Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 6 Entries. Tuesday, October 15 View Page Introduction diary entry! My name is Sherry and this year my daughter and I grew some seeds my father gave me years ago. I used Google and the basic information on Ron Wallace's website. It was quite the adventure as we fought a long and hard battle with vine borers. But we succeeded in growing 2 mini-monsters (275.5 and 250) despite opposition from the bugs. I grew them in an approximate 150 square foot area surrounded by a decorative fence I found on the side of the road and protected by fox urine for the fuzzy critters. We met some great people and are getting great pointers for next year. We can't wait to give this another try! (I'll try to post more pictures of our adventure)   Tuesday, October 15 View Page Missed borer, found when I pulled the plant. Found a few others just like this   Tuesday, October 15 View Page My Daughters pumpkin at Woodstock   Tuesday, October 15 View Page My pumpkin at Woodstock. If anyone has any insight on why I would have a white pumpkin and an orange pumpkin from the same mother pumpkin, please let me know. I had 2 seeds in the packet and I assumed both came from the same pumpkin listed, but one plant gave me white and the other orange. Alex and I are both stumped as to how this can be?   Thursday, October 17 View Page I'm going to do a little more of an introduction... Since I was a little kid, my dad and I have always been into pumpkins. He'd always go buy way more pumpkins than we needed at Halloween just for poo's and giggles. One year, after going to the Topsfield Fair, he came home with a giant pumpkin he purchased (Mom wasn't too thrilled. Lol) and we used it to decorate for Halloween. I went to Topsfield every year with him. Each time we'd break off from the rest of the pack and go find the pumpkins. I couldn't leave until we at least saw the winner. My dad and I used to always tell each other we'd grow one together. Then, about 9 years ago, he came home with giant pumpkin seeds he got at the fair. (He would frequently go alone when he had time if I was in school) He didn't have a place to grow them so he gave them to me. I put the tiny zippy bag in my purse and this is where they waited until this year when I was finally able to grow them. I had little faith they would sprout but I tried everything and eventually they did. My father is not physically able to help anymore and it broke my heart. But I'd visit him in hospice with pictures to update him as often as I could. When I showed him the final picture and went over my plans for next year, his response was simply "I've created a monster". No dad, with these seeds I WILL create a monster! I just hope he's still around next year to see it.   Thursday, October 17 View Page Allow me to next introduce the rest of my pumpkin tolerating family (minus my oldest of course bc he's too cool for me now at 21 years old, and my youngest daughter Valerie (7) who loves pumpkin soooo much she opted to go to cheer practice instead. LOL!) My lovely daughter Brooke (age 9), as seen previously. At first she was very jealous of my pumpkins. She would frequently be heard saying, "Mom, stop feeding your pumpkins and come feed your kids!" But as they grew and grew she dubbed the white one hers and took over feeding duties while Mom picked off the hundreds of vine borer eggs. She's excited to start her own patch next year. Then there's my boy David (12). He loves Halloween and carving and painting pumpkins, but that's the most I can get from him so far. And that's ok, it's not his thing. No biggy. Then there's my boyfriend Dave. He was equally as jealous of my pumpkins as Brooke but he was always there to be the muscle when I needed it. He procured the manure for me and dumped it in my tiny patch, and at the end moved them ever so carefully to get them to the fair to be weighed. Other than feeling a little neglected, he's excited to see what I can do next year. Lol So if you see us come say hi! Here's to an amazing first season!