Sunday, May 31








Huh?

I leave for a week, and this is all that happens?




















I still think a few hot sunny days will whip this baby into shape!

Saturday, May 23



Leaving Town for a Week

Must... resist... dumb puns like "leafing town fo a week", because right now leaves are about all that's happening. The first one I thought was very nice, the second is small and deformed. I probably clocked it with the grow light.




Anyway, the vine is leaning a good direction and the girl should be ready to explode into frantic growing when I get back!

And just for the heck of it, here is one of the Monarch butterflys we've been hatching...




Saturday, May 16

If Good Worms Make Good Dirt...

Then I'm going to have great soil. As I've dug a couple of these up, I've wondered if they were actually small snakes!






Those are not as long as some of them, but the longest one I saw got whacked by the shovel and is now a matching pair of medium sized critters.




Meanwhile, the first true leaf looks pretty good to me:




Thursday, May 14

Mirror Images

The bigger twin is on the right, her smaller heat damaged sister on the left. I guess I'll pull the plug on the runt pretty soon. No room for sympathy in a pumpkin patch.

The way the leaves are growing the same direction makes me wonder - if you put the seed into the ground at the right angle, could you ultimately control which way the vine was going to run?

Monday, May 11


It's Monday Evening...

Do you know where your children are? Mine are sitting quietly in their protective cage, gathering strength so they can explode when the time is right.






Saturday, May 9

Philosophical Question

Let's just say you were playing around with grow lights, trying to lengthen the days. And let's just say you were an idiot. And maybe one of your grow lights fell over and now instead of a grow light it was a HEAT lamp, cooking your pumpkin seedlings, one of which was roughly ONE INCH away from the light bulb.

Anyway, the question isn't about run-on sentences. The question is: how long would it take the plants to die or at least show damage if they were going to?

Well, the answer is that this actually happened Thursday evening. The plant that was an inch from the light bulb isn't as strong as here sister, but both are alive and growing. I'll get a picture up tomorrow but they're going strong instead of sending me scrambling for backup seeds.

Thursday, May 7

Let's Get This Show on the Road!

The girls have sprouted! I figured I'd give them some extra sunlight while they're tiny to sort of trick them into thinking they live someplace a pumpkin normally would, like Oregon or Connecticut.




Yeah, I know they're not much to look at - newborn babies usually aren't. They'll need to sit still and be quiet for the next two weeks while they get some roots growing... then it will be off to the races.

Tuesday, May 5

Update from the Patch

No seeds are popping out of the ground yet. It's been three days. Yeah I planted the seeds deep - that should lead to deep roots right? But come on girls get with the program!

---

Erin saw two deer in the front yard this evening. They are the first deer we've seen since winter. This is a family blog so I'll just say you frekin' deer can die and eat sheets becuz I hate you all.

I have a dream a couple of nights ago. Thgere was a 22 point buck in my yard. Seriously, I dreamed about that. Is there such a thing as a 22 point buck? Hold on and let me Google that thought...

Why yet s there is! As in, "Monster 22 point buck from Wisconsin". I don't know what it did to make the news, ate a small kid or something I guess. Anyway it got what it deserved:

Sunday, May 3

Sweet Seeds

Ok, so without getting too detailed about the bird and bee thing, the seeds I just
planted had a mother and a father.

The mother of my seed was the 843 Heyne. Not a notably huge pumpkin, but it
has a great background. Its parents are both famous - the 1420.5 LaRue and
the 1446 Eaton. This is the same seed genetics that Joe Jutras grew his world
record 1689 Jutras with in 2007.

I've seen the father of my seed, the 1290 Poirier, described as "The infamous
1290 Poirier ’07 is one of the classic dark orange fruit to date.
"

And the thinking is that color comes mostly from the father. So I've got size
coming from the mother and dark orange from the father.

Sweet seed indeed!

Saturday, May 2

Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!

You're looking at this year's seed lineup. I'll plant them both, and may the best plant win! The glasses have a mixture of Norweigan seaweed extract that the seeds will soak in before being planted. That seaweed fertilizer is really nasty stuff but the plants supposedly love it.



















I carefully filed down the edges of the seeds so the roots and leaves can break out easily...



















And they're ready to hit the seaweed! I labeled them so I can tell them apart, but the genetics of these two girls are nearly identical anyway. (So why are the seeds different colors I wonder? I have several seeds from both these pumpkins and the coloring is consistent.)