2012 TEG Giant Pumpkin Contest - weigh in by 15 October

[bearmanz400]

You making compost again this year???

I am not sure I could successfully turn that black even...All and all everything in the garden seems to be doing decent, I have like 5 little watermelons starting to develop...hopefully i can finally get a pumpkin, id even take one of those cute little handheld ones that I could paint and decorate the house with. I think I must be the happiest unsuccessful gardener out there, something about pulling weeds when I get home from work seems to be the trick of relaxing.

 

[SuperChemicalGirl]

How long have your watermelons been in the ground? I am happy mine have 4 real leaves now. My canteloupe actually have small yellow male flowers, surprising to me, but I'm sure I still won't be able to get melons out of my garden. I continue to try and try though.

It's 120 degrees in my totally opened hoop house now where my pumpkins are. I'm hoping that's direct sun on the gauge.

 

[catjac1975]

Come relax at my house!

You making compost again this year???

I am not sure I could successfully turn that black even...All and all everything in the garden seems to be doing decent, I have like 5 little watermelons starting to develop...hopefully i can finally get a pumpkin, id even take one of those cute little handheld ones that I could paint and decorate the house with. I think I must be the happiest unsuccessful gardener out there, something about pulling weeds when I get home from work seems to be the trick of relaxing.

 

[catjac1975]

I think that's too hot for pumpkins.

How long have your watermelons been in the ground? I am happy mine have 4 real leaves now. My canteloupe actually have small yellow male flowers, surprising to me, but I'm sure I still won't be able to get melons out of my garden. I continue to try and try though.

It's 120 degrees in my totally opened hoop house now where my pumpkins are. I'm hoping that's direct sun on the gauge.

 

[sparkles2307]

I've got some baby plants up but they took FOREVER to germinate... usually pumpkins come up first and these took the longest. So, I have like, 6 inch tall pumpkin plants...

 

[bearmanz400]

How long have your watermelons been in the ground?

Long enough to have this

Honestly I have no idea how long they have been started - I would guess about 3 weeks before the pumpkins
If I krylon this orange and call it a pumpkin will anyone notice?

 

[grow_my_own]

I would like to join in on the pumpkin contest!

This is our first year growing pumpkins, and boy oh boy, am I sure glad I left a big, open, unplanted space in the yard for them to vine out! We planted 2 varieties of pumpkin in the garden: Jarrahdale and Sugar Pie Baby (probably not gonna get any prize-winning big pumpkins off the latter, but possibly the former). Then, lo and behold, a volunteer pumpkin sprang forth from the ground on its own, obviously from a pumpkin I'd fed the chickens last fall when they used to be on this side of the yard (I fenced them off when I planted the garden so I would *still have* a garden LOL). Not sure what specific variety it is, but it was a jack-o-lantern type pumpkin. I did not plant it, but I'm growing it, taking care of it, and as of yesterday, that plant alone has 18 baby pumpkins on it, some of which are about a foot long and still obviously not even close to being mature (and very, very green). I imagine this plant will likely produce our largest pumpkin(s), though the Jarrahdales may end up weighing more because not only are they large in size, they have quite dense, hefty flesh inside without a lot of hollow space.

 

[SuperChemicalGirl]

I would like to join in on the pumpkin contest!

This is our first year growing pumpkins, and boy oh boy, am I sure glad I left a big, open, unplanted space in the yard for them to vine out! We planted 2 varieties of pumpkin in the garden: Jarrahdale and Sugar Pie Baby (probably not gonna get any prize-winning big pumpkins off the latter, but possibly the former). Then, lo and behold, a volunteer pumpkin sprang forth from the ground on its own, obviously from a pumpkin I'd fed the chickens last fall when they used to be on this side of the yard (I fenced them off when I planted the garden so I would *still have* a garden LOL). Not sure what specific variety it is, but it was a jack-o-lantern type pumpkin. I did not plant it, but I'm growing it, taking care of it, and as of yesterday, that plant alone has 18 baby pumpkins on it, some of which are about a foot long and still obviously not even close to being mature (and very, very green). I imagine this plant will likely produce our largest pumpkin(s), though the Jarrahdales may end up weighing more because not only are they large in size, they have quite dense, hefty flesh inside without a lot of hollow space.

Welcome, gotcha added. To get a bigger pumpkin, you'll have to sacrifice quantity for quality, meaning choose only 1 or 2 of the best looking pumpkins on the vine, and cut the others off. That way the plant puts energy into less pumpkins, meaning more growth. It's hard to do.

The cucumber beetles are still out of control here, but significantly less in number with my traps out.

 

[grow_my_own]

I kinda figured as much. I wonder if I can feed green pumpkins to my chickens? They eat the leaves and everything else.

 

[catjac1975]

Chicken will eat anything except citrus.

I kinda figured as much. I wonder if I can feed green pumpkins to my chickens? They eat the leaves and everything else.