Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 62 Entries. Friday, May 2 View Page Today was my first pumpkin sighting of the year. These seeds were started on the 23rd of April. This years line up includes Pugh 1070, Steeves 749 x 2, Blair 998.5, Israelson 948, and a few giant gourds just for fun. I only have room to squeeze two plants into the garden (and I do mean squeeze) so I'll have to narrow them down in a week or so, when I can pick the best growers. Saturday, May 3 View Page Last night the 998.5 Blair was only a speck of green showing through the dirt, but this morning I woke up to a beautiful little plant with huge leaves all folded out and about 2 inches above the ground already. the leaves are really big on this little plant, and it looks alot heathier than my Steeves 749 plant, which looks the same as yesterday. My other two plants have yet to come up, but since I failed to soak them, file them, or paper towel them, and just basically threw them in the dirt, I guess I should be grateful to have anything growing. Saturday, May 3 View Page Blair 998.5 with a quarter on the leaf. This is the first full day the plant has been out of the ground. All I have to say is the season is underway and "Game on Brent". Here's to anything over 300 lbs. :) Thursday, May 8 View Page Pumpkins are in the ground. I went with the Blair 998.5 and the Steeves 749, since those were the only two I had come up. :) I dug the holes deep and surrounded the plant in Miracle grow potting soil, before putting the garden dirt around it. I wanted lots of dirt around the roots as I'm a little concerned that my manure to dirt ratio is a little off in favor of the manure. Can you have too much horse poo in your garden? We'll find out............. Tuesday, May 13 View Page Replaced the Steeves 749 plant with a 791 Larue (compliments of my little brother). The Steeves plant just wasn't looking too good. Had a bad hail storm yesterday, followed by a cold night. The Larue plant looks great, Blair got a little frost bite on one of the leaves, but I think she'll survive. Wednesday, May 28 View Page The kids have picked their plants for the year. The Larue (on the right)is looking good, starting to vine out a little. Blair got hit hard by the hail storm a few weeks back, and also froze a little. It is making a comeback though, and if it doesn't speed up soon, I have a backup plant to take it's place. Not sure why but I really think the Blair is going to our "Great Pumpkin" this year. Call it a special feeling, that may change as the season wares on. :) Still worried that I have too much manure in the garden. Hope the plants don't burn up in July. Wednesday, May 28 View Page Blair on the Left, Larue on the right. Wednesday, May 28 View Page Backup plants, getting a little big for their containers. Tuesday, June 10 View Page Blair and Larue both growing slower than they should be, but the weather has been awful here. Cold and wet, with very few really warm days. Put the backup plants in the corners of the garden. I only really have room for 2 really squished plants, so I'm going to watch all four for the next few weeks before deciding who goes and who gets to live out the summer. Backup plants are the 749 Steeves and 519 Veader. Tuesday, June 10 View Page Larue, starting to vine out with a few male blossoms on the vine. Tuesday, June 10 View Page Steeves plant, way behind where it should be. Tuesday, June 10 View Page Veader, started 2 weeks after the rest, but growing fast. Tuesday, June 17 View Page My Veader plant today at noon, was looking pretty wilted. I guess I better start thinking shade structures. I have yet to come up with a good one, so maybe this will be the year. Tuesday, June 17 View Page Larue plant is growing well and looks healthy. Only growing about 4 inches a day, but we are in for a hot spell, so hopefully that will help with growth. Hit all the plants with some miracle grow and fish pellets this week. The other plants are nice and green but sure are growing slow. Going to give them another week before decicing who goes and who stays. Tuesday, June 17 View Page The whole patch. Now you can see why I only have barely room for 2 plants. I'm also growing 3 kinds of peppers, garlic, chives, 5 kinds of tomatoes, radishes, carrots, & peas this year. Had 2 giant gourds growing well, but one night the damn snails walked off with them. I hate snails! Tuesday, June 24 View Page Larue is growing strong. Gained about 18 inches this week. Tuesday, June 24 View Page First female visible on the Larue. Tuesday, June 24 View Page Veader, finally vining out. It was a flat vine that split into two, so once I cut one off the other has grown over a foot in five days. Tuesday, June 24 View Page Veader, finally vining out. It was a flat vine that split into two, so once I cut one off the other has grown over a foot in five days. Monday, June 30 View Page First female opened on the Larue this morning, and I was without a male to help her out. It was only about 8 feet out on the main, and there are two more on their way, but I would of still liked to pollinate it anyway. Oh well! Monday, June 30 View Page Larue plant growing well. Lots of long side vines on this plant. Other three plants are finally taking off, but are way behind the Larue. Hoping they will at least supply me with some male flowers. Tuesday, July 8 View Page Finally have a pumpkin pollinated this morning on the 791 Larue. Crossed with males from the 519 Veader. This was my third attempt at pollinating a flower on this plant. The first female came before any males showed up to help her out, and the second one's blossom fell right off when I was tying it up the night before opening. This pumpkin is about 12' out on the main, and there isn't much more room for me to get one actually inside the garden, so hopefully it will take. Tuesday, July 8 View Page All four plants looking good, and all four with female flowers that should open before weeks end. Because my garden is so small and I opted to keep all four plants, (just couldn't kill one) I have to try and set a pumpkin more for where there is room for it to grow, rather than the ideal placement on the vine. Tuesday, July 8 View Page This picture is mostly the 791 Larue, which is what I wish all my plants looked like. Still off to a better season than last year, when I didn't set a pumpkin until the 20th of July. Tuesday, July 8 View Page Gave the plants a dose of fish pellets mixed in with a little Miracle grow last night. Man, does that stuff stink!!! Every fly in the Western United states was out there buzzing above my garden today. Saturday, July 12 View Page Larue x with Veader, day 4, biggger than a golf ball, not quite a baseball Saturday, July 12 View Page Pollinated a pumpkin on the Steeves 749 plant this morning, x with the 791 Larue. This pumpkin is in a terrible spot with little room to grow, but I'll keep it til something better comes along on the vine. I really want a pumpkin from this plant, because they are known for being oarnge, and after a few years of yellow pumpkins, oarnge would be nice. Saturday, July 12 View Page Aerial view (from atop the swingset) of the whole patch. There are four plants in there, (I know what a mess of vines). About 70% of those leaves belong to the Larue. Saturday, July 12 View Page This mornings sacrifice for a great cause. Saturday, July 12 View Page Evil lurking in the patch. I haven't sprayed for bugs yet this year. Guess I will be this evening. Bring on the snail bait. Monday, July 14 View Page Pollinated the 519 Veader x with 791 Larue today. Looks like the Steeves pumpkin is a go. It doubled in size overnight. Tuesday, July 15 View Page Pollinated the Blair 998.5 pumpkin today, crossed with 791 Larue (the only plant that had any males, was hoping to x with the Steeves, but no males for a week there). At the beginning of the season I had a "special feeling" about my Blair plant. Well I have since lost that feeling. This plant is a big baby, slow growing, wilting every day, only 2 males so far. It was the first plant in the ground, but has been the slowest grower, and is my smallest plant by far. Not much hope for it to be "the great pumpkin". Tuesday, July 15 View Page Veader day 3 Tuesday, July 15 View Page Steeves day 3 Tuesday, July 15 View Page Larue at 7 days. The size of a baseball. Not growing as fast as I had hoped. :( Some of the leaves on this plant have stems that are over 3 feet tall. I'm guessing this is because they are overcrowded. I'm hoping the pumpkin will take off and that all the plants energy isn't getting wasted on those beautiful tall leaves. Tuesday, July 15 View Page The growing plan so far........ Larue 791 x Veader 519 (July 8th) Steeves 749 x Larue 791 (July 12th) Veader 519 x Larue 791 (July 14th) Blair 998.5 x Larue 791 (July 15th) Oh, and yes I do know how to spell "orange". Tuesday, July 15 View Page My very tall and overcrowded leaves. It's hard to see in the picture, but some of these stems are over 3 feet tall. Tuesday, July 15 View Page Second pumpkin on the Larue main x with self, only 3 lobes. Not sure how much time to waste letting them both grow, before sacrificing one. I have a 3rd female on this main that will open in a few days, so I'm almost inclined to take off the 3 lober, let the energy go to the first one, and pollinate the 3rd, when it opens, with the hopes that it has more lobes. Do lobes really matter? What to do, what to do?????? Any wisdom from pumpkin greats (you know who you are) would be welcome. Saturday, July 19 View Page Larue 791 x with Veader 519.5 day ten 18 inches. All plants have pumpkins growing. The Steeves seems to be growing the quickest so far. Tuesday, July 22 View Page Steeves 749 x Larue 791 day ten 21 inches. Steeves and Larue plant both down to "the one" pumpkin. Culled off the rest this morning. Tuesday, July 22 View Page Larue 791 almost a basketball. This is my biggest pumpkin so far. It has gained 10.5 inches in the last 48 hours. Spent tonight moving the main away from the pumpkin for better positioning and also propping up the main a little at the stem. Tuesday, July 22 View Page My Veader is a pretty pumpkin and has great stripes. Tuesday, July 22 View Page Found these two unauthorized pollinations lurking in my Virginia creeper. The larger one was a good looking pumpkin, but I had no idea of knowing which side vine it was attached to. Trying to keep goood records this year, so no "Bee" pumpkins in my patch. Yet another reason to not smoosh 4 plants into a tiny garden. Tuesday, July 22 View Page Reasons for not trying to grow 4 Giant pumpkins in a patch that is only 12 feet by 38 feet. 1) Your vines are a complete mess a month into the season, but until then, you think things are under control, silly girl. 2) Unauthorized pollinations keep showing up everywhere. I can't see the pumpkins, but the bees sure know where they are. 3) There is no way to get to two of your pumpkins, and they are growing in horrible spots, and will most likely grow over their own mains. Never a good thing. 4) Your leaves are fighting for sunlight and are therefore climbing up and over the fence into your neighbors yard, and most of them are at least 3-4 feet high. 5) There are way too many bees in such a close proximity that you have already been stung twice. Dang bee's! There are many more reasons, but on the plus side it is really easy to water and fertilize, and pruning the vines is pretty easy as well. :) Spent a few hours tonight rearranging mains, pruning riffraff, and spraying the fish/seaweed crud on the vines. I don't care what anyone says, that seaweed stuff reaks. It is great however for repelling neighborhood kids who all ran off after the stink started. Monday, July 28 View Page Larue day twenty, measures fifty three inches. (darn kids broke the numbers on my keypad) Thursday, July 31 View Page Blair 998.5 measured at 22 inches on day ten. Monday, August 11 View Page Larue 791 x with Veader 519, growing well. Measures at just under 200 lbs. My goal for the year is anything over my personal best of 239, so I think I'm going to make it. Veader is a beautiful pumpkin, and will decorate my porch nicely for Halloween. It's somewhere between 80 and 100 lbs., but not gaining enough weight to be very impressive. Steeves has a great orange color, but seems to have stopped growing, or at least slowed down a great deal, and it's only around 60 lbs. Blair pumpkin seems to have stopped growing completely. Monday, August 11 View Page My first hoop house went up on Saturday. I feel like a "Real" grower now. If I could just get a pumpkin big enough to fill it up. I took good notes on the patch tours Saturday, so hopefully next year will be a big one. Note to self: You only really have room for one giant in your garden. Man those plants on the tour were impressive. I knew the pumpkins got huge, but I had no idea how big the plants could get. Thanks everyone for sharing your pumpkin wisdom, we had a great time! Monday, August 18 View Page Since the Blair hasn't been growing at all, and has been a sluggish plant all summer, I decided it was time to investigate the stump. I would of done it sooner, but it was my smallest plant, and in a bad location, so I have just let it go. What I found was that something had tunneled all over in the stump and pretty much hollowed the whole thing out. It desinigrated in my hands. It was full of tiny little brown bugs, (looked kind of like fleas do), as well as Pill bugs. Not sure if they were just feeding off the decaying stump or if they had actually caused the decay. Either way the plant has been pulled out, and noe there is more room for the other three. Monday, August 18 View Page Veader is a pretty pumpkin, much nicer looking than the Larue. Veader is measuring around 120 lbs. and growing a little each day. I think it will top out around 150 lbs. It's just been a slow grower all summer. Larue meauring around 240 lbs. Hooray!!!! My goal is to beat my personal best of 239, so hopefully we are there. I would love to see her make 300, but she has slowed down considerably, but is still growing. She is an ugly pumpkin though, with a crazy shape that makes me think she is going to weigh light. Let's just say her middle is considerably larger than the rest of her. Tuesday, August 26 View Page Larue measuring at 262 lbs. Tuesday, August 26 View Page Veader is a pretty pumpkin, measuring at 153 lbs. Tuesday, August 26 View Page Steeves is a really pretty orange pumpkin. Stopped measuring a few weeks ago. It's around 60 lbs. and no longer growing. Not sure why, everything looks good, just stopped growing. Monday, September 1 View Page Larue has hit 300 lbs. Hooray!!!!! Monday, September 1 View Page Veader is still growing and is up to 175 lbs. Monday, September 8 View Page Veader is measuring 203 OTT for a weight of 187 lbs. Monday, September 8 View Page Larue 791 x Veader 519.5 measures 243" OTT for a weight of 310 lbs. I was out spraying the fish/seawed junk when the Jr. high let out. As the kids walked behind my six foot fence, (which they can't see through because of my Virginia creeper), I heard these phrases. "Who farted" "man it smells like a dead body" "what the hell is that smell" "Smells like rotting fish guts" (hey that kid was right on) "man it stinks, what is that" "who did it, who let one go" "good grief that wreaks" "MAAAAAAN Gilbert, take a bath" Haha, it was very entertaining. Tuesday, October 7 View Page My sons school class came today for a Giant pumpkin field trip. It was so much fun. They had a ton of questions, and I let them all smell the fish/seaweed crud. They loved it!! The only pumpkin left in the garden is the Larue. Steeves and Blair are already decorating the porch, and the Veader went to a local Dentists office for a guess the weight contest. It weighed around 220 lbs. Larue will be weighed this weekend, and should be anywhere between 350 and 400 lbs. A new personal best for me. :) Tuesday, October 7 View Page Here's one where you can actually see the pumpkin. Tuesday, October 7 View Page The kids loved the pumpkin! We snacked on juice and chocolate chip pumpkin cookies as well. It was so fun!! Sunday, October 12 View Page Larue went heavy!!!! She was taping at 357 lbs. and weighed in at 407 lbs. I was thrilled! A new personal best for me, and it was good enough to put me in 20th place and win me a bottle of fish guts. You can't beat that for a cool prize. :) Had a really fun season this year and met lots of cool people. Thanks for all the help with my pumpkins. I've enjoyed chatting with those of you who were growing the same seeds as me. I have learned alot of new stuff that will help next year, and I'm already working on my dirt for next season. Happy Winter to you all! Wednesday, October 29 View Page My cat Xena, feasting on the just carved Larue, which is now the 407 Richardson. She will be camped out there licking pumpkin juice, until the pumpkin goes away. Happt Halloween.