Jeff Warner of Englehart earns 4th place at Port Elgin Pumpkinfest with his 1,760lb pumpkin

For the last 10 years, every weekend before Thanksgiving, Jeff Warner loads up a trailer with vegetables and drives down to Port Elgin. He enters his garden treasures in the giant vegetable competition at the Port Elgin Pumpkinfest.

And this was a good year for the Englehart farmer.

He won prizes for his 248lbbushel gourd, his 6.34lbtomato and his 1,760lb pumpkin, among others. Warner dedicated much of his time during the growing season to caring for his giant pumpkin, which won him fourth place and $500 at the festival.

The winner ofthe pumpkin competition was from a Cameron, Ont. farm, and weighed in at 1,939.5lbs.

Warner says Canadian farmers like him dream of growing a 2,000lb pumpkin, "but we just can't seem to get there."

"The world's been hitting 2,000lbs everywhere around us,"he said. "We will someday. We've got some great growers, we're just, sort of, caught in a snag here."

Now that his giant pumpkin is back home, Warner says he offers upfall-themedactivities at his farm.

"So [the pumpkin] goes out there and we're going to turn it into a family photo booth, set it up all pretty, and then families go in front of it and take pictures," he said. "And then I see their pictures all over Facebook and stuff."

Warner says hetypically gives the pumpkin's seeds away if there are seeds to give.

"What happens when you cut your pumpkin open,sometimes it's10 [seed], sometimes it is 700. So we always hope for700 because then you can give everybody some."

As for replanting for next year, Warner says he goes toonline auctions during the winter to buy his seeds.

"I buy these from those 2,000lb pumpkins that we're talking about," he said. "So I get them in the winter."

Warner says growing giant pumpkins every year hasbecome a natural part of his life.

"It gets you outside and clears your mind from your workday and you just ...go work in your garden, quietly,"he said.

"And, you know, when you do get a successful year which I've had a couple of good ones in a row youjust kind of feel good at the end of the year that it all went well."