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Will a one-ton pumpkin show up Saturday?

Elk Grove Giant Pumpkin Festival returns Oct. 4 and 5

This ginormous pumpkin won the 2024 Elk Grove Giant Pumpkin Festival weigh-off, coming in at 1,967 pounds -- 2,059 pounds after the kids climbed on. The winning grower was Ruben Frias, posing with his wife, Maricela, and their sons.

This ginormous pumpkin won the 2024 Elk Grove Giant Pumpkin Festival weigh-off, coming in at 1,967 pounds -- 2,059 pounds after the kids climbed on. The winning grower was Ruben Frias, posing with his wife, Maricela, and their sons. Courtesy Elk Grove Giant Pumpkin Festival

Bring on the giant pumpkins! It’s time for a weigh-off!

This weekend, the Elk Grove Giant Pumpkin Festival returns to Elk Grove Park, headlined by its Giant Pumpkin and Produce Weigh-Off.

Check-in is 7 to 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 4; for entrants, advance registration is $20 (including parking and breakfast) or $25 at the gate.

“For 30-plus years, Elk Grove Park has transformed into the ultimate autumn celebration, attracting pumpkin enthusiasts from far and wide,” say the organizers. “Since 1994, the festival has been a beacon for giant pumpkin growers competing for glory. Over the years, we’ve seen some incredible pumpkins, like the 2,138-pound record-breaker from 2018. Imagine the size of that pie!”

Spectators can watch the actual weighing from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with the awards presentation at 4 p.m.

This contest could produce a record breaker. The top contenders will all weigh more than 1,000 pounds; 2024’s heftiest pumpkin was just shy of a ton – 1,967 pounds.

“Giant pumpkin growers from all over California and beyond will be vying for the top prize – and perhaps a world record – as each of their enormous gourds hit the scale,” say the organizers. “Enter your own produce or pumpkins for a chance to win cash prizes, or cheer from the stands as the monstrous orange orbs are moved with a forklift to a special scale.”

Not just pumpkins will be competing. There also are categories for the heaviest zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe, tomato, squash and other members of the squash/pumpkin family as well as longest gourd, widest sunflower head and tallest corn stalk.

Meanwhile, the Giant Pumpkin Festival has many other opportunities for people to compete with pumpkins including recipe contests and bake-offs, a pie-eating contest, scarecrow decorating and the always popular pumpkin regatta (where giant pumpkins become canoes for a one-of-a-kind race).

Besides all the pumpkins, the festival features entertainment, music, food trucks, vendors and more. There’s a pumpkin patch, too; take a gourd home!

With free admission, the festival runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 4 and 5. Parking is $20, but a bike valet is available free.

Elk Grove Park is located at 9950 Elk Grove-Florin Road, Elk Grove.

For full details including a festival map and contest rules: https://www.cosumnescsd.gov/392/Elk-Grove-Giant-Pumpkin-Festival

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Flowers in My Back Yard Series

Aug. 11: Hardy hibiscus adds big tropical impact

Aug. 4: Dianthus a deceptively hardy flower

July 28: Naked Ladies put on summer show

July 21: Thank Luther Burbank for these long-lasting beauties (Shasta daisies)

July 14: How to keep hydrangeas happy

July 7: Grow these bright cosmos for bees and butterflies

June 30: Agapanthus adds blue fireworks to the garden

June 23: Easy-care gazanias fill those hot corners

June 16: Daylilies are perfect for water-wise gardens (and a lot more)

June 9: Grow coneflowers for pollinators -- and yourself

June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude

May 29: Are your roses going 'blind'?

May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come

Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers

Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses

Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?

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Taste Summer! E-cookbook

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Find our summer recipes here!

Garden checklist for week of Aug. 9

During this break in the heat, fertilize your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

*Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s now forming.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Feed them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pinch off dead flowers from perennials and annuals to lengthen their summer bloom.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias, annuals and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

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Taste Spring! E-cookbook

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Find our spring recipes here!

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Muffins and pumpkin

Find our fall recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

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Find our winter recipes here!

Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series

Lessons learned during a year of edible gardening

WINTER

Is edible gardening possible indoors?

Hints for choosing tomato seeds

Starting in seed starting

Why winter is the perfect time to plant fruit trees

When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

How to squeeze more food into less space

Potatoes from the garden

Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Win the weed war by tackling them in winter

Tips for planting bare-root trees, shrubs and vegetables

Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

Ways to win the fight against weeds

FALL

Add asparagus to your edible garden

Soggy soil and what to do about it

Plant artichokes now; enjoy for years to come

It's late November, and your peach tree needs spraying

What to do with all those fallen leaves?

Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden

Plant a pea patch for you and your garden

As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers

Change is in the autumn air 

We don't talk (enough) about beets

Fava beans do double duty

Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?

How to prolong the fall tomato harvest 

SUMMER

Time to shut it down? 

How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch

Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning

To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?

: Put worms to work for you

Grow food while saving water

Enhance your food with edible flowers

Why won't my tomatoes turn red?

A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty

Does this plant need water?

 Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions

How to grow summer salad greens

 Weird stuff that's perfectly normal

SPRING

Help pollinators help your garden

Battling early-season tomato pests

Make your own compost

Where are the bees when you need them?

How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days

Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can

Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success

What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

Grow culinary herbs in containers

When to plant summer vegetables

Don't be fooled by these garden myths

Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth