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Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 14 Entries.
Wednesday, January 5 View Page
Wanted to start my diary in the first few days of January 2011. Got my RMGVG members packet of seeds just before Xmas. What a nice Xmas gift! Thanks Wiz! (and I'll plant those 2 seeds you gave me this season). Right now we still have about 3 inches of snow and it has been bitter cold and now the ground is frozen solid. Good time to go over the seeds and pick my lineup in the next few weeks.
 
Saturday, April 23 View Page
The giant pumpkins and greenie squash and are all up and looking GOOOD! I planted the seeds on April 7. The first one up was the greenie on April 12, then the pumpkins were up by April 14. The cotyledon leaves (very first leaves to appear or baby leaves) are huge and the first true leaves are out and the second ones are barely out. My goal is to have the pumpkin and greenie in the ground by May 1. The giant marrows and giant pear gourd are barely up. The giant tomatoes have been transplanted into 2 1/4 inch pots. I will hopefully plant them next weekend. My all star lineup so far is: Giant Pumpkins are up: 1046 Grande 10 895 Grande 08 (which became my New Mexico State Record for giant pumpkin last year) Giant greenie squash is up: 903 Noel 07 Both giant marrows are up: 43 Cabossel 10 75.4 Wursten 09 Giant pear gourd is up: 89 Scherber 10 Giant tomatoes are all up: 7.18 N. Harp 09 5.416 N, Harp 09 Big Zacs Pictured: 903 Noel,895 Grande,1045 Grande Only thing NOT UP are the long gourds.
 
Tuesday, June 28 View Page
It's been a long time since I last wrote but everything is going well in the giant pumpkin patch except once again I found a rabbit in the giant pumpkin patch running through the 2″ x 4″ field fencing around the patch. Then I left the 1048 Grande pumpkin uncovered and the next morning there were some leaves eaten. Maybe it will be good luck because the same thing happened last year in the same spot that the NM state record pumpkin came from. Luckily the leaves eaten were by the base of the plant and not the growing end of the vine. So I’ve been covering everything in the giant pumpkin patch until I can put some small 1″ chicken wire all around the fence. I got the fencing, just need the time to do it, so for now they will stay covered at night.
 
Tuesday, July 12 View Page
July 10th I pollinated the 895 Grande female pumpkin flower (scroll back to see what it looked like on July 4th and how much it has grown) with an older male flower from the same plant and I took a fresh male flower from the 'greenie' which won't affect the looks of this pumpkin but may produce green pumpkins from it's seeds. I just don't have any opened male flowers from the pumpkins so I had to use the 'greenie'flower.
 
Thursday, July 21 View Page
Day 10-Today the 895 Grande was 21 inches in circumference.
 
Saturday, July 23 View Page
The 895 Grande pumpkin was 32" in circumference on day 13. I didn't measure correctly on day 10 as I lifted it up instead of doing the circumference. Wow, How I could I forget in a year! Two more pollinated further out on the main vine than this one but we will see if they take in this heat.. Something is eating all the tips of the 1048 Grande but not the female flowers that were on them. Covered them up today real well until I figure out if it's a rat or a squirrel..
 
Monday, July 25 View Page
Today I pollinated two 'greenie' female flowers on the 903 Noel 07 plant. Perfect weather-not too hot. On one of the flowers it was a huge 5 lobe. Biggest I've ever seen on any pumpkin in my short GP career(lol). I like this plant. Went out and got some whirly birds that spin, coyote urine and other stinky granular repellant stuff to try to keep the squirrel away. It is definitely a rock squirrel-saw its rocky hole where it lives. Will try this first but the exterminator is the next call.. Setting up a waterproof plant cam that I just got (not that we really need it here). It will be on the 895 Grande 08 pumpkin. It will take a picture and record it's growth once a day. Growing real well. Haven't named that pumpkin yet as it may be culled. There are two others farther out on the main vine in which case I will move the camera.
 
Tuesday, July 26 View Page
The pumpkin patch is filling in quite nicely but not quite full yet. Look at those big gorgeous leaves-more leaves, more food for the pumpkins! Notice the row cover on the ground in the background. I'm trying to keep the pumpkins uncovered more since it has cooled down and starting the monsoon season. I don't want to promote fungal diseases by keeping them damp and covered. The plants need to dry out between showers. I keep the actual small giant pumpkin fruit covered in heavy row cover and burlap to shade them out of the sun and keep the squirrel off them. So far I have 3 little GIANT PUMPKINS (one is growing quite fast) on the 895 Grande plant, none on the 1048 Grande plant (I accidently broke two female flowers off the main vine and a squirrel ate the only pollinated one) on that plant. I have 2 pollinated 'GREENIE' female blossoms (we'll have to wait to see if the pollination 'took' on them but they had the biggest stigmas on both female flowers I've ever seen in my giant pumpkin career-4 years. lol. I hope they took as I've never grown GREEN PUMPKIN LIKE SQUASH before. I also have quite a few GIANT MARROWS going (thank god as the squirrel ate one of those too) on the 78 giant marrow plant. The other giant marrow is now just starting to produce more female flowers-the boyz and the beesz are just waiting for them to be ready! I don't hand pollinate the giant marrows-I let the beez do it. I don't worry about the marrows cross pollinating with the pumpkins because the pumpkins are in the Curcubita Maxima family and the giant marrows are in the Curcubita Pepo family so they can't accidentally cross. I have one more plant in the pumpkin patch and that is a GIANT PEAR GOURD. I haven't talked much about it yet as it isn't very big compared to the other gorillas in the patch but it is flowering and I hope the bees pollinated it. It has beautiful soft fuzzy leaves and tendrils and likes the heat.
 
Monday, August 15 View Page
I culled all the other pumpkins on the 895 Grande except one that is putting on 13 lbs a day for the last week. I call it Max. It was the first pollinated on July 10 and is now 205 lbs today. It was sucking up all the juice from the other two babies anyways so I figure give it all the juice. I hope the two I have on the 1048 Grande do well. They are in great position on the main vine with lots of leaves behind them, just pollinated later so they are smaller but their potential is good.
 
Tuesday, August 16 View Page
Well I culled the last little pumpkin on the 895 Grande pumpkin plant, leaving one giant pumpkin who I’ve named ‘MAX’ to suck up all the juice. This last little one wasn’t growing for 4 days so I culled it. I only hope nothing happens to MAX that will ruin  my season. It hit 216 lb benchmark today. Hope the rest of August and all of September are WARM which will help put on the LBS! It has been putting on 13 lbs A DAY for a week now which isn’t a lot in the giant pumpkin world, but I’ll take it here at 7000 ft elevation. It is on the main vine but only 8 feet out. Giant pumpkin growers like to wait till the blossoms are 10 feet+ out from the main vine to pollinate.  I thought it would be the one I would have to cull later. But noooooo, MAX decided it wants the vine all to itself robbing all the other little pumpkins of nutrients (juice) and the plant is not putting out anymore female flowers either which is good-all the energy is going to MAX now as it wants! Just to put this in perspective on this date, August 16 of last year, KING KONG, who became the NM State Record, was 32 lbs! It got pollinated on July 29, and MAX got pollinated on July 10. I figure it has an additional 2-3 weeks to grow bigger than Kong  IF the weather stays warm at night. Wish for a Indian Summer for me… GROW NAGUAS, GROW! (Chinese for grow pumpkins, grow!)
 
Thursday, August 25 View Page
I have a giant marrow seed that I got from Brad in the Netherlands that I’m growing this year. They call zucchini squash, courgettes or marrows in Europe. Both zucchini and marrows are in the same family- Curcurbita Pepo. My giant marrow (zucchini) is getting bigger and more gnarly. It is now kept wrapped up tightly with row cover to protect it from the pesky squirrel. I’m not sure how much it weighs as I don’t know of any measurement method like we have for giant pumpkins so it is always a surprise at the State Fair or at the Giant Pumpkin Commonwealth weigh-off in Colorado but it sure looks BIG with that beer can on it for perspective. The US record for this type of giant vegetable is around 90 lbs! Last year, my biggest marrow weighed 43 lbs and set a NM State Record. This one is still growing so we will see!
 
Wednesday, September 7 View Page
Here is my mater from a Big Zac seed. Here it is 19.25 inches around...
 
Wednesday, September 7 View Page
and the Big Zac mater is 2 lbs, 14.4 oz. I'm taking it to the New Mexico State Fair today as well.
 
Monday, October 17 View Page
Yesterday I broke the NM State Record for giant pumpkin at 448 lbs and set a new record for giant squash at 340 lbs and set a new record for long gourd at 80 inches. I also grew a 62 lb giant marrow and a 103 lb giant pear gourd. A satisfying ending to a tough growing year.
 

 

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