Simon Southwell is not afraid of monsters. In fact, he loves them — especially if they pop up from the dirt and weigh close to a half-tonne.

The enterprising 12-year-old with autism delivered a 700-lb pumpkin on Saturday to a Toronto buyer — one of nine orange behemoths Simon has sold this season, gargantuan gourds grown on the hobby farm where he lives with his mother outside of Beaverton, Ont.

This latest sale was a product grown almost too well: “The (grocery) stores only want them 400 to 600 lbs, because it’s cheap, it’s inexpensive, and it looks big. And it’s easy to move,” said Simon. So although he has produced some real whoppers — his largest pumpkin ever, grown last year, weighed in at a scale-cracking 933 lbs — Simon says he aims for a sweet spot that keeps his clients happy.

Relatively easy, that is — transporting the monster gourds takes a forklift, a sling, a skid and a pick-up truck. And you better make sure it’s tied down. But these are the lessons Simon has picked up quickly, doing better in the business world than he did in the classroom.

“We tried school. It was a little overwhelming for him,” said his mom Sandy Southwell, who home-schools him.

Simon’s strengths lie in math and finances, and he easily rhymes off the logistics of running an emerging agricultural empire. “If you want to grow one pumpkin, you need 25 feet by 25 feet,” Simon said.

His venture, Simon’s Display and Specialty Pumpkins, brought in over $2,000 last year. Simon put that money back into his community, paying for a falconer to come to the local community centre with a bird-of-prey demonstration.

Now in his third year in business, Simon’s entrepreneurial mindset is earning him expert acclaim. Last winter, he attended an entrepreneurship program at the Brock Youth Centre. The program was for 15 to 29-year-olds, but they made an exception for 12-year-old Simon, who kept up with the high-school level finance lessons.

At the end of the program, the participants competed in a Dragons’ Den-style business competition. Simon pitched his pumpkin business and finished first, winning him $1,000 in prize money.

Simon poured the funds right back into the business, buying a new rototiller to turn the soil and a tablet computer to show pictures of his pumpkins on sales calls. He also has business cards and brochures.

Simon sells his giant pumpkins for $0.50 a pound, undercutting competitors in the U.S. where the going rate is $1 a pound. This year he had to introduce a $20 delivery fee, to compensate for rising gas prices.

It’s a full-time job. Waking at 6 a.m. most days, Simon works until dark in the pumpkin patch, with breaks for lunch and his studies, he said.

The key to growing a big pumpkin is using the right seeds, and adding plenty of fertilizer — Simon negotiated a deal with Home Depot to get half-price off fertilizer.

“You want it to grow big. But if it grows big too fast, it can get cracks on the stem and on the pumpkin,” Simon said, explaining how finicky the process can be.

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This was a rough growing season, as there wasn’t the prolonged heat pumpkins need.

Simon grew 11 pumpkins this season, but only nine of them will be sold because of his rigorous quality control measures. A spokesperson for Loblaw Companies Ltd. confirmed this weekend’s sale to a Real Canadian Superstore at Don Mills Rd. and Eglinton Ave., which bought Simon’s 700-pounder as part of a festive autumnal display.