July 19th - Bessie Takes a Bath

Bessie now is 241 pounds of pumpkin. That's a whole lotta girl to love. But is that powdery mildew on the leaves? It looks like it to me, white powdery stuff. That is very bad news if you are a pumpkin plant.


The bath water is one part fungicide, one part insecticide, two parts fertilizer.

It may not get the vine borers, but it sure knocked out the swarms of mosquitoes!

July 18 - Day 25

Bessie has gracefully eased over the 200 pound mark. How is this possible? Well, remember she's growing while you're sleeping.

And maybe "graceful" isn't a good way to describe a Giant Mutant Pumpkin. In any case, folks keep asking how I get her on the scales each night. I actually use a rope I made into a measuring tape to take three measurments of her. Then, there's a spreadsheet based on hundreds of other pumpkins which estimates her weight.

One of my Pumpkin Helpers, Erin, decided the measuring rope looks like a jump rope - which it does - and used it to knock out half of one of her front permanent teeth on Saturday. I'll try to get Erin to pose for a picture with the rope, her braces, and the gap in her smile, but I bet she won't do it.

July 15 - Day 21

There are several rules for taking pictures of pumpkins (all of which I have made up). First, wearing orange makes you more photogenic. Or at least you blend in with the pumpkin. Next, always stand behind the pumpkin, not in front. That makes the pumpkin look a lot bigger.

Bessie begins her third week with us weighing a healthy 148 pounds.

The last picture of the plant was a little lame, so here's an arial veiw. Wow, climbing trees sure is tougher than it was when I was a kid. I guess that's not very relevant at the moment, since I just took the picture from an upstairs window.

All of the ends of the vines have been clipped off now to keep the plant from growing any bigger.

Bessie is hiding under the leaves to keep cool back where that bit of blue tarp is.

The sport of competitive pumpkin growing is intense. It's action-packed, non-stop drama that pits neighbor against neighbor, man against wife, brother against sister. In other words, this is the perfect pastime for the people of Atlanta! ALTA cannot hold a candle in comparison.

Bessie has been gaining as average of 16 pounds a day - tonight's weigh-in was 132 pounds. I'll take a new picture tomorrow night. But to be honest, all it will be is a picture of a slightly larger pumpkin...

I toss in my bed late at night as I ponder deep questions. I am a troubled man. Why? Over 500,000 people live in Gwinnett county - and I doubt that a single one of them is growing a greater pumpkin than I am.

My heart cries out to these lost souls! We do NOT need 4 more lanes on Buford Highway; we need a community composting program, like saner communities 5% of our size.

I believe I am being called to take this message to the masses: people, pull up your tomatoes! Roto-till your bermuda! The age of the giant, mutant pumpkin is at hand!!!

July 11 - Day 17

I guess I owe Ms. Pumpkin an apology. Early in the season I complained the tomatoes were growing faster than the pumpkins. Well, I don't have any 85 pound tomatoes, so clearly the pumpkin is now growing faster.

I know several people are fond of the Coke can in the pictures, but I'm thinking I need to replace it with a 2 liter bottle!

July 8th - Day 15
Ugh. I cut off a dead leaf earlier this week. I saw the stem was full of water - not good, looked like a place for rot to start. Then I looked closer - and saw the grub floating in the water. Today was another round of killing vine borers.



Thanks for the kind words, Goran and Bryan. Here is what the patch looks like now. The pumpkin should be over 50 pounds today - I'll post the next picture of it on Monday.

July 6 - Day 13

The pumpkin is packing on the pounds. In the last 24 hours her circumference grew from 37" to 44", and her weight increased from 17 to 28 pounds.

I've got a big problem with the pumpkin growing on top of the vine. That's got to be fixed gently, without breaking the stem of the pumpkin. The female bloom from July 4th failed to set I think, so there's still only the single pumpkin on the vine.

I probably won't post a new picture until day 20.

July 4th - Day 11

She's really starting to grow fast. Estimated weight is 17 pounds.

It is said the 2nd 500 pounds are much harder than the first, but a 30 inch circumference at day 10 is VERY respectable!