Is This The Hugest Pumpkin Around Town?

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's grown the biggest pumpkin around town?

The gourd shown here in front of David Carter's home on Almond Road in Castro Valley is certainly humongous.

Carter, a lifelong Castro Valley resident, is a gardener, wine-maker and businessman.

This spring, for the first time, he decided to grow pumpkins.

So he drove to Half Moon Bay -- site of the annnual Art & Pumpkin Festival -- and bought the biggest seeds he could find. 

"They were the size of a quarter," Carter told Patch.

He planted the seeds in the half-acre plot where he and his family also grow tomatoes, corn, cucumbers and other vegetables. The plot is fertilized by grape peels that are a byproduct of his wine-making.

The plant produced several pumpkins but Carter eliminated all but one. 

"It was amazing to watch it grow," he said. "It was like it grew the size of a cantaloupe every day."

When he harvested the pumpkin this week it weighed 150 pounds and measured 72-inches in circumference. It took three people to carry out to his front yard where he intends to leave it on display for a while.

Carter is justifiably proud of his pumpkin but a world record holder it's not.

The Guinness Book awards that honor to Chris Stevens of Minnesota. In 2010 he grew a pumpkin weighing 1,810 pounds that measured 15 feet, six inches in circumference -- arguably Cinderella's stretch-limo. 

How about you. Have you grown a big pumpkin? How big? Post a comment or photo.