By Ted Hayes

The pumpkins were huge, and a squash lived up to its name by flattening the state record when gardeners on steroids converged on Frerichs Farm Sunday for the annual Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Growers’ annual weigh-off.

Lexington, Mass. grower Charles Lieber, who moonlights as a chemistry professor at Harvard University, took the top prize by entering a 1,870-pound pumpkin, the second biggest ever entered in the state and just four pounds shy of the Rhode Island state record. And perennialgrower Joe Jutras of South County entered a squash weighing in at 1,421 pounds, good enough for the Rhode Island record and the second largest squash ever weighed — anywhere.

“We had some phenomenal pumpkins,” farm owner David Frerichs said.

This year’s dry summer played no small part in the large crop of pumpkins and squash. The dry summer season allowed growers to precisely regulate their charges’ water intake, leading to a large crop of large entries. Though there are usually one or two really big pumpkins entered per year, Mr. Frerichs said there were a handful or more of behemoths.

“It was great,” he said.

The weigh-off was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was postponed toSunday due to rain.