Canada: Galiano man’s first giant pumpkin crowned biggest in British Columbia

Leif Palmberg’s 1,758-pound pumpkin won B.C.’s only Great Pumpkin Commonwealth-certified giant pumpkin weigh-off competition in Langley.

By Hannah Link
Times Colonist
Oct 13, 2025

When Leif Palmberg found a group on Facebook dedicated to growing massive pumpkins, he figured it would be just the thing to impress his two-year-old son, Victor.

Little did the Galiano Islander know that the first gigantic gourd he tried to grow would turn out to be deemed the heaviest in the province.

The 1,758-pound beast won B.C.’s only Great Pumpkin Commonwealth-certified giant pumpkin weigh-off competition in Langley last Saturday, beating established growers and shocking Palmberg and his family.

Palmberg said he had spotted another pumpkin when they arrived at the competition, held by Giant Pumpkins British Columbia, that he worried might take the ribbon, but it was no match for his island-grown gourd.

He had to use an excavator to lift the pumpkin from his garden on Galiano Island into the back of his truck to transport it by ferry to the Lower Mainland.

Kirstin Carley, who organized the 12th-annual weigh-off in Langley with her husband, Scott, said this was their busiest year yet, with more than 20 entries.

Carley said she was shocked to learn that Palmberg was a first-time grower. “It was incredible,” she said. “Whatever he did, it worked.”

Growing giant pumpkins attracts people of all ages, from urban to rural growers, she said. “There’s something about giant pumpkins that just is so joyful.”

Palmberg said he bought the seed from Andrusz Giants, a company in New York state that specializes in breeding and selling seeds for massive gourds.

He said pumpkin growers take their craft seriously, selling seeds from previous record-breakers and naming them after their astonishing weight.

Palmberg’s beast is an Atlantic Giant grown from the seed of a pumpkin that weighed 2,342.5 pounds.

Growing giant pumpkins is “not rocket science,” Palmberg said — you just need a big area with deep soil, lots of sunshine, lots of water and lots of fertilizer. “It’s the same as growing anything else.”

He said that at its peak growth phase, his pumpkin was gaining 40 pounds every day.

Now that the weigh-in is over, Palmberg said he’s trying to prevent his prize-winning pumpkin from rotting so it can be proudly displayed at the Galiano Lions Club annual Halloween event.

As for Victor, Palmberg said his son was more interested in the miniature pumpkins on display at the competition than the Goliath his dad grew in their yard.

“There’s all these giant pumpkins lined up, and he’s just trying to drag me over to these little ones that are the size of a baseball,” he said with a laugh.

Link.

Source: https://cityfarmer.info/canada-galiano-mans-first-giant-pumpkin-crowned-biggest-in-british-columbia/