We got gay plants

As of 19 Aug 08, the Monument pumpkins have yet to produce any female flowers. I don't think we are going to get any pumpkins this year.

Why We Can't Grow Pumpkins in Monument

Here are a couple of deer grazing in our front yard. There were nine total with these two being the biggest. We thought they were leaving our yard until Hawkeye started squawking and we discovered that three of the deer were by the pumpkin green house











So Herbie and I decided to watch from the house
to see what these guys would do and take some pictures. I don't know what the pumpkin guard dog was doing at this time but he wasn't protecting the pumpkins. It looked like they were just getting a drink from the water collected during the rain storm.











We were getting a little nervous when this little guy looked like he was going to climb on the green house. We decided to just wait and see what happened









As you can see he decided to climb on top of the greenhouse




















That's when Herbie had enough and went running outside to save his pumpkins and the deer went running

He was very proud of himself

Here was the damage to the green house

Now I now what must have eaten the pumpkin vine

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.

LaRue up and running

LaRue has been in the ground since Friday June 6th. This photo was taken on June 11th. Stand back everyone, she's about to take off!

First Post 2008 - Two in the ground and two adopted

Ahhh the beginning, two have now been adopted - May 18th

Tubby in the ground-May 31st

Miss Piggy in the ground - May 31st

one in the ground...

Our first pumpkin is in teh ground. I also put a drip system in this year. We'll see how well that works.

Here's the "big" pumpkin seed. Brett might be growing this one if none of his seeds germinate... Cindy is growing my other "big" pumpkin seed.