ST. JOHN’S — When Leslee Lake hops out of his car after work these days, he doesn’t hurry up to the house to see his wife. Instead, the 52-year-old heavy equipment operator in Newfoundland hustles to his greenhouse, which has been overtaken by a massive pumpkin weighing as much as a grand piano. He’s named it Pothole. “He doesn’t even come in an say, ‘Hi, how was your day?’ He goes up to the pumpkin,” said his wife, Krista, laughing during a video chat from their greenhouse in Clarenville, N.L. “Of course!” said Lake, his hand never leaving the top of the bulbous orange gourd. “It’s been 12 or 13 hours since I’ve seen him!” Growing enormous pumpkins is a serious hobby for Lake. For a time, he and his wife stopped taking vacations during prime growing season so he could be close to his crops. He sources his seeds carefully and tries to outdo himself each year. In 2022, Lake grew a pumpkin he named Gourdzilla that ultimately weighed in at 469 kilograms or 1,034 pounds. There is no authority keeping tabs on large gourds in Newfoundland, but it was believed Gourdzilla was the largest pumpkin ever grown on the island, the Lakes said. Pothole is expected to end Gourdzilla’s reign. On Friday morning, Lake’s wife entered Pothole’s length, width and circumference into an online pumpkin calculator, which estimated the gourd’s weight at about 482 kilograms. An official weighing will take place later this month. The towering squash sits on one side of the greenhouse, which is otherwise overrun with Pothole’s network of vines and nodes, all working to supply the fruit with energy. The pumpkin gained nearly 23 kilograms a day in the warmest part of the summer, Lake said. He plays heavy metal music for the gourd and sprays its leaves with milk and molasses, which helps nourish it and keep pests away. Pothole got its name from a wound inflicted by an overheating electric blanket, which Lake had laid over the gourd during a chilly night last month. “It healed,” he said of the large burn in the pumpkin’s skin. “And everything grew around it, so now it’s a perfect pothole.” For the past few years, the Lakes have hosted a festival in October where local growers could weigh their large gourds. A company in St. John’s would send out gear capable of weighing the fruit. This year, after a bad growing season, the festival is cancelled. But Pothole will still be properly weighed, they said. After Halloween, the Lakes will chop it up and hand it out, without a piece wasted. “Anybody can do this,” Lake said, “with unlimited time and money and patience from the wife.” This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2026. Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press
