[kakugori]

Y'know...I've never grown my own pumpkins, but I'm tempted. Have had a hard time the last few years finding the really big ones. I'm a bad gardener, though, since I hate weeding and watering.

 

[kakugori]

Ok, I did it. I got some big max seeds today, and I've got them started in a ziploc on a damp paper towel. We'll see how this goes.

I'm going to get a kabocha and harvest it for seeds too.

 

[kakugori]

Yeah, I can get cheap little things easily enough but I haven't found any really good, big pumpkins in a few years. I want another couple that are this size:

(That arm in its mouth is life-size, for scale of course...the one behind it you can just kind of see was just as big or larger.)

 

[kakugori]

They're sprouting! I'm going to give them one more day, then move them into small containers.


Not a clue what the big pumpkin was - we bought 3 from the guy who grew them, sold as "hey you want some pumpkins?" More orange with less ridges sounds good. I just chose at random from the two available varieties.

Sometime next week I'm going to get a kabocha and harvest it for seeds. For eating, not for decor. If I've gotta water these things all summer anyway, might as well go for it.

 

[kakugori]

I've got green!

These weren't up yesterday.

 

[kakugori]

I really need to get the mini-tiller going, because those little sprouts doubled in size overnight and the ones that weren't up yet have made their appearance. Over the weekend, I suspect I have some planting to do. After fighting with the little, useless tiller that is.

 

[kakugori]

Well, folks, don't feel too behind...but I've got my first "real" leaves now, and I'm proud.

(still not in the ground, though)

 

[kakugori]

After giving my Dad plenty of time to mess around with the useless mini tiller (from hell), I got out there last week/weekend and put my pumpkins in the ground. All 16 of them, plus one watermelon plant on the end. This was formerly one (of 4) of my Grandad's garden spots. This one being the best, the former strawberry and tomato patch, and with the best dirt - but it's chock full of rocks, old broken pottery and sometimes even old glass. Tools: good hefty shovel for grass removal, ye olde ancestral potato fork to loosen, ancient all-metal garden hand plow, handy forged-steel garden spade, soaker hose, and a few little, black, curious feline assistants (Bats and Binx, surprisingly not pictured).

This is approximately 18" wide, 24' long. I'm going to run the vines out into the grass. Needs mulch now.

 

[kakugori]

Never heard of baking soda solution before. It's a salt, and I use it to kill grass around the end of our driveway where I don't want anything growing ever. Literally "salting the earth". So...might help but don't get too much!


My little patch seems to be doing pretty good. I mulched them yesterday, burying the soaker hose under the mulch too, so hopefully they'll be happy later in the summer when the rain disappears. (I'm very happy to realize that I actually can get a hose to that part of the garden. I thought I was going to be hauling water for quite a distance. I am a better gardener when I don't have to carry water around.)

 

[kakugori]

Coming along, putting out more leaves. I've got 2 that I'm keeping an eye on, they're a little smaller than the rest. Thankfully it's been raining on and off, so I haven't needed to water much yet. I'm sure that'll change come July and August.

(My assistant Bats was having his afternoon nap when I went to check on the pumpkins today. Normally he's hiding in the hedge, following my every move.)

 

[kakugori]

WitchyKitty, I feel ya on the trees. I park under a cedar tree and it just dumps crap all over my poor car. It's right next to the driveway, so I can't get away from it.

I need to get out in the pumpkin patch and pull up some grass, put out some more mulch...but it's getting hot now, and I don't want to be out there during the day.

 

[kakugori]

I'd have pictures, if it'd ever stop raining! My plants just keep getting larger, and it's almost scary. I've had to wade out into the yard and start directing them a little bit so they'll go the direction I planned. Rather than shoot out a vine, these big max types seem to have just gotten taller until they flop over start growing into one another - so, it's a vine but it really doesn't seem like it until they've crept up on you. I do have little flower buds on some plants, as well as lots of little curlicues latching onto the grass nearby.

 

[kakugori]

I have lots of ants too. As well as spiders and ladybugs. They don't seem to be doing any harm...but something is. I've got some droopy, yellowing, snacked on leaves on a few plants. Can't see any bugs doing the damage, though. (Let's see how they like the special seasoning I added this afternoon.)

But mostly looking good, lots of big leaves and some of my first flowers.

 

[kakugori]

First harvest!

Well, sorta. Stuffed, battered, and fried squash blossoms. I figured, they're male blossoms that had already closed, no female flowers yet, might as well do something useful with 'em.

 

[kakugori]

Aw, man. I have vine borers. And they're in almost every plant. So, I've been out with the boning knife and the Sevin, having at 'em. The plants are still looking pretty good overall, but there is damage...guess now it's just keep hunting and see what happens.

I am intensely jealous of you guys with your healthy looking plants!

 

[kakugori]

Gah, so jealous, want pumpkins now.


I think I'm winning my guerrilla war on the vine borers, though. I don't see any more damage today, and all the leaves are perked up. My few female blossoms are sloooooooowly growing, and there's plenty of new buds and leaves. I'm gonna have to get out sometime when it's cool and get rid of some grass, though. /alwayssomething

 

[kakugori]

My Big Maxes are putting little roots down at various intervals, so I can see how that really helps keep the non-damaged parts of the vine healthy. Near the roots I've got some obvious signs of damage but the ends all seem happy and healthy now. No more wilty leaves - think I've taken care of most of the vine borers, though I'm still keeping an eye out. Have yet to see the *redacted* moth form.

Got one baby pumpkin growing (it's...yellow like summer squash), several more females that haven't opened up their flowers yet. Also, one little tiny watermelon - I've got one plant at the end of the row. Lots of happy bees hanging out in the flowers.


And still lots of grass. I cleaned out some, mostly brown underneath??, but I'm not sharing any more pictures until I can get the other 2/3 cut. I'm spending some quality time with the scissors this week.

 

[kakugori]

ALL of my baby big maxes are this color yellow (20+), including the one that's growing larger every day. Could be wrong, but it seems normal. My vines are anywhere from 3 feet long to 5-6 feet long at this point, and still going. Starting to get a few ~2 ft offshoots on a couple of plants. Most of the female blooms are closer to the end, away from the root.




As for buying pumpkins, I think 1-2 weeks before is okay. You'll want to keep them in a cool place, not refrigerator cold but not cooking in the sun. We leave ours out on the deck outside without problems (not even from the various resident wildlife).

 

[kakugori]

It's baseball season, though one of these things isn't quite the right color. And this isn't the same one as the last picture I posted! They're groooooooowwiiiiiiinnnngg. Seems to have taken to the accidentally-all-night watering pretty well (oopsie). Still fending off a borer here and there, but overall doing very well.

Last week was so nice weather wise, very cool. Now we're back to this unpleasant heat that makes it very hard to want to get out there and do anything (like remove the last of that grass that needs cut from around the vines).

 

[kakugori]

Powdery mildew seems like the only problem I haven't had so far. I've got one vine that seems to have exploded overnight (it's wrapped in a muslin bandage, seems to be not actively dying), one that the borers got to that doesn't look so hot (doesn't want to go on the cart just yet, but not feeling happy), and the squash bugs have appeared (hello, Seven my friend, I'm glad these aren't for eating). Seem to have lost a pumpkin where the stem has broken. But, I've also got quite a few good pumpkins going - they seem to be turning orange early, but are still growing (keep on little maxes!) one in particular which is nicely shaped and getting large that I've got sitting upright. Probably about 1 good baby pumpkin per (healthy) plant. Seems like maybe they're not setting as many as fast as they ought to be doing, so I feel a little behind even though it's only just August. Thinking I should break out the Miracle Grow - I haven't done any fertilizing so far (good dirt, things grown here rarely need much help).

And that's my rambling update, since I haven't provided any in a while. Hopefully I'll remember to take the camera out for pictures soon.



(Relevant: I have cornstalks drying and waiting for their final purpose. They have that dry cornstalk smell. Very motivating.)