Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 41 Entries. Wednesday, March 5 View Page hello, greetings from snowy montana. only 100 frost free days per year, but we ordered dill's giant atlantic seeds and will try to grow our first 100lbs plus pumpkin this year...gruesse an all die deutschen kuerbisfans hier auf der webside! jan und petra Wednesday, March 5 View Page well, we had snow last night, and -10 degrees centigrade at an elevation of over 1600m... all jan could do, is climb on our pumpkin hill and pray to the great pumpkin god..... we won't have frost free nights until the middle of june, and even in july, august and especially in september we'll have frost at night if the sky is clear.... so, we really need to time when to start our seeds indoors..not before may i think....anyone out there raising pumpkins under these extreme conditions??? let's share some ideas.... Wednesday, March 5 View Page hello, i'm ms kuerbiskopf-pumpkin head.... here is our philosophy of montana-high altitude pumpkin growing: 1. we want to raise them organically 2. our goal is to beat the "devilish" 666lbs record for montana, which was grown in the bitteroot valley-tropical in comparison to our beaverhead valley 3. we want to try to raise a more hardy variety by using our own seeds once we get a 100lbs + pumpkin 4. we would love to chat with other growers and exchange seeds they and we can spare... 5. we want this to be fun- 6. we don't want to spend a fortune on building structures, so we plan to be creative and scavenge/recycle materials, even go dump-diving! 7. we want to feel like being in 7th heaven when we watch our pumpkin babies grow into healthy monsters.....:) "snow, snow go away....! we are ready for the adventure...." petra Thursday, March 6 View Page thank you for all the nice invitations...even to bigpumpkin.de, the german pumpkin growers webside! jan and i decided to stay here with the "amis".... and we started a new "club"...called H-A-P-P-Y....which stands for: High Altitude Pumpkin Pioneer Yuppies... our declaration of Happiness will follow after we're done watching survivor....:))) Thursday, March 6 View Page H-A-P-P-Y declaration: 1.thou shall grow pumpkins at an elevation of at least 1000m/3333feet. 2.All pumpkins are considered to be created equal. 3.Thou shall not discriminate against race, color, size or shape of thou pumpkin. 4.thou shall encourage thou pumpkins to be the best thou can be. 5.Thou pumpkins have th right to live in a safe and caring environment. 6.thou shall provide fresh water, clean air, fertile organic soil and protection from extreme weather conditions. 7.thou ultimate goal as a High-Altitude-Pumpkin-Pioneer shall be the pursuit of happiness by nuturing thou inner pumpkin child. Motto: "Let there be H-A-P-P-Yness, let there be pumpkins in your garden of life!" greetings from 1600m/5200feet dillon, montana Jan & Petra (founding parents) Friday, March 28 View Page well found two rainbow trout in our freezer and decided to sacrafice them to the great pumpkin god.....dug two holes in our fruehbeet-cold frame and burried the fishies..:)))) way too cold in montana ..winterstorm watch for tonight...will continue to dream of may and june and the day we can start our high altitude adventure... until then we'll be geocaching....maybe this is an idea: start entering your pumpkin coordinates in your gps and post on www.geocaching.com and then we all can find one another's pumpkins.. .any more ideas...? the long montana winters cause a serious mental condition called "cabin-fever" and one symtom is halluzinations of great pumpkins living high up on mountain peaks..... greeting from petra Thursday, April 10 View Page hallo pumpkin friends....it's still winter in montana! but this weekend the forecast is 70 degrees....well, all i have started in the house are some tomatoe seeds and they are getting kind of leggy....i saved the seeds last year, because they grew really cool tomatoes, a yellow, an orange and a purple heirloom variety...since i don't own a green house i give the plants to friends and they raise them in their greenhouses..and then share some with me in the fall. talk to you all again in may...that's the earliest i am planning to start my atlantic giants....i'm soooo jealous of all you growers out there with little pumpkin babies growing already..... petra Thursday, April 10 View Page this is the big "ugly" yellow....i actually think she is beautiful, but the friend who had her growing in his green house called her ugly.... i saved every single seed from her...and they had a 100% germination...anyone interested in some seeds can write me a message...very sweet tasting. i don't know the variety, so i call her "montana ugly yellow 2007"...good enough, and no, i did not weigh her...she must have been about 1.5lbs....just a guess... Thursday, April 24 View Page well....this is montana! our coldframe is covered in snow again...guess no use starting any of the pretty seeds i got from a friend in germany! thank you janni! wish i could be back in the homeland and start growing them.... Saturday, May 10 View Page well what can i say???? may 9th and snowing again....i was planning to start my pumpkins indoors this weekend.....hahaha Saturday, May 10 View Page the tulips don't mind the wet snow...i figure i have june, july, august and maybe september to grow a 100+lbs pumpkin here in the mountains. got my potatoes planted...yeah!!! Wednesday, May 21 View Page finally warm enough to start....placing pots in coldframe...85 degrees on saturday...moved them inside today...snow down to 5500 feet forecasted for next 3 days..checked and my first dill has a root....named him "Howard"....in honor of his passing today.:(((( Saturday, July 12 View Page here is "Howard Dillon" he saw the first light of day on the day his great-great-great grandfather Howard Dill past away, may 20th 2008.... Saturday, July 12 View Page the other 3 AG are doing great, still in the coldframe and eating away on the 2 trout we buried in spring. we will build a shelter against sun and wind this weekend...and frost, like last night...yes that's right..it froze in july...i tokk photos to prove it!!! Saturday, July 12 View Page 34 degrees, 1 degrees celsius...but we went out last night and covered the babies with blankets...poor howard had ice on his....but he is fine...our other worries are thousands of grasshoppers...they are starting to invade the patch, after eating almost everything else, including rhubarb and potatoe leaves...i guess it's not poisoness to them??? Saturday, July 12 View Page frost on howard's blanket...the camera lens fogged up, so the photo isn't very sharp...but still tells it all... we had only a half of an inch of rain in june...and no rain in july yet...some windstorms and smoke from california or canadian fires...need to irrigate all day long.....:((( Saturday, July 12 View Page these are our rhubarb leaves...we are thinking of getting chickens next year as pest control, because we don't want to poison our vegetables and all the birds that visit our garden. the robins, blue birds, king birds etc are doing a good job catching the critters, but there are too many. anyone having success with chickens? this way we'd habe eggs and manure to add to the compost, too...and chicken soup for the soul in winter...hahaha Saturday, July 12 View Page and here a photo of my winter squash...to provide us with vitamins for the long montana winter...some blue hubbard, ushiki from janni in germany, butter cup, heart of gold etc. they are doing really well on the tarp...also have started some sibirian watermelon, heirloom with yellow meat and only 80 days growing season...let's keep our fingers crossed! Sunday, July 20 View Page a day after the frost froze some of my potatoes we decided to build a dome for howard and the "3 musketeers"....he loves it! growing a foot each day, having shade and protection from the hot montana wind and only a handful of grasshoppers find their way inside each day. very hot during the day, but down in the 40's at night......no rain...only 2 short thunderstorms this month...today i did some foilage fertilization with Dr. Benson's....on all my squashes and tomatoes... Wednesday, July 23 View Page my first female on one of the 3 musketeers...:)))) yes baby-grow!!! Wednesday, July 23 View Page safe under the "dome" yesterday we had a rain storm....the first moisture since the snow on june 11th...a little hail, lots of wind, but the kids are doing well and actually appreciated the cool moist air...only 60 days left until we get our "killer-frost" (25 degrees fahrenheit and colder....-5 bis -10grad frost) after september 15....lets hope for the best and say our prayers to the great pumpkin in the sky!!! Sunday, July 27 View Page yesterday was day one...."trout pumpkin 1" opened her first female blossom. i pollinated her with herself...and now we hope she will grow for the next 60 days....left only one vine on the plant and there is another blossom coming at the end of this one....wish us luck! this is our very first atlantic giant!!!! Sunday, July 27 View Page day 2 for our "moellerborn" this is the combination of our last names ( densborn and moeller)...looks like she is ready to grow and become our first 100+lbs baby.... Sunday, July 27 View Page and today our moellerborn II started out her journey...she is the other plant growing on the 2. trout.... well we think the indians knew what they were doing when they buried a fish with their corn, beans and squash hundreds of years ago! Friday, August 15 View Page what a shock....happened last night, any idea? Friday, August 15 View Page the AGs are in a dome, protected from the direct sun, wind and rain/hail...at least the big one didn't explode....yet!!! Friday, August 15 View Page so, this will be our champion, if he doesn't blow up! the beer is the best you can get in montana these days:"bayern" dancing trout...the brewermaster in missoula is from baveria, germany....juergen is his name. the label is a drawing by great falls artist Monte Dolack if all fails, we get us a six pack and get drunk....hahaha for the pumpkin funeral.... Saturday, August 23 View Page so here we are: frost got our squash on the night of august 21....30 degrees/-2 degrees celcius. we didn't cover them up the night before because the forecast was for 40's...and it was very windy...this picture was taken early in the morning....things started to look much worse after the sun cooked the frozen leaves... Saturday, August 23 View Page then the sun came out almost 85 degrees/25 grad celcius and we hurried and built a wire dome with cover to protect the squash from the sunlight....the next night frost again, but we pulled a brown tarp over the new dome and covered every squashy with blankets.... Saturday, August 23 View Page but we were sooooooooo lucky: our atlantic giant in the dome was safe under the cover....and he is growing...this will be our champion. we only have two other small once...many didn't grow after pollination. they just shriveled up and fell off the vine...:((( we hope our friends will provide us with better seeds for next years season....bitte, bitte janni und sepp......:)))) Saturday, August 23 View Page my janni the jedi knight kept watch over the squashies all night.....not.....!!!! we just hope they will still do some growing, the fruit and vine are fine...the forcast is for more and worse frost next week.....sh.....sugar :( we are going to buy a 100 foot extension cord and put an electric heater with our atlantic giant in the dome. at night we are covering him with a large 16x20 foot blue/silver insulated tarp....an hour before sunset, so it still warms up inside before it gets dark and cold....as soon as the sun sets it gets really cold here at 5200 feet....brrrrrrrrrrr Tuesday, September 9 View Page so here is our one and only baby....actually looks bigger than this in real life...really!!!! every night we cover her up in the dome and then let the sun back in during the warm days....had frost every night since the 2nd of september, all the way down to 27 degrees... she is getting a nice yellow color and we want her to ripen so we can get some seeds to share with friends...even if she won't be a monster size pumpkin, we think she is a beauty queen....right???? Tuesday, September 9 View Page here the proof...it had rained the night before and the rocks we used to weigh down the blankets over our food squash froze to the blankets.....i fell on my behind when i slipped on the frozen grass in our backyard in my birkenstocks....holding camera in one hand and coffee cup in the other....had a soft landing...hahaha also had our first snow on the mountains....brrrrrrrrrrr but we love montana.... Tuesday, September 9 View Page and here we need to show off our results from the county fair...our blue hubbard won a blue and purple ribbon...he weight 6.8 kg or almost 15 us lbs....the first we ever grew and the only one that made it on the whole plant.....the buttercup and ushiki won first place, too...... Friday, September 19 View Page the 100+ Moellerborn (compination of our last names-Moeller and Densborn) is ripening...we do not dare to disturb her by measuring...we will just wait until it snows...no killer frost yet, but regular frost (28-30 fahrenheit, or -1 to -4 centigrade) almost every night. but we cover her up and now we also have another baby growing in the dome....yeah. Friday, September 19 View Page jan sharing his love for pumpkin growing...we are so happy to have at least one to care for......she will get a special place in our living room for the winter.... Friday, September 19 View Page and here we had a little visitor "panther" our neighbor's kitty. she comes across the fence whenever she sees us checking our pumpkins....you can also see the other baby, trying to survive right at the entrance of the dome...we wrapp her in a fleece blanket at night before we close the tarp for the night....maybe she will be a 20lbs....hahaha Sunday, October 12 View Page here she is...only 46.6 lbs but we love her and she has great color and will get a special place in our livingroom for the winter. Sunday, October 12 View Page this is the 46.4 Moellerborn 08....high altitude mile high baby.....jan is a very proud daddy!!!! Sunday, October 12 View Page and here petra and jan kuerbiskopf-pumpkin heads- are having their picture taken with the giant pumpkin....at least to them she is a giant.... and one of these days we will stand next to our mega-size pumpkin just like that.....we are dreamers!!! Sunday, October 12 View Page and this is the end of our growing season 2008. we would like to thank all of you who showed interest in our efforts and struggle and offered advice! we are looking forward to plan for next year and trying out some of the new seeds you are sharing with us.... vorallem vielen dank an janni und sepp und wir werden weiter voneinander hoeren auf unserer neuen deutschen kuerbisseite www.crazy-growers.de, gelle??? good luck to all of you out there...to us you are ALL champions, no matter how big or little your pumpkin!! auf wiedersehen in 2009! jan and petra in freezing montana