Welcome Magnolia!

For unto us a daughter is born,
Unto us a daughter is given.
And suddenly there was a great multitude rejoicing!
And her name shall be called:
Magnolia!

National Pollination Day!

Ahh, the grandest holiday of them all! Especially after the uncertainty, the fear the entire event might be canceled this year.

This is the bloom in the pre-dawn hours, waiting to open. (Pollinators set their alarm clocks early on National Pollination Day.)









Now she's open! That white thing is a thermometer - it's gonna be a scorcher.












Lilly admires the male blossoms before we gather the pollen.












Can you see the pollen (it looks like yellow dust) after the petals have been removed?












What a fine-looking 5 lobed flower. 5 lobes, which means there are 10 stalks in there which will make seeds, are slightly preferred over 4 lobed flowers. 5 lobes occur about 50% of the time, maybe a little less.

Get out you stupid bees - that's my job today!







I just use the male flower like a paintbrush to distribute pollen.











Now we'll just hope for the best, it might take 48 hours to know for sure it worked. I'm feeling pretty good about this one though. The milk jugs are full of ice to try to keep things cool.

I'm Going To Be a Father

Thursday morning looks to be the day. Like all expectant parents, I better make a list or I'll forget something important!

- build a crib
- freeze up some blocks of ice
- set up the tarp
- prepare some baby food (this baby should love pureed Alaskan anchovies)
- call in sick for work
- write a birth announcement

So much to do in the next 2 days!!!

Too Much Fertilizer

Preemie 3 gave it up today and turned yellow. The folks at bigpumpkins.com think I may have fertilized too much, or maybe the heat is doing the damage.

I started a backup seed yesterday. I think it might be too late for that. Then again, if I remember correctly, Doug Adam's Georgia record pumpkin was started on June 23rd. That could be a good sign!








So I've shaded Preemie 4 with a tarp and quit fertilizing. Notice the green stripes and spots on her? I have no idea what that means. Probably too much fertilizer. Darn it.

I will say that each Preemie makes it further than the one before. Preemie 4's flower is already bigger than the fruit, which I think is a good sign.

Preemie 3

You hold my summer in your hands.

Wait a minute... do pumpkins have hands? Anyway, yesterday morning I thought she was fading like the others. Then last night I thought she looked better. I'm going to run out of chances before too long.

There is a Premie 4 on a side vine, and Premie 5 even further out than Premie 3. But if Preemie 3 can't make it, I guess something is wrong that isn't going to get better.

I wonder if there's time to start over? I'll wait a week on Premie 5 before I do that. And the kid in this picture looks pretty healthy. I'll know her fate for sure tomorrow or Sunday.

The Joys of Fish Fertilizer

Wow, it's come all the way from Alaska! But how can it be "deodorized fish emulsion"? The stuff smells like every anchovy in the ocean gathered up in Alaska for the international anchovy convention.













The flies and wasps get excited when I spray it on the plant. I will point out it looks better than it smells.

But if it grows bigger pumpkins - and it is supposed to do that - it's a small price to pay!

Random Thoughts

I'm nervous. Preemie 2 has given up now. The third baby pumpkin looks good, and should bloom in about 5 days if all goes well.

But what if Preemie 3 fails too? It's within a couple of feet of being as far out the vine as Bessie was - about 20 feet. I'm running out of real estate!

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The cats have started spending a lot of time outdoors. I think their driven by the Hunter's Instinct to bag a few of those elusive Alaskan anchovies.

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Hey wait! Where's my blog about the Anchovies? Gone? I'll get that up on the blog tomorrow.

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Baylor's Tree and Shrub systemic insecticide has changed my life. I CANNOT BELIEVE that stuff isn't labeled for vine borer treatment.

I'm Getting Impatient for the Main Show to Start!

The vine is looking pretty good. I guess that's about on par with where we were last year. There has been no sign of a vine borer since I treated the other mini-pumpkin plants. The borers can't give up this easily, can they?










Preemie 2 is looking pretty good. Preemie 1 did not survive. Preemie 3 will be about as far out the vine as Bessie was. I'd still like to grow 2 pumpkins off this plant if the plant is strong enough.

Tonight, a Shout-Out!

To my pumpkin-growing-buddy Lee, an excellent grower from South Georgia. Lee offered me a pair of prime seeds and I'm really pleased to have them!








It turns out I won't need them until next season (I hope I hope I hope). But no question, here's the seed for 2008. It's from a 1,112 pound pumpkin from Jeff Holland, a well-known grower, and both parents were way over 1,000 pounds too! Oh man that's gonna be sweet!

Thanks again Lee- grow 'em big!!!

It's not quite Kudzu...

But that's a solid foot of growth today. It's sort of hard to tell from the picture, but I turned the tape measure upright and pulled the tape out a foot.

Today was cloudy all day, maybe I'll try it again to compare on a pright sunny day. Then again, my uncle Roy says plants grow their best on cloudy days, and he should know.