Some people make golf, painting, photography, porcelain figurines or traveling to exotic places as a favorite hobby. Paul Bongers enjoys growing pumpkins in the backyard of his house in Lonsdale.
And for Bongers, bigger is unquestionably better.
He grows Dills Giant Atlantic pumpkins in his backyard. He started growing them in 2020. This year’s crop of three pumpkins ranged from 1,200 pounds when it split, a condition leading to rot, to 1,219 pounds and the largest of the three tipping the scale at 1,819 pounds.
He’ll keep the massive Dills Atlantic Giant Pumpkins in front of his house as a decoration until shortly after Halloween. Then, he’ll fire up a chainsaw, cut the two in half and harvest the seeds. The giant pumpkins produce between 20 and about 350 seeds suitable for reuse. Bongers will donate the seeds to the St. Croix Growing Association, the organization promoting growing the big pumpkins and sponsoring contests in Anoka and Stillwater. The association sells the seeds to fund the contests. It promotes growing the big pumpkins by tracking the lineage of seeds.
Bongers knows the history of the seeds which he used in this year’s pumpkins. The history of the seeds, a sort of family tree, are tracked for growers to consider when deciding what seeds they want to use to try and grow the giant pumpkins.
For Bongers, growing giant pumpkins is his form of relaxation. He works locally as a machinist at BME Tool, a company his father owns and he runs. Bangers doesn’t enjoy the benefit of a drive home to shed the stresses of a workday. Once home, he can tend to his pumpkins as a way to relax after the workday.
“It’s a really fun hobby,” he said. For the 39-year-old Bongers, the giant pumpkins make the season enjoyable.
People stop by and ask about them. Parents with their children take pictures and drivers and passengers in passing cars are rubber-necking to see them, he said. If the weather is OK, he’ll sit outside the house on Halloween passing out candy and talk with visitors about the two giants.
“Halloween is a blast,” he said.
The proper environment
Bongers planted the seeds indoors, under heat lamps, April 11. With the right blend of warmth, moisture, nutrients, beneficial microbes and bacteria, the seeds start to grow. The goal is to create...
To see more on this story pick up the October 23, 2025 print edition of The New Prague Times or the Montgomery Messenger.
