Cork man hopes to raise money for charity with giant pumpkins

One of the very large Atlantic Giants pumpkins grown by Harry Sweetnam at Harbour Hill Farm, Knockduff, Kinsale, Co Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan

Harry Sweetnam has been growing pumpkins in his backyard for around 10 years and has picked up a few tricks along the way.

With each harvest, he has saved the seeds from the largest one, striving to grow bigger and better the following year.

But now, the 21-year-old has surely outdone himself — by growing one that he estimates weighs about 150kg.

“It’s my first time growing this type of pumpkin, an Atlantic Giant,” Harry said.

“I’ve always been interested in gardening, but I thought that it would be something different, something cool to do to try and grow something that’s not really seen around here. They’re big in America, but you’d rarely see them here.”

After watching videos online of a Dutch man successfully growing them, Harry was inspired to give it a go.

He subsequently purchased seeds and managed to get four pumpkins to grow, which he said he is happy with. The biggest one, he estimates, is around 150kg.

“The biggest thing I think I really underestimated was how much space the plant was going to take up," Harry Sweetnam said. Picture: Dan Linehan

“I planted them back in April, and I had them on a heater and a light over them to get them to start growing as fast as possible and be strong, and I had to give them organic fertilisers and that,” Harry said.

“Around the middle of May, I set them into the ground and then just let them grow from there. They were slow enough getting started, but after that, it was a weekly check on them, prune them, keep them growing in straight lines, keeping track of how far along the vine I wanted the pumpkin to be so that it could be as big as I could get it.

“At the moment I think they’re still kind of growing, they’re not quite finished yet, but I imagine in about two weeks I will be harvesting them once the skins harden.”

Raise money for charity

Harry grows an array of other produce at Harbour Hill Farm and has an honesty box on the side of the road where he sells tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers, and peppers over the summer if he has spare.

He encourages anyone interested in growing pumpkins to maybe start with a smaller variety — and that it’s “good to get out and get growing something and to learn, and it’s rewarding as well to grow your own stuff.”

In his final year of a mechanical engineering course at Munster Technological University, Harry said growing produce is a hobby for him.

He doesn’t intend on making batches of pie with or carving faces into this year’s pumpkins.

Instead, he is hoping to raffle them or sell them to a hotel or other business for display. With any money received, he intends on donating it to a charitable cause in Co Cork.