This isn’t just any produce. We’re talking fruits of gigantic proportions that would seem more at home in a fairytale storybook than in a regular garden.

But sure enough, there they are — pumpkins that weigh in at over a thousand pounds. Tomatoes the size of a toddler’s head. Absurdly long gourds that hang 12 feet down to the ground.

It started as a hobby, but has blossomed into a passion. Kline grows competitively, and every autumn faces off against fellow growers in weigh-offs across the country.

His list of accolades in the world of giant produce is impressive. In addition to the dozens of first-place ribbons hung in his shed, he has more in the house he doesn’t have room to display. He holds several Quebec records for size. He even gave one of his pumpkins to former prime minister Stephen Harper when he resided at 24 Sussex Drive.

This year, the City of Ottawa contacted him to see if he would donate a pumpkin to put in one of their farmer’s markets as a photo-op for kids and families. Kline is considering one of his most uniquely shaped pumpkins, a concave fruit that is shaped like a chair.

After working all summer to get his pumpkins as big as they can be, Kline kicked off this competition season with a weigh-off in Ormstown, Que.

After some 35 years carefully growing and selecting the seeds of his fruits to produce the largest versions possible, Kline has a good feeling this year may be one of his best.

Kline drove to Ormstown, Que. for his first competition of the year this weekend, with a pumpkin, a squash and a long gourd in tow. Photo: K.C. Jordan

A leg up from his forefathers

An avid gardener, Kline has always loved growing things. So when Dr. Keith MacLellan and Dr. Earle Potvin – local legends when it comes to growing giant pumpkins – gave him his first seeds in 1989, he immediately took to the hobby.

He started with pumpkins, and his garden has since expanded to include other forms of giant produce including squash, watermelon, long gourds and tomatoes.

“It’s just gone crazy since then,” he said, and he’s been at it every year since.

How exactly do you grow giant produce? Kline said it’s mostly about having quality seeds, but there are little tips and tricks that can be learned along the way.

“You use special seeds, not the ones you buy at the grocery store,” he said.

Each spring, Kline climbs atop the homemade trellis where his long gourds grow, and cross-pollinates the blossoms himself. This allows him to select for the qualities he would like to see in his gourds.

“There’s a lot of whoopie going on,” joked Cheryl Welsh, Kline’s wife.

But, even though he pollinates himself, there’s no guarantee that it will work out. They are still at the whim of nature.

Kline keeps meticulous records of his produce’s progress. He records each fruit’s growth rate on a weekly basis in order to determine which ones are still in full growth, and which ones are tailing off.

He said at the peak of a pumpkin’s growth, it can grow at a rate of 40 – 50 pounds a day. But if he notices the growth rate falling, he might decide to take that one to a competition sooner than later.

Other pumpkins that are still growing at a rapid clip might have some growing left to do, so he might wait a few weeks before trucking if off to a competition.

There are naturally some challenges to growing giant produce. First of all is the mice. A few years ago Kline got all the way to a competition only to discover the bottom of his pumpkin had been gnawed away by the rodents.

In the pumpkin world, any puncture on the outside of the fruit means immediate disqualification.
Since then, Kline has learned to be more mindful of the critters, keeping his pumpkins slightly above the ground using styrofoam blocks or other techniques.

Kline said transportation was tough at first, but he’s developed his own system over the years.
When it’s finally time to take the giants off to a competition, Kline places the pumpkin under a wooden tripod that he built, and lifts it up using a special harness on a pulley system. Then, he drives his trailer underneath and lowers the pumpkin down. He fastens the produce to the trailer, and away he goes.

When he returns home, the first step is to harvest the seeds. Some of these Kline will give to local schools or growing clubs, and others he will keep for next year.

“The other ones I’ll stack them up [on the lawn], and I sell a couple and give away a couple.”

In the past Welsh has given some of their watermelons to the elementary school, where the kids remove the seeds and eat the fruit.

“They taste just like the ones you buy at the store,” she said, noting the colour is slightly pinker and the fruit is juicier than a normal-sized watermelon.

Kline built a trellis from which his long gourds can hang. His longest gourd hangs down almost 12 feet from the top of the trellis — long enough that Kline had to dig a hole in the ground to accommodate it. Photo: K.C. Jordan

East coast origins

The world of giant produce growing is widely understood to have started in Windsor, NS by a grower named Howard Dill.

Nicknamed the Pumpkin King, in 1979 he patented a seed called Dill’s Atlantic Giant, which is still the worldwide standard for giant pumpkin growing. Not only did Dill grow world record-sized pumpkins, he inspired a whole new generation of pumpkin breeders, Kline included.

Every fall the town of Windsor hosts a weigh-off bearing the Dill name, as well as a regatta where the watercraft take the form of halved and hollowed-out pumpkins.

Dill has since passed away, but a few years ago Kline got the chance to travel to the motherland to meet the man himself, and participate in the annual weigh-off that bears his name.

“He welcomed us with open arms. They were very nice,” he said, adding that he was the first grower from Quebec ever to participate in that weigh-off.

He said it was an incredible feeling to meet the man who popularized the activity that has become such a passion for him.

“Howard Dill started all of this,” he said in awe.

This year, Kline has several pumpkins that will likely weigh in at over a thousand pounds, and was gushing over a pinkish-orange candidate that he hopes could win the beauty award, which is named after none other than the Pumpkin King himself.

“I think this would have a good chance,” Kline said of the fruit.

Kline looks forward to the camaraderie with other growers that the weigh-offs offer, though he doesn’t deny he enjoys the competitive side of these events, too, noting the world of pumpkin growing can get surprisingly feisty.

Fellow growers are always trying to get information out of each other before the competition starts, in hopes of getting the edge. But when those trailers pull up to the weigh-off, all that talk is moot. It’s everyone — and every pumpkin — for themselves.

“We have a saying,” he said of the giant produce-growing world. “The bullshit stops when the tailgate drops.”

Now that Kline is retired, he’s spending more time in the pumpkin community. He’s part of the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, the international governing body that organizes weigh-offs around the globe. He enjoys giving back to the community that has meant so much to him over the years.

“Now that I’m retired I’m giving back to the pumpkin world by giving back to the committee to help organize weigh-offs and everything in Canada,” he said.

“I really enjoy it,” he said.

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