Something ate my pumpkin vine

Sunday morning, 27 Jul 08, I went outside bright and early before Herbie was even out of bed to fill up the 5 gal buckets and noticed that one of the pumpkin plants had vined to where it was touching the side of the greenhouse. I decided since it was suppose to be hot that day, I would just open up the sides of the green house so the plants to get some fresh air. We then were pretty busy the rest of the day and never even looked at the pumpkins. The plan was to take some pictures so everyone could see how much the plants had grown in two week. Herbie went out to fill the buckets again with a mixture of water and Miracle Grow. He then noticed that the end of one of the vines was chewed off and of course there were little girls flowers on the end. So we closed up the greenhouse and hopefully the plant will survive and produce a champion pumpkin. I did not take any pictures

So at great risk of bodily injury from either Nicole or Cindy (or both), I'm going ahead with this post. Just because my pumpkin seems to be growing a little faster is no reason to threaten my children's safety. So here are a couple pictures taken on the 22nd. There are two plants that are intermingled now, so you can't really see individual plants, but the one orphaned by Nicole is on the left and the one graciously given to me by Josh on the right. You can see how well the one on the left has been growing when given the love and care it deserves. The second picture shows the first female flower on the orphan right after having been hand-pollinated. Next week should tell if it took and we'll be having at least one pumpkin. Since the kids have been out of town for a week and will be gone for another week, Barley the Beagle has had to step in on the fertilization duties...

branchaw/forsyth punkin update

I haven't posted in a long time but here is an update on the Branchaw/Forsyth pumpkin. It's taking off (finally!!!). There are tons of little flower buds. Now we're just waiting for them to get big enough to open up. Hopefully there will be a baby pumpkin before we get too much busier with the wedding. Another strip of hail netting needs to be added this weekend. Wayne, should I put it on a "WE Work Order Form"?

Monument Pumpkins July 14

Updated pumpkin pictures. They are growing!!! Nicole pumpkin is the closest with Josh's pumpkin in the back.

A close up of Nicole's pumpkin

Jerome, the best ever pumpkin guard dog. He keeps the deer away from the pumpkins

Monument Pumpkins June 23

The Monument pumpkins were planted outside on 23 Jun 08. One plant adopted from Nicole and one from Josh P. Herbie has created this nice drip system consisting of two 5 gallon buckets (one for each plant) and drippers at the rate of 1 gal per hour which really takes longer since not pressurized. So far works pretty well except when the drippers get clogged.

This is the new and improved greenhouse for the pumpkins with the 5 gallon buckets. Not as cute as the old greenhouses and definitely not as expensive.