And I Knew Lee...

... when he was absolutely nothing - LOL.

And now my pumpkin buddy from South Georgia is King Of The Hill. His 920 pound pumpkin is set to crush the old Georgia record. That's gotta be easily the biggest fruit ever grown this far south.

Now that you're a star Lee, don't forget the folks who made you what you are! LOL.

And save me some seeds dude - we'll be in touch!

Do or Die Week

The baby we were watching (preemie 1) didn't make it to Pollination Day. Neither did Preemie 2. That leaves us with a pretty nice vine, but no pumpkins:



















Preemie 3 is our next great hope. After that... I dunno.

The good news is that preemie 3 looked nice and strong tonight. And there's always the chance a pumpkin might bloom on a side vine. Heck, the plant last year was so strong I have bloomed and set a side vine fruit before it got eaten. Anyway, we need a pumpkin in the next 7 days, or the season will be in jeopardy.

New Firepower in the War Against Ultimate Evil

Hey thanks for the firecrackers Tom! I figured I wouldn't really get a change to use them - boy was I wrong!



















Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the main event; it all happened pretty fast. Anyway, Saturday morning I looked out the back window and that nasty digusting deer Fluffy was peacefully grazing. She was about 20 feet from the pumpkin vine, slowly heading in its direction. Leaving a trail of death and destruction in her wake.

So I grabbed my new M-80s and went outside. I smiled and murmured, "Oh, don't mind me, Fluffy" while I turned my back to light the fuse. She just stood there looking stupid. It's the only look she has, I think.

I turned around and threw the M-80 right at her feet. Or, right at where her feet had been a split second ago. Sweet throw! The only way it could have been better would be if she had opened her mouth and the M-80 had gotten lodged in the back of her throat before it exploded.

I've seen no sign of her snce... I wish I knew how far she ran before she found something tasty to eat in somebody else's yard. Will one gun-shot-like explosion be enough to keep her away?

Ready to Rumble?

The plant is growing like a weed. In fact, I think this vine would put any weed to shame - except kudzu.

I'm a little worried that the baby pumpkin looks a little small and puny. I sure hope it doesn't abort. There's another coming along a few feet further out, but still... oh well that worry can wait until tomorrow.

Results From the Ultrasound

Once again, I'm going to have a daughter (funny how that always what happens).

She's going to be long and lean, just like her Daddy!

Geez, she looks so much like me... finally, I'm going to have a child without the need for a paternity test.



















Probably she gets pollinated Sunday or Monday and then the fun finally begins! (Wow, I just looked and the pollination counter is dead on, and I haven't adjusted it since replanting. Cool.)

A New Trick...

New to me, it's not like I invented it or anything. You want to bury the vine at each leaf node, where new roots grow. Some growers bury the entire vine, although I'm nervous about inviting rot that way. Anyway, you dig a trench where the vine is about to grow:























Then you fill in the trench as the vine grows:


















I measured the main vine growth at a full foot today. Side vines are starting to branch too. I'll probably not get an update up until Wednesday, but the season is about to get interesting again!

Hoof Prints in the Front Yard


















Darn deer, no sunflowers or beans by the front lamp post this year. The deer chew them off about once a week. Why don't they go gorge on the pumpkin out back? Well for one thing, it sort of smells back there. Rotten egg, garlic, and, umm... predator urine combine to make it a place I wouldn't want to dine. (Really, it's not that bad :)

And a picture of a real (682 pound!) pumpkin, from south Georgia no less:

Rot at the Stump

There's no rest in the sport of competitive pumpkin growing. No timeouts, like there are in wussy sports like football and professional wrestling.

Today's issue is Stump Integrity. I knew the stump had been stressed straighting out the vine and had some minor cracks in it. But yesterday, I saw some gunk that looked like a squash borer was eating away in there. NO!!!!!!

Here's a picture after I injected insecticide into the vine. (It's blue because I use the syringe to try to refill ink cartridges during the off-season. Now there's an activity ALMOST as stupid as growing giant pumpkins.)






















After that, let's coat it with Sevin, an insecticide dust.






















That shouldhold the bugs back for a while!

Hey Lee, Post a Pic!

Lee just weighed his 682 pound pumpkin, let's get a look at what a REAL pumpkin looks like!

More hope for all us Georgia growers!

I am convinced I'll never have very good side vines growing in my confined plot. Somehow the plant knows there are other plans to the sides and doesn't want to rout the tomatoes and rosemary. Why not? Guess I'll never really know...

But at least the side vines look better this time:

"But John, It's Just a Pumpkin"

It's been a year and a half, but that comment still haunts me.

You never know what you're going to say that hurts somebody more than you'll ever know.

"But Susan, it's just a job. I'm sorry you lost it. You'll find another one."

"But John, it's just a prom. You can find someone else to take."

I could go on. But there are some very nice people who check on my progress, and I'm trying not to offend anyone.

So let me just say, she's growing well, no sign of deer, the jury os out on the side vines, and...

IT'S NOT JUST A PUMPKIN!!!

She's starting to run now

Tomorrow I'm going to measure how much the vine has grown in 24 hours. And give me some side vines!!!

Into Every Life a Little Rain Must Fall...


















But this is getting to be ridiculous.

(By the way, the soap on a string is meant to discourage Fluffy. Being a dirty creature, the smell of Ocean Breeze Dial is disagreeable to her.)

HOWEVER, the Georgia record pumpkin was grown in a cool, wet summer, so maybe the storms are a good thing!

And a sunny picture from yesterday, what a beautiful daughter:

She's Starting to Vine


















But maybe there was some wind while we were gone, she looks sort of blown around.

I had to pull the squash plants - they were starting to show splotches of powdery mildew. A bad disease. Surely I'm not going to fight that with Jemimah, am I?

Fun is Fun, but Done is Done...


















Oh relax, that's not the pumpkin plant!
It's the squashes, which all of a sudden started showing signs of a disease called Powdery Mildew.

Since Powdery Mildew also likes pumpkins, the squashes had to take one for the team.

Survival of the Fittest


















Ok, Jemimah II is looking good; this isn't too late a start at all. She got a blast of seaweed bath on Wednesday and we'll do it again on Monday.

But the plant that didn't make the cut isn't nearly as happy...

Thanks to my Friends

Y'all have been very supportive, and I appreciate it! But things are cool. The new plant is fine so far, I'm not terribly worried about the deer, the borers are gone, life is good. Oh, and I'm FINALLY happy with the irrigation system.

But still, thanks for the warm wishes and condolences on my loss. I'll get an updated picture of the new plant up tomorrow. The vine should start running by the end of the weekend.