.COM)

“A really tasty warming soup for the cold weather.”

Plans for the family allotment don’t stop with the gigantic pumpkin harvest or the end of Halloween, either with Sarnowski revealing they have lots to do during the winter to ensure their other crops “It needs to be dug and tidied up. Plenty of jobs to keep me going. My dad gives me a bit of guidance on what needs to be done.”