Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 44 Entries. Wednesday, June 30 View Page BoodahMan says hi! (1622 Young 5 days) Monday, July 5 View Page Booh Bear says "good morning all" (993 Vincent/McGill) Booh sits about 17 feet from the stump on the main vine. Thursday, July 15 View Page The curiously cantankerous 1620 Young plant covers over 700 square feet on day 20. BoodahMan just sucks it up! Good thing I have 1,000 square feet for him to grow into... Thursday, July 15 View Page BoodahMan at 20 days - 86" circ. and growing 6 inches circ a day. Over 30 pounds last 24 hours. This one could blow! Thursday, July 15 View Page BoodahMan's salad bowl. 36 feet wide and 20 feet long. That's a lotta lettuce for a Young buck! Thursday, July 15 View Page The 993 Vincent/McGill has grown at a more sedate pace. The plant now covers about 550 square feet with the fruit at 15 days. Thursday, July 15 View Page The 993 is 50" circ at 15 days and now growing at 5" a day. Can you say "smooooth orange" Sunday, July 18 View Page The Boo boys take a shower. Always good to freshen up in the morning! Tuesday, July 20 View Page Booh Bear tapes 81" circ. on day 20. Not too shabby for those under-rated smooth orangys. Now growing 6" circ a day, Booh Bear is looking for some kinda respect here... Sunday, July 25 View Page BoodaMan (1622 Young) has turned into a super massive white hole, sucking all nearby matter and energy into his enormous white belly. He tapes 124 circ., 284 total OTT on day 30. Just over 500 pounds per my old chart and now chugging along at about 35 pounds a day. Sunday, July 25 View Page The green groping claws of BoodaMan are now approaching 1,000 square feet. I have to be careful to keep the lawn chairs and rototiller far enough away so that they don’t get sucked into the gravitational singularity near the plant. I’m not sure how to tape this bastard without losing an arm! Friday, July 30 View Page Gentle little Booh Bear (993 Vincent-McGill) has been porkin' out in the honey pot. At 30 days his tummy has swelled to 120" with a total OTT of 277 or 472 pounds by my old chart. Keep it up little bear! Friday, July 30 View Page BoohdahMan (1622 Young) has no respect for the law of gravity (or any other law for that matter).... You better straighten up and fly right buddy or I'll jam this stick so far up your big white hiney that they'll call you BoodahKabob! Tuesday, August 3 View Page This spring we had several weeks of daily blustery winds right after I let my plants out of the clotch. This kicked the snot out my plants but the leaves survived in decent shape. The constant buffeting caused numerous parallel splits in the main vine. In this section, the main vine has rolled out flat and healed with no obvious bad effects to the plant. Tuesday, August 3 View Page In this section of the main vine, the split has scarred over and healed leaving an opening into the cavity of the vine. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger... Tuesday, August 3 View Page I have terminated most of BoodahMan’s (1622 Young) invasive feeding appendages – which pisses him off to no end. But jeese… the longest secondaries which originate before the fruit are now over 36 feet – he should be able to find enough to eat. The plant now covers over 1,000 square feet and that’s it, BoodahMan - learn to live within your limitations. Tuesday, August 3 View Page BoodahMan in his meditation robes rises above the salad. “All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.” Think BIG BoodahMan - Think BIG..... Wednesday, August 4 View Page BoodahMan (1622 Young) has attained a massive stature at the youthful age of 40 days. I can no longer reveal his full girth. You wouldn’t believe me anyway. Actually, I don’t believe it either… It doesn’t matter - this one will probably blow… “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” Try to keep your thoughts together young Siddhartha… Monday, August 9 View Page Booh Bear (993 Vincent-McGill) dons some meditation robes and apes his more introspective big brother BoodahMan up the hill. "It's all rumbly in my tummy when the honey pot is empty" You gotta love Booh - he’s such an adorable little goof ball. Monday, August 9 View Page Booh Bear (993 Vincent-McGill) puts on a wide grin when hears all the brouhaha regarding his bigger boo brother BoodahMan. At 40 days, Booh Bear is taping a modest 321” OTT – just over 700 pounds. “I never want to grow up” says Booh. Silly little bear... Saturday, August 14 View Page All vines on BoodahMan (1622 Young) are now terminated and the leaves have all filled out nicely. On an scale of 1 to 10 for aggression, this plant rates at least a 12. This has been one of the coldest spring/summer periods on record in our area which didn't slow down this plants amazing growth curve at all. Thanks for the seed Don. WARNING: Objects in the patch may appear larger than the Good Lord ever intended. heh, heh... Wednesday, August 18 View Page Everything about BoodaMan is larger than life. Even his blossom blow out was big. When it blew, I’m sure they saw a significant blip on the seismographs in Berkeley. I knew this was coming, he was just growing faster than the good Lord ever intended... Wednesday, August 18 View Page BoodaMan is a big wheel shape that was growing at an impossible angle. I tried everything I could to straighten him out but he just had a different perspective on the world. I’m sure his slanted perspective was a major factor in his demise…. From side to side, over the widest part of the wheel, he taped 120”+ on day 50 and he thumps like he was carved from granite. I’ll more accurate measurements when I pull him out of the sand. Goodbye big guy… Saturday, September 11 View Page We harvested BoodahMan today. I wanted to get a weight before he started to go soft. Amazingly, found no signs of rot around the blown out blossom. In fact, the tear in his hide had started to heal around the edges. I've kept the gap covered with duct tape and he's still looking good a month after exposing his innards! Saturday, September 11 View Page I'm gonna have to check out that right rear spring - looks a little soft! Saturday, September 11 View Page A boy and his pumpkin... Tuesday, September 14 View Page BoodahMan - the leaning tower of pumpkin! Tuesday, September 14 View Page Side view of BoodahMan in the truck. Tuesday, September 14 View Page I found some camouflage duct tape for BoodahMan and covered his big open-mouthed grin. I figure to take him to Half Moon Bay and it will sail right by the judges... Saturday, September 18 View Page Looks like Olivia is trying to make some pumpkin wine on my 993 Vincent/McGill plant. She’s looking for full-bodied, well rounded flavor with a kiss of orange and a smooth finish. We’ll soon see how good her vintner skills really are! Saturday, September 18 View Page BoodahMan is now known as the 1399 Zunino 2010 DAM or the 1399 Zunino GoshDarnIt. BoodahMan split about day 55 and was picked and weighed on day 81. Taping in at 385” OTT, BoodahMan weighed 18% heavy (Marcellus, 2004) A solid granite pumpkin with orange racing stripes. Saturday, September 18 View Page BoodahMan now resides in Half Moon Bay at Farmer John’s Pumpkin Patch. He’s already made the front page of the local paper. They really appreciate big pumpkins in that town! Wednesday, September 29 View Page They don't make wine like this in Napa! Olivia's pumpkin vintage is developing a nice orange head - an unusual characteristic for a wine. She going to let it age in the barrel a few more days to develop its stature. Wednesday, September 29 View Page BoodahMan's stump has become a tangled affair. Without the big guy drawing down the main, the stump has exploded with new vines all setting pumpkins like crazy. There must be a dozen new starts off to the races hidden in this jungle. Wednesday, September 29 View Page Bashful little BoohBear (993 Vincent/McGill) has been snacking too much on fast food and molassas and has turned into Big Bad BoohBear. "Supersize me" he giggles. "I want to be much much bigger than my broken boo brother BoodahMan." Thursday, October 21 View Page About 40’ out from the 993 stump and 24’ from the main vine sits Goldilocks, Olivia’s late-set pretty pumpkin. Olivia has already gotten a call from Cinderella checking on availability. Thursday, October 21 View Page Olivia’s wine barrel pumpkin, Baby Booh, also grown on the 993 Vincent/McGill, decides to hang out on the porch. Baby Booh weighs about 200 lbs. Thursday, October 21 View Page Booh Bear (993 Vincent/McGill) and Goldilocks are both ready to jump on the truck to Half Moon Bay. Thursday, October 21 View Page Olivia helps steady Goldilocks as she floats to the truck! Thursday, October 21 View Page Master Artist Amanda tries to match Goldilocks bright orange color as she paints out a squirrel bite that blemishes Goldilocks stunning orange hide. Thursday, October 21 View Page Cindy Glasier visits with the Zunino clan at Half Moon Bay. Booh Bear weighs in at 1,212 lbs. and captures 9th place overall. Goldilocks weighs in at a hefty 287 lbs - 20% over the charts! Thursday, October 21 View Page Ron Root from Citrus Heights headed to the scale with his winning 1,535 grown off the 991 Urena. California growers rule the scales at HMB this year taking the top three spots. Thursday, October 21 View Page High above the crowd, Goldilocks outshines the competition and is overwhelmingly voted the most beautiful pumpkin at Half Moon Bay. Thursday, October 21 View Page Small boy, pretty pumpkin, big pumpkin – there’s still a bit of magic in this world...