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Giant pumpkins coming to Elk Grove

Annual festival celebrates humongous gourds and family fun

Four-time winner Leonardo Urena of Napa poses with his 2021 champion – 1,623 pounds.

Four-time winner Leonardo Urena of Napa poses with his 2021 champion – 1,623 pounds. Photo courtesy of Elk Grove Giant Pumpkin Festival

Where can you see a 1,000-pound pumpkin? Elk Grove, of course, at its annual Giant Pumpkin Festival.

This weekend, Oct. 7 and 8, marks the 29th Giant Pumpkin Festival with plenty of pumpkin to see (and eat!) at Elk Grove Park, 9950 Elk Grove-Florin Road, Elk Grove. Admission is free, but parking is $10 (cash only).

Since 1994, this pumpkin party has grown into the largest salute of its kind in the Sacramento region. Pumpkin growers will haul in their prized giants for the annual weigh-in and a chance at history (as well as cold cash). Last year’s winner (which tipped the scales at 1,866.5 pounds) took home $7,000. The weigh-in starts at 9 a.m. Saturday with winners announced at 4 p.m. Check-in is 7 to 9 a.m.; entry fee is $10 per pumpkin in advance or $25 on Saturday.

Don’t miss the Pumpkin Regatta at noon Sunday. Runner-up pumpkins from the weigh-off are carved into boats and raced across the park’s lake. Anyone (over age 18) with access to a giant floatable pumpkin can enter. Fee is $5 and check-in is 9 a.m. Sunday.

Other contests include a pumpkin recipe contest, cupcake and junior baking contests for kids and teens, a scarecrow contest and youth art contest. (Entry forms and details are available online.)

Expect to find lots of food and fun with food trucks, arts and crafts vendors, carnival rides and, of course, a giant pumpkin patch.

Details and directions: https://www.cosumnescsd.gov/392/Elk-Grove-Giant-Pumpkin-Festival.

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Garden Checklist for week of Feb. 2

During this stormy week, let the rain soak in while making plans for all the things you’re going to plant soon:

* During rainy weather, turn off the sprinklers. After a good soaking from winter storms, lawns can go at least a week without sprinklers, according to irrigation experts. For an average California home, that week off from watering can save 800 gallons.

* February serves as a wake-up call to gardeners. This month, you can transplant or direct-seed several flowers, including snapdragon, candytuft, lilies, astilbe, larkspur, Shasta and painted daisies, stocks, bleeding heart and coral bells.

* In the vegetable garden, plant Jerusalem artichoke tubers, and strawberry and rhubarb roots.

* Transplant cabbage and its close cousins – broccoli, kale and Brussels sprouts – as well as lettuce (both loose leaf and head).

* Indoors, start peppers, tomatoes and eggplant from seed.

* Plant artichokes, asparagus and horseradish from root divisions.

* Plant potatoes from tubers and onions from sets (small bulbs). The onions will sprout quickly and can be used as green onions in March.

* From seed, plant beets, chard, lettuce, mustard, peas, radishes and turnips.

* Annuals are showing up in nurseries, but wait until the weather warms up a bit before planting. Instead, set out flowering perennials such as columbine and delphinium.

* Plant summer-flowering bulbs including cannas, calla lilies and gladiolus.

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