Moving Day

Hey, that was a lot of fun... considering we were just weighing a pumpkin and not wind surfing or hanging at Chuck E Cheese or anything.

It's a pretty simple process. First you get the fruit onto a tarp...




Then you drag the thing to the front yard...





You set up the scale...



And hold your breath!





Not bad! Lulu went a little bit heavy despite her concave top.



And of course the proud father has to pose for pictures.



And then after a few pumpkin ales, it's nap time!

There Ought to be a Law...

...Banning deer from existing. How can you eat all the leaves, and leave the baby cucumber???




The good news is they appear to have no interest in eating a full-grown Atlantic Giant pumpkin.

Time for a new Hood Ornament

Estimated weight - nearly final now - is 375 pounds.

350 Pounds

Lulu won't quit, even if she can only pack on a couple of pounds a day. It's a pity I didn't keep the plant in better shape. The kids are already asking when we can start carving!

Are You Smarter than a Deer?

I didn't think there could be a dumber creature alive, but maybe there is. I spent WAY too much time last winter creating great soil. Dirt the worms would *love*. And they did - I had night crawlers out there the size of small snakes.

And then, it rained. So, what were the worms thinking? "Let's snuggle down here in the dirt on a cool rainy night and watch a movie and maybe make some new baby worms!"???

No. It was more like, "Let's take a trip to the pavement and dry up and die when the sun comes out!"

330 Pounds but Almost Done

These pictures are a couple of weeks old, seeing as how I'm getting old and lazy besides. Too lazy to aggressively fight the powdery mildew, too lazy to administer a late season near-fatal dose of 0-0-60 fertilizer... what's the matter with me? Am I losing that fanatical edge???

There Isn't a Law

Hey Lulu, there's no law that says you have to quit the moment you reach a goal! The girl was motoring right along, in a pumpkin sort of way, and then the moment she crossed 300 pounds she nearly stopped growing.

It may have been her time anyway. But then again the vines have suffered a lot of damage from deer, bugs, and old age.



Here's a closeup:

I thought I had a linebacker in my backyard

She’s short – only 22” or so, so she can’t be a middle LB. She'll have to play outside LB I guess.

But at 237 pounds, she can certainly plug a gap.

Her time in the 40 is a sore spot… it varies depending on how steep the hill is.

But then she gained 40 pounds in three days, so I’m going to have to move her to the defensive line!

Lulu's a Big Girl Now!

She can't wear her Daddy's shirts anymore. I keep her covered with a couple of old t-shirts to protect her from the sun. Sunlight and the heat make fruit ripen. And I don't want a ripe pumpkin - I want a growing pumpkin. But old t-shirts can't do the trick any longer - I switched to an old sheet today.

She really has had a great week, just plugging right along!

---

Hey Alicia - thanks for the note the other day! Decorator by day, AG grower by night, huh? I have a buddy in Ga. near the Florida line who grew somewhere around 900 pounds last spring. Amazing! Anyway let me know how your patch is doing sometime.

Mid-Life Crisis

Sometimes I toss and turn in the early hours of the morning, unable to sleep.

"Eight pounds a day... is that all there is? Isn't there something more out there somewhere?"

Then I sigh a big sigh and remind myself, "It'll be ok John. After all, that means Lulu is gaining over 50 pounds a week."

My family tries to be supportive. "Honey, it's a very pretty pumpkin!"

Well family, this isn't a beauty contest, she isn't an 'it', and you might try calling her by her real name, you know.

But I'm just being grumpy because of my mid-life crisis. I think I'll go gulp down my meds and then go spray some fertilizer.

I Love the Smell of a Growing Pumpkin

Come on, you think it's easy coming up with a title every time I post? If you can do better I'm all ears.

Anyway, Lulu weighs in at 190 pounds now. However, she's still got that quiet, gentle disposition that attracted me to her in the first place!

I better quit trying and just post a picture:

Thoughts from the Patch

So it was 3 days ago that I said the next two weeks would be crucial. Since then, Lulu has packed on 42 pounds! And today was her best day ever. She is only a tiny bit ahead of the bigger Jemimah from last year, but Lulu is going strong and Jemimah was on her last, um, leg. This is looking halfway decent!

Tedd, I have no white flies. I had a few earlier in the season. My systemic insecticide may be what killed them. Pick up a bottle of Bayer Tree and Shrub at HD or Lowes, mix a tablespoon in a gallon of water and pour on the roots, and repeat. It's not real cheap, but one bottle will last you forever.

Is it unusual for an Atlantic Giant to grow upside down, with the stem end down and the blossom end up? Guess I'll mosey on over to bigpumpkins.com and try to find out.

Nothing new to Report, So...

I'd like to introduce Indigo, the Unloved Polly Pocket. The kids didn't want Indigo any longer, so they spray painted her blue. She doesn't have anything to do with growing pumpkins, but some days can be sort of slow around the pumpkin patch. (I bet you didn't know that!)

Slow and Steady

Well sorry, but I don't *like* slow and steady. It's better than being eaten by killer deer, but slow and steady doesn't win the race. That saying is nonsense, "slow and steady wins the race". It really ticks me off now that I think about it. Slow and steady growth gives you a small pumpkin. Why can't we try Explosive and Dynamic instead?

Lulu's estimated weight is now 138 pounds. The next two weeks will be crucial. If the vine will hold together 300 pounds is still possible.

It's sort of hard to get a good picture of her at the moment, but here she is:

While You Were Sleeping...

LuLu was growing. She is sort of a night owl and does most of her growing at night. Or so the experts say.

Actually, it is unclear whether Lulu really has the hang of this growing thing. Maybe a good night's sleep will do her good.

100 Pounds and Going Strong

Neither of my human children ever grew like that. But it's ok, I love all my kids the same and I promise to try to never treat Lulu like she's better than the others.

Green Shoots?

Even the stump of the vine is trying to leaf back out, a testimony to modern fertilizer and genetics I guess.

And 3 days later, we magically have more leaves to help feed energy into Lulu.

And speaking of Lulu, she's gaining 10 pounds a day and may be picking up steam. I'll get a picture up tomorrow. Prepare to be impressed... or at least pretend to be so you won't hurt her feelings!

Slow and Steady Doesn't Win the Race

Lulu's growth is... well, acceptable. Pretty good one day, not so good the next. I must have spent an hour today chasing that darn squash borer moth with a tennis racket and then with insecticide, trying to kill her before she can lay more eggs and kill more leaves.

She is a darn cute baby, even if she looks nothing like her father!

Those Darn Squash Vine Borers

They're not as bad as deer, but still the damage they leave behind isn't pretty:




By popular demand, a picture of the plant. The pumpkin is under the blue tarp in the back. The new heavy growth is all on the left; I wish there were more new vines on the right side.

Day 11 and All is... Wet.

Darn it, there were some really cool mushrooms out in the patch this morning. So delicate looking, almost translucent. I went to take a picture this afternoon, and they're gone. I can't find them, anyway. Well it should dry out some next week but for now us growers have all the water we need, right Tedd?

So instead of a picture of pretty shrooms I'll have to entertain you with the latest picture of Lulu, who grew nicely yesterday.

So Tedd wants to know why I've never drunk the bottle of pumpkin ale in the pictures. Dunno. Never thought about it. Maybe I've been too busy drinking all the weaker bottles? In any case, I now officilaly dub this the Lucky Pumpkin Beer Bottle! I plan to either drink it or throw it away unopened on Halloween depending on how the rest of the season goes!

We Have a Winner!

Lulu out-grew her baby sister and is now an only child. (Now don't tell her this, but I'm a little disappointed with her growth. But any pumpkin is better than none I suppose.)

Meanwhile the new vines have forgotten about the horrors of being eaten and are striking out on a cross country trip at a rapid clip.

A Time to Sow, a Time to Reap

'Cuz I'm tired (y'all probably are too) of my ranting about A Time For War Against The Deer and Squash Borers. But it is time to cut off the losing pumpkin.

Anyway, Lulu2 (the big one) added a couple of pounds today. Lulu3, the small one, barely budged. So unless that changes by tomorrow evening, I'm going to eliminate the little one and keep the older sister. Which is the exact opposite of what I expected.

I'm a little worried that all the new leaf growth is well out the vine, past Lulu2, who is on a side vine no less. But this early stage pumpkin growth isn't very predicatable. As far as I can tell from my records, Lulu is behind the 215 pound Jemimah of last year, but ahead of the 500 pound Bessie at this point. Go figure!

One Week Old

It figures... the deer just decided to take a break so the squash borers could move back in. Oh well it's pumpkin growing season so there's always something for me to complain about.






Lulu has put on a few inches in the last two days. She's about to take off, with this rain and sort of coolish weather. But her big concern (other than killer grubs and killer deer) should be this weekend. Either her or her little sister aren't going to live to see Monday. I think it's going to be really tough to actually cut a healthy fruit off the vine.

The Plant is Slowly Recovering

So before I go to bed each night, I see if the deer have been chomping during the evening. And in the morning, same deal. If you haven't spent part of your life living in fear, trust me you're not missing anything.

Meanwhile, Lulu2 is oblivious to the fact she could be digested at any moment and has packed on some weight today:

Lulu, Day 3

The plant is recovering and trying to put out some new vines. Which means I'm about due for another night attack from the neighborhood deer. Anyway, here is Lulu 3 days after blooming:

I know she looks pretty small - but compare her to her little siter, who is two days younger:

Unstable

Ok, maybe I was premature with the "Farewell Friends" thing. But I'm emotionally unstable just the same. One moment I'm elated that Lulu 2.0 has survived for... let me count... 62 hours. She looks pretty good if I say so myself. The next moment, I look at the main vine that Fluffy the Deer destroyed - twice - and it takes the wind out of my sails to say the least.

One thing is for sure. There are two fruit on the vine now, in a 2 week competition, 'cause whoever turns out to be weaker is going to the Compost Pile In The Sky soon.

Scratch that, there is another thing that's certain: Over the next month I'm going to see how close you can come to killing a plant with fertilizer without quite going over the edge. Serious spraying, fish guts, calcium, you name it - starts in the morning.

Thanks Friends

Thanks Tom, Dad, Tedd, Andy - I mean it's not the end of the world, it's "just a pumpkin" but it's still good to have support through the grieving process.

I'm actually hanging around the house to pollinate LuluToo (or is it Lulu 2.0?) this morning. I don't know how a plant with only 150 square feet of vine is supposed to grow much of a pumpkin, but anything would be welcomed. I actually think there are two more candidates after this one, and one of those will be on the new main vine.

Farewell Friends

Lulu got taken out by the deer 12 hours after she was born, sometime Thursday evening. The season is probably over, and I don't think I'll get to grow at all next year.

I swear to God and all the archangels I will never grow a pumpkin again with deer in the area without adequate fencing. It's just too easy to let your guard down, and BAM! it just takes a few minutes for them to do a ton of damage.

So this is the end of the road, at least for now. It's been a blast these last few years. Those of you who like to keep up with my progress, I'll let you know when or if I ever get to give it another shot. Lee and Tedd and Dave and Doug and all you folks out there who love to grow these things: KEEP ON GROWIN' 'EM BIG!!!

Let's Give Lulu a Huge Welcome!!!

I gave birth to Lulu this morning. I named her for the half-crazy Lulu (played by Melanie Griffith) from the movie Something Wild.

Why? Because my dear baby Lulu is a freak. She was born with only 3 lobes. She will probably end up oddly shaped and will be unlikely to be big enough to crush stray children who wander too near.

I spent the morning scanning for advice on bigpumpkins.com. Opinions ranged from "so-and-so's 1342 was a 3 lober" to "cull it now" to "I have never seen a 3 lobed bloom in all my years of growing".

If I get another pumpkin to set, Lulu will probably become compost. But for now, she's all I've got and we'll try to love her just the way she is.

And since my camera is unavailable, I'll just entertain you now with shots of previous Pollination Days from years past:

An Immaculate Conception (coming soon)!

"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. This will be a sign to you: soon you will find a baby. Treasure up all these things and ponder them in your heart.

And all who heard it were amazed!"

I Want to be a Father


But my mother of choice isn't cooperating.



"It's too hot."



"This dirt is odd, and it smells like coffee."



Who knows what's wrong? But I had this problem last year too and it turned out more or less ok. I'll give it a week before I panic.

This is Probably a No-No

But I'm about to say a Bad Word:

DAMNIT!!!

You let down your guard for a couple of months, and BAM here come the deer to eat your vines:

Fortunately the tip of the main vine, where the baby pumpkins are, was behind the fencing and wasn't touched.

Is this the Chosen One?

I took a chance and gave the girl a nice fish emulsion and seaweed bath tonight. Hopefully this little girl will appreciate it!

Decision Time

So which is it gonna be? The current plant, happily growing, sensing no threat?

Or will I go with the youngster just getting started? The decision will have to be made once and for all sometime this week.

Deep in thought... who should live, who must die... how did this picture get in the blog???

Is There a Fungus Expert in the House?!?!



What the heck is this stuff? I've had it erupting here and there since spring. Well Ms. Fungus, you are nasty and I don't approve of you and I wish you would go away!