THE GREAT PUMPKIN CONTEST OF 2009!!!

As we enter the forum, we hear a chattering conversation between Snoopy and the Red Baron..... And the Red Baron saying :"I will get you GREAT PUMPKIN!"

And Snoopy laughing coyly with a rat tat tat back!!!!

Its time for the GRRRREAT PUMPKIN CONTEST, enter now all ye GRRRREAT PUMPKINS big and small, painted and plain, show yourselves!

As we enter the contest, the first entry is a basket ball size producing plant...its nearly 32 feet in length from one end of the vine to another... any one wanna guess how many pumpkins this single plant is gonna produce!???

flowers!

more

Well, frost is soon to be just around the corner...the great pumpkin leaves here are half mildewed now... but yet it is still growing.

guess i ought to take a pic!

So ok, where are all you other great pumpkin bumpkins???

Here it is, the frost on the pumpkin.. well actually thats the mildew that comes when the plant is gettng near done.

Ok, I know why you guys are not showing up.....we forgot to hang out the shingle....

Aaaah! See, they are arriving! C'mon Grrreat Pumpkin!

Welcome!

more!?

OK you guys, offered up is a packet of seeds from the Great Pumpkin plant here to the person guessing the closest number of pumpkins on the vine! Guaranteed more than one!

The winner will need to d-mail me their mailing addie!

Ok, now whose guessing?

And c'mon, show us your pumpkins too!

Boy, whats it gonna take to get you spooks to come out of the wood work.. a written invitation??!!

I got my written invitation, just was reading it upside down and thought it was in some sort of code and then I realized I needed to flip it over!!! Nice layout you started there BB. Saw a lot of pumpkins in patches yesterday while driving around the back roads in the country showing Jen the sites of her childhood years, but didn't have a camera with me, dang!

Awww rats! No camera. Did Jen have fun though?

Looks like its just us here in the patch....

My vine is about 50% dead now. Soon I will be taking all the pumpkins off of it and clearing that bed from whence it came.

Any guesses on how many?

gazillion!
I still have a few wacky gourds to pick and just keep forgetting.
Yep Jen had a great time, short but it was sweet!

Ok, so far you are in the ruunning...

Man, I am surprized no one else is growing any or getting any for decorations yet! They are every where out here!

Hope someone will start posting their fall pumpkins in decor! or otherwise!

I was at a farm stand last week.. man they had gourds of the jurassic kind there. I should have taken some pics. Iwas short on time though too. Drat!

Well, I guess we will have to be patient and wait for them to start showing... They are shy yano!

There is a place in town that always goes all out in their fall decorations.
This is a parking lot island.

By the front door

The side of the building.
It is a nice selection of different pumpkins.

YAY!

They do a nice spread gus.

I love the fall displays! Well gus, they put rain in out forecast...so looks like maaaybe, just maybe the frost will hold out for a while yet.

Hiaghr, dont forget to check the pines!

I will try to do so when I get home today, but have a dr appt and then plant to bake a ham and make a fresh apple pie, so you may be reminding me again LOL!

OoooOOoooh! Yummm! See YOU in the cafe! Droool!

Well, I just checked the Great Pumpkin patch here... so far I have only your entry in the contest... YOU are a shoe in!

But if I get another entry, they could take you out! So just letting ya know incase you want to try again.

Umm entries will be closing on Halloween. Guess I forgot to mention that!

Catch you at the cafe later! I am headed to the GPS6 where I have a pile up there of work to be done.

Im back... I have good news and sad news....

Well, sad news there Snoopy is, the Great Pumpkin vine is no longer with us, the poor thing has bit the dust, the Red Baron did his deed and sent the frost machine over him and thud, its gone gone gone.

But the goodnews is is we saved the pumpkins for the contest!!

Well, Snoopy, I am really really sorry, but looks like we will have to haul the Great Pumpkin Vine away.......

Dont cry, it will be back next year!

Well, found this link on Market growers....

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1029872/

Looks like my planting time for my zone is the end of May. Our frost hits around October.

This message was edited Oct 12, 2009 8:30 PM

Hellow buddyblossom! It looks like you know what you are talking about with the pumpkins! Love your thread here.

I on the other hand am growing pumpkins for the first time. It's call Black Futsu, an heirloom variety. I didn't put the seeds (2) in the ground until July 27th here. They took off right away in the raised bed. (Although the female flowers were growing ahead of the males) Maybe June would have been better but last year we didn't have our first frost until December I think....but it was in the forties by mid November. Hoping I will make it!! My vines are starting to grow back now....does that mean the pumpkins are reaching harvest time? hmmmm.

Thank you for all the info.

I've got two vines, with a total of nine pumpkins. So I'll guess nine. lol

the pumpkins are small and reach between 4 - 8 lbs. They are supposed to be dark green-black when ripe and then turn a bronze color when picked and stored.

Those are wild allwild, never saw such a thing, looking forward to the changing of colors, please keep us updated.

Hi allwild! Cool! Welcome on!

I was just reading in GRIT about the MONSTOR PUMPKINS! WOWOWOW! Can you imagine growing a punkin that weighs a1500 lbs? HOLY COW! I will have to read more there and see if there is a website to post here!

I am heading to a farmstand tomorrow hoping to get some buy on her monstor gourds. Maybe next season I will have something weird and fun to share again.

So OK,

Contestants:

1) haighr - gazillion
2) allwild - 9
---------------------------------

Entries are slow! Its gonna be a tough race! LOL!

I can tell you now that all the pumpkins on the Great Pumpkin vine at the beginning of this thread have been harvested. They are about 4 to 6 lbs each and started turning orange on the vine, but the last ones were plucked green as the frost here did the plant in. They will ripen as time carries. I think these would make cute Jacks! Or maybe even good for a pie? Dont know.. they are some offshoot of some pumpkin I had a few years back and just magically appeared in my flower bed this year. They loved the chicken poo!

Oh, gotta go read GRIT and learn more on the jurassics! Back later with a site hopefully!

Ok, www.Grit.com the May/June issue 2009 has several articles ion the GREAT GREAT PUMPKINS!

Here are some of the jurassic pumpkin sites.... AWESOME!

www.BillsBigPumpkins.com

www.DowningPumpkins.com

www.BackyardGardener.com

And....drumroll plez!

www.GiantPumpkins.com

Go get 'em! Well that is if ya can lift them! Tell ya what, dont thing a theif would get far!

How many pies could you make with one of those giants?
I couldn't get to the last link, kept asking for a password?

Cant help you there! I dont know the passwerd! Pretty cool the other ones though eh?!

Yep, some people take their pumpkin growin' very seriously! One pumpkin could feed an entire town for the winter!

I've heard those Gigantic Pumpkin Contests can get down right dirty....some of them big boys really do end up missing! Now that's crazy!

I had some cantalopes show up and it must have been seeds from the compost. Those are nice surprises.

So what to do with the pumpkins when they are ready?...these are supposed to keep for up to 6 months in a cool storage area.

Well, on mine I have several ideas.. some may go to the food pantry, while others will go to feed my chickens. I will save some seed, give some seed away and maybe make pumpkin seeds to eat myself. Im not much for extruding fresh pulp for pies.. so needless to say I go the canned route on that... dont tell on me! LOL!

Meanwhile they are used for decorations and will come down as they decay! Or before!

Other than a conversation peice, I dont really know what I would do with a jurassic pumpkin! Put wheels on it and call Cinderella! LOL!

Oh, that reminds me, getting on to the last call on the contest.. get yer entries in!

Well, the contest is over! I will be announcing all the winners soon!

One winner has picked up her prize! She got first place took the great pumpkin home! Congrats go to JO!

The total number on the GREAT PUMPKIN VINE for 2009 was 18!

Second and third place prize winners coming up!

I Second that~Congrats Jo!

Wow that was a great pumpkin vine!

I have harvested my Black Futsu Squash! Haven't tried one yet though. It's said to have a flavor similar to hazelnut.

Well I finally started to carve seed from the pumpkins.. They are not really ripe enough yet! Some are still green so this is going to be an on going process for a few days.. like one a day until done or something like that.. The house is gonna stink of drying
pumpkin seed! LOL!

Method: Gett all the squishy seedy stuff out of the pumpkin, toss in sink, rinse and ring out until pulpy goo is off them, toss goo away, toss seed on papertowl on paper plate. Let dry until dry! Nuthin to it! LOL!

Is that how I should be doing my gourds? I scraped a couple out and put the seed on towels and of course - stuck! should I be rinsing them first as well?