For the second straight year, a nine-year-old Red Deer girl has grown a pumpkin heavier than 60 pounds.
This past Friday, Lily Ramage stood in her backyard while looking down on one of the two pumpkins she grew this summer, with some help from her family. The bigger of the two pumpkins weighed in at 60.9 pounds.
“First we started off with a tiny seed. We put it in a cup with a wet paper towel. We just waited for a few days and it started to grow vines,” said Ramage.
“Once it grew enough vines, we put it in the dirt (in the backyard). It started growing more vines and it got really big.”
Ramage said the plan is to carve up the pumpkin and spread some Halloween cheer this October.
“I think I’m going to turn this into a Jack-O-Lantern. I think I’m going to turn it into ‘It,’” Ramage said.
Last year, Ramage and her friend Carter Villeneuve grew two hefty pumpkins in her Red Deer backyard. Ramage’s 2020 pumpkin was also more than 60 pounds, while Villeneuve’s was 45 pounds.
READ MORE: Red Deer kids grow massive pumpkins
It took a bit of a parental nudge to get Ramage and Villeneuve interested in the project last year – eventually the Red Deer girl and her friend threw themselves into the project with all the youthful energy they could muster.
This year Ramage said she was even more excited to get the project going.
“I love growing stuff in the garden with my dad. The first pumpkin made me really interested in growing another one,” she said.
“I think I’ll try growing bigger pumpkins each year.”
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