Join Johnny's Over the 2013 Common Ground Fair Weekend

Join us at our booth at the MOFGA Fairgrounds,
or at our Retail Store in Winslow

Learn more about the Common Ground Country Fair at the MOFGA website >>>

Polar Bear Pumpkin Earns Blue Ribbon at Fair

Sienna's Polar Bear a winner at Fair

Sienna Mazone, age 9, of Dresden, Maine, won first prize in the Great Pumpkin competition at the Common Ground Country Fair in Unity, Maine. Her entry was Polar Bear, a Johnny's Selected Seeds exclusive variety, that weighed in at 65 lb. See story in Morning Sentinel (Waterville, Maine) daily newspaper.

Sienna, who is home-schooled, helps with the family vegetable garden as part of her science curriculum. Her spring semester science project was to grow a Polar Bear pumpkin, a striking, white-skinned, Johnny’s-bred variety.

Sienna said she started the Polar Bear seed at the end of April in the family's greenhouse and transplanted it to the garden at the beginning of June. She fertilized with organic goat manure and put down Johnny's 's BioTelo black mulch to suppress weeds and warm the soil.

As the plant grew and developed fruit, Sienna pulled all but one pumpkin off the vines to help concentrate the growth to the one remaining fruit. It worked as the pumpkin grew to 65 lbs. It looked so nice, that the Mazones decided to enter it in the pumpkin growing contest at the Common Ground Country Fair Exhibition Hall. There, it won first prize and the Judges award.

Johnny’s hosted a nearby vendor booth and product demonstration area at the fair. Some employees noticed the pumpkin on display and were so impressed with its size, beautiful white skin, and uniformity, they asked if Johnny's could show off Siena’s prize-winning pumpkin at agricultural trade shows this winter. Sienna has given the pumpkin to Johnny’s in exchange for photos of the pumpkin and a tour of the Johnny’s Trial Farm in Albion. She will also receive a box of some 40 varieties of seeds for her garden next summer, including, of course, more Polar Bear Pumpkin seeds!

Look for the pumpkin as it tours northern New England this fall and winter with Johnny's Commercial Sales Rep. Christina Hillier.

Photos: Common Ground Country Fair

Here are a few photos from last weekend's Common Ground Country Fair.



This year's fair, the 35th edition, attracted 59,000 people over three days. Johnny's, as usual, had a strong presence. We were one of 600 Maine businesses or farms to participate in the fair. Our display area included a tent for customers to enter contests and chat with Johnny's employees and gardening experts; a tool demonstration area; several garden plots; 2 caterpillar tunnels; and a harvest display of many of our pumpkins, gourds and winter squash.

Read article about the Fair in the Kennebec Journal (Augusta, Maine). The fair is held annually at the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association's fairgrounds in Unity, Maine.

Photos: Johnny's at Common Ground Country Fair

Here are a few photos from the Common Ground Country Fair. The annual Fair is hosted by MOFGA (Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association). This year's fair was held at the Unity, Maine fairgrounds on September 24-26.
Johnny's Selected Seeds had a sales tent and installed extensive demonstration gardens for customers to try our many tools, including a couple new ones -- the Paper Pot Transplanter and the Jang Seeder. We built a 12- x 40-foot caterpillar tunnel in which more than a dozen varieties of tomatoes and cucumbers were planted. We built a low tunnel from Quick Hoops™ and planted greens, carrots, and onions under row cover. We also planted a beautiful Kale bed, a sunflower garden and put together a nice fall harvest display of pumpkins, squash and gourds.

Johnny's at Common Ground Country Fair this weekend

Join us at the Common Ground Country Fair in Unity, Maine on Friday September 24th to Sunday, September 26th. Our booth is near the Rose Gate entrance in the northeast corner of the fairgrounds. We're located across from the amphitheater.

Visit our fair tent for great deals, tool demonstrations, Eliot Coleman book signing, and more! You can also get a 10% off coupon for future use!

For more information about the fair, including directions and tickets, visit the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association fair site.