Backyard Giants: The Passionate, Heartbreaking, and Glorious Quest to Grow the Biggest Pumpkin Ever (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The pursuit of the Great Pumpkin among Rhode Island gardeners becomes the passion of Texas-based Wall Street Journal bureau chief Warren in this gently ironic, thoroughly engaging work. Growing the world's heaviest pumpkin (the record tops around 1,500 pounds) has become an international sport, requiring full-time planning and cultivation, and amply rewarded in prizes at fairs and in TV appearances. Warren focuses on a group of winners among the Rhode Island club of growers, led by father and son duo Dick and Ron Wallace, who live south of Providence. She follows their fastidious planning over the 2006 growing season, from early tilling of a new patch of land (they burned out the old patch by pouring in too many supplements and fertilizers) to careful selection of seeds from previous monster prizewinners via online auctions, then germinating seedlings in an incubation chamber; this is followed by a strict planting, culling, watering and fertilizing schedule. While wives feel neglected, the men obsessively care for their pumpkin patches, coaxing the behemoths to amass 30 pounds a day at peak growth, and fending off destroyers such as deer, foaming stump slime and cracks in the shell. Each of these growers shares tales of heartbreak, but Warren peaks the anticipation with the big fall weigh-ins, lending a humorous, poignant touch to this hearty gardener's tale. (Sept.)
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From Booklist

It's not only Charles Schulz's Linus who waits every year for a Great Pumpkin to come along. All over the country, from Rhode Island to California, Ohio to Washington, legions of men (and not a few women) eagerly anticipate great pumpkins of their own—literally. Audacious, obsessive gardeners, they have dreamed and planned, watered and weeded, pruned and fertilized, coddled and agonized over a bumper crop of pumpkins, hoping to nurture one worthy of "world's largest" honors. To do that, it will have to weigh in at close to 1,500 pounds and approximate a Volkswagen Beetle in girth. Accompanying father-and-son pumpkin growers and competitors Dick and Ron Wallace throughout a roller-coaster season, Warren experiences it all, from foaming slime to marauding mice. As bank accounts dwindle and ulcers blossom, Warren's hilarious yet enlightening exposé reveals why and how these passionate, peculiar, and painstaking pumpkin growers are willing to put it all on the line for one big—one very big—payoff. Haggas, Carol

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (September 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596912782
• ISBN-13: 978-1596912786
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #177,865 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gardener's who dream big, September 18, 2007

By	Douglas E. Welch "Podcaster/Tech Geek" (Van Nuys, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There are some that say gardening contains all the drama of human life -- happiness and sadness, triumph and defeat, jealousy, hatred, life and death. Of course, there are some elements of gardening that contain all this and more. Such is the world of those hearty gardeners who attempt to grow the biggest pumpkin in the world.

I received a review copy of Backyard Giants a few weeks ago, thinking that I might try it after finishing some other weightier business tomes. I wasn't sure what to expect from the title, but soon found myself immersed in a world I only vaguely knew. Sure, I had seen growers on television and in magazines, touting their humungous, over-grown "pumpkins", but I had never realized what goes on behind the scenes -- in the garden and in the clubhouses of gardening clubs -- across the country.

Author Susan Warren hooked me from the first chapter as she introduces Ron and Dick Wallace, giant pumpkin growers from Rhode Island, the focus of the book. I immediately felt like I knew these men and were overhearing their conversations instead of reading them on the page. Warren puts the reader right their beside them as they create a new pumpkin patch, chose their seedlings and start another, summer-long, attempt at a world record pumpkin. Along the way we get to know their fellow growers, both local, national and, in the case of one Canadian grower, international.

Throughout the book we look on as they pick, chose, change their minds, wonder and worry. Were they doing everything they can? Were they doing too much? Too little? Growing giants is a worrisome task and can lead to strained marriages and sleepless nights. We feel each triumph and each defeat as weather, wildlife and worry take their toll on both the gardeners and their charges.

I didn't linger over Backyard Giants. I devoured it. I found myself pulled through the pages, wanting to know what happened to this grower or that. Would the Wallace's achieve their long-desired goals, or would their dreams be left to rot in the garden? I am sure others will think it odd that I find such drama in a gardening story, but at its very heart, this is a story of people. People who dare to dream Cinderella dreams of coach-sized pumpkins that earn the title -- the biggest pumpkin in the world.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Delightful Journey..., October 25, 2007

By	Juliana Smith "book lover" (San Francisco Bay Area) - See all my reviews

Who says gardening is a gentle hobby? In "Backyard Giants," Ms. Warren takes us on a journey through the passionate and far-from-gentle world of competitive pumpkin growing. With a masterful eye for the telling detail and a narrative voice that sweeps the reader into this unusual world from the very first page, this is delightful and eye-opening read -- especially for those who've never wielded pruning shears or pored through garden catalogues at night.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An edge-of-your-chair page turner..., September 8, 2007

By	Laurie Jutzi (Southern California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

...about the thrills and perils of gardening--in this case behemoth gourds. But absolutely enthralling for anyone who gardens, from dabblers with pots of herbs on window sills to master gardeners with acres of land to cultivate.
The talented author spins a saga covering a year in the life of obsessive gardeners, and paints colorful and intriguing portraits of folks across the country who are addicted to growing gargantuan pumpkins!
Funny, insightful and chock full of useful horticultural techniques and information.
I frequently laughed at the ridiculousness of the whole thing yet was occasionally moved by the dedication of those pursuing this extraordinary hobby. Quite an amazing book.