Ben and the giant pumpkin

His first crack, using Atlantic Giant seeds from his friend Mark Peacock, resulted in an 80kg fruit.

That same year, Mr Peacock grew a 400kg pumpkin.

With his sights set on the same number his mate achieved, Mr White planted two pumpkin seeds last October.

He got off to a rocky start when cockatoos got into his first seed.

With the “rollercoaster season”, he had no idea that by May he would’ve grown a pumpkin weighing in at 168kg.

“I thought we probably won’t get a big fruit this year, but we can keep the seed for next year,” Mr White said.

“Then, we had that big downpour of rain and all of a sudden, we had five fruits on the vine.

“This one here just took off, it outgrew the original one we had selected. It was a bit of a surprise pumpkin.”

The success story was supported by the gardener’s use of biological fungicides, natural fertilisers such as Powerfeed and Seasol, compound fertiliser Rustica and calcium nitrate.

Now, looking at his achievement in the form of a huge pumpkin, Mr White is very much chuffed.

“Here we are, I’ve got this big, beautiful pumpkin that’s 168 kilos,” he said.

“I’m pleased. This is really exciting.

“It’s actually getting the message out that ‘you can do this’.”

Aside from being a gratifying feat, the pumpkin also carries with it an important message.

For Mr White, who is “entrenched in agriculture”, growing the pumpkin was all about passing on his knowledge to his five young kids.

“It’s all about growing food and showing the kids agriculture — where our food comes from,” he said.

“(I want to) give kids that awareness of where your food comes from, how you can get it and that you can grow it in your backyard.

“I don’t think they’re learning enough about it these days. A lot of them think you just go to the supermarket and that’s where your food is.”

‘Project giant pumpkin’ was an ultimate success with his family, with Mr White saying “it became a daily thing of ‘let’s go see the big pumpkin’” for his kids and wife, Jacinta.

“This was by no means all my doing ... we were all involved in it,” he said.

With pumpkins of this size not being very tasty to eat, the 168kg giant will likely go to stock feed after the family has finished admiring its work.

Looking ahead, aside from his goal of growing a 400kg pumpkin, Mr White is hoping to extend the excitement around the big fruit across the region.

“It’d be really good to get a following and then maybe we could even start a competition out here and grow a community from it,” Mr White said.

“That’s what we want: just more people involved in the community and understanding rural Victoria.”