A packet of seeds landed on every staff members desks with instructions to go away and grow the biggest pumpkin by Halloween. The winner would not only receive the official Compass Pumpkin Trophy (painted by our Operations Director), but 365 days of glory and bragging rights until the next champion was crowned.
Last year, that honour was bestowed on Matthew Thomas. A lot of blood, sweat and soil helped him to grow a behemoth pumpkin that weighed in at 42kg - which is approximately the weight of 210 vinyl records of ‘Thriller’ or 1 freshly born calf.
Leaving all other competitors in the dust, you would be forgiven to think that 2023 would yield a similar result. You’d be wrong. This year’s competition has been the closest yet, with a photo finish on the final weigh-in day to declare the winner.
It all started in early Spring, with Matt arriving at the office with a handful of seeds that had been harvested from last year’s winner. He attempted to distribute these to staff jokingly promising that their crop would perhaps reach double digits on the scales this year. This was Matt’s first mistake - the rest of the team point blank refused to accept his sympathy seeds and were now more determined than ever to ensure he wasn’t crowned champion for a second year running.
The first piece of advice that any former champion of the Compass Pumpkin Growing Competition will tell you when planting your seeds is ‘Location, Location, Location.’
The first location - The Geographic Area of the Country you live in (this affects everything from soil type to weather conditions)
The second location - Where on your property you choose to plant (plant in a sun-trap and your crop will shrivel, plant in the shade and your crop will be more vulnerable to frost)
The third location - the vessel in which you plant your seeds. Too protected and you will stunt your pumpkins growth, too open and you are prone to pests!
To that end, competitors chose the following conditions:
