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Aldie, VA

Please don't laugh at my newbieness :)

I'm totally new to pumpkin growing and haven't had a garden since I helped my mom and dad when I was a kid. I love Halloween and last year I carved and sculpted about 30 pumpkins. Some of those pumpkins were 30+ pounds and cost an arm and a leg to buy. Sooooooo

After Halloween I bought some Big Max seeds with the intention of starting a small patch of pumpkins so I could save some money for Halloween 2004.

I did no research. Didn't realize I needed to :) I planted my pumpkins in early June and thought all I had to do was step back and watch them grow. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Well, I don't even KNOW how much space I set aside for those poor plants but it sure wasn't enough! I had three mounds with four plants in each mound. By the end of July the vines were growing around the side of the house and up the Japanese maple. They grew around the other side, where the deck is, made a 180 turn and ran up over the azalea bushes.

By the beginning of August they'd quit my azaleas and were taking over my tomato plants and some of them ran up onto the deck. It was, and still is, VINEVILLE!

I am, however, having the time of my life with this :)

The ones that ran into the azaleas set fruit first and I have three pumpkins growing there and two females close to flowering. Now, the biggest one of the pumpkins is about softball size so today I started cutting back the azaleas and gently trying to ease the vine down to the ground so it can root. HAHAHAHAHAH! FLOP! The whole vine fell sideways -- kaput! There's a little twist in the vine, but I propped it up and dug some dirt out underneath and semi-buried the vine (I did some research lately). About four feet of it is still up in the tomatos. Praying it survives.

I've also been hit hard with SVB and had to surgically remove three of them from this same vine and two from another vine.

So, has anyone else started their pumpkin growing so . . . dramatically?

8/19/2004 3:39:00 PM

Aldie, VA

Oh, I tried pruning off some of the vines, but everything is such a jumble and a half that I can't even find where one vine ends and another starts. Heh!

Believe me, I've got a MUCH better plan for growing next year!

PS

Oh, I'd thought I'd also share a little something I learned yesterday:

If you are surgically removing SBV grubs with an Exact-o knife and a bug lands on your leg, do NOT swat your leg with the hand that is holding the knife.

I'm lucky it was just a superficial scratch, but geez louise did it bleed!

8/19/2004 3:43:13 PM

Www.extremepumpkinstore.com

lmao!!!!

8/19/2004 4:09:37 PM

[email protected]

Great story.

It started like this for a lot of us. Farm to city to farming in the suburbs & all sorts of torrid tales.

Welcome. There are many more horrible things we could be doing with our leisure time.

8/19/2004 4:15:11 PM

Aldie, VA

You're having too much fun there, Bohica :)

Thanks for the welcome, Tremor.

I didn't even get into the mess my youngest collies made when they figured out how to get through my wire fencing. They trampled at least three vines and Hamish ate all my green tomatoes. Dang dog! He ate all the raspberries off my bush, too. I thought it was the birds until I saw him sticking his head in the bush and pulling off ONLY the red ripe ones.

I'd like to hear some other horror stories, if anyone has any? *Someone* has to have had a worst time than I have. I hope :)

Oh, btw, a special thanks for anyone reading this who has a diary or a web site up about growing AGs. I've been all over the web and here and have learned a LOT about what I've done wrong. Some day I'm going to try growing one of those monsters, but there's no way I can even start until my kids are both in school.

Not surprising that it seems most of the the AG growers are men.

*innocent whistle*
:)
Roan

8/19/2004 5:01:18 PM

Wichita, KS

Try an Ag BEFORE the kids are in school! its FUN! My 2.5 year old son LOVES going to the patch with me. I planted a few cherry tomato plants in the corner to keep him occupied, but he still loves poking around, looking for new females. I have pictures of him sitting on AGs at the weigh-off last year, too. They dwarf him! He can barely say pumpkin patch (sounds more like "puckin pach") but I live to hear him say it. This is probably my biggest reason for growing Ags!

And whenever he sees me on the computer he says "I onna seea puckin!" (I wanna see a pumpkin!) So I sit him in my lap and we look at diaries.


Priceless!

8/19/2004 7:20:29 PM

Hendersonville, NC

OMG this is hilarious! Your sense of humor is awesome!

I'm a newbie grower too, but I started out with a smaller fruit variety called Magic Lantern. Fortunately for me, the vines are compact in comparison to Big Max and AG. They are growing all over the lawn - I really didn't know how much space I would need. I've learned a-lot this year. I might venture into giant territory next year. :-)

Glad you are enjoying your first year as much as I am!
-Cindy

8/19/2004 7:53:56 PM

Ontario, Canada.

I'm LMAO too.
Cindy, you are gonna be hooked up with AG's for life.
Roan, last year was my first for AG's. While trimming the vines one day I mistakenly cut off the main vine at about 12' along with my best pumpkin.

8/20/2004 12:09:51 AM

Www.extremepumpkinstore.com

Roan,
I am a rookie too, I started with way too many plants in a very small space, it was a jungle, but I've removed two plants since then.
I've learned alot this season, and have big plans for next..LOL
The folks on this site are very forthcoming with their knowledge.

8/20/2004 6:47:53 AM

Aldie, VA

Mr. Sprout
Gee, I wish I could start before my last one starts school, but there is no way I can balance him, pumpkins, art, housework, and all my other hobbies.

Wish I could.
Sniff!
Roan

8/20/2004 9:29:48 PM

Aldie, VA

Cindy,
Glad to see another newbie and a female at that :)

Only reason I started with the Big Max is because I need large pumpkins for my Jack O'Lanterns. Tired of driving out to the pumpkin farm and getting charged an arm and a leg for 30+ pound pumpkins. $20-30 each doesn't sound that bad, but when you multiply that times 10 it gets real costly.

If anyone is interested, here's a link to my last years Top Ten pumpkin sculptures:

http://members.cox.net/roan/Halloween/2003/index.html

Okay, there's 8, not 10. There would have been 20 if I hadn't fried a few trying out Pumkin Dunkin'. Now THAT is a story . . .

Heh heh
Roan

8/20/2004 9:33:27 PM

Aldie, VA

Kahuna!

Oooooo, yer in Barrie! My brother is in Coldwater and has a auto repair place in Barrie. Almar Automotive? Barrie ain't that small so it's a shot in the dark, but you never know :)

Man, I would KILL if I accidentally cut the vine holding Hortense, Gertrude and Edna. MY CHILDREN! ACK!

New one set today on that same vine: Happy Birthday, Bertha! Since I'm new and can plead ignorance, I'm going to leave all the kids on that vine and see what happens. Wonder how big they will get? I haven't had any abort as yet and I think I'll name the newest female when it sets -- should flower next week -- Bertha.

I've got about six females -- that I know of -- on other vines that should flower next week.

Did you know that if you hack a vine off and leave it lying on the ground, the males will flower anyhow? Ran out of lawn bags and it's been there for three days. Males still flowering this morning. Resilient suckers!

Take care!
Eileen

8/20/2004 9:55:47 PM

Hendersonville, NC

Eileen,
Hey I checked out your site... now those are some really AWESOME carvings. How long does it take you do carve one? Looks difficult. :-)

Hey Kahuna,
Does that mean you are gonna give me a seed or two?
he he he

8/20/2004 10:07:24 PM

Aldie, VA

Bohica,
Ah, yer a newbie too, cool.

I was going to remove some plants, but since I'm not growing an AG, I figured I'd leave it alone and see what happens.

Next year, yah! The spot I picked is FANTASTIC for one or two plants. Full sunshine dawn to dusk, sheltered from the wind, not too bad drainage -- it's just small and can't deal with the 12 plants I stuck in there :)

Hey, did I mention the watermelon I planted there as well? No? Heh, yep, there are two watermelon plants growing in the pumpkin patch as well. Poor things!

Take care,
Roan

8/20/2004 10:10:15 PM

Hey Eileen, just wanted to say hi from another female around here. We are a minority! Technically I'm not a rookie but it's only my 2nd year so I'm still very new and learning. :-) I have a fence around the patch for the dogs too.

8/20/2004 10:15:29 PM

Aldie, VA

Geez, Cindy, you sitting on the site here? :)

Thanks for the kind words on my carvings. I absolutely LOVE doing them, but I'm glad it's just once a year.

How long -- depends on the size of the pumpkin and how detailed the design is. The ones with heavy knotwork -- Epona and Greenman -- were on 20+ pound pumpkins and took me the longest. I'd say about three nights of about 4-5 hours for each one. I would cover the design with a wet cloth and put it in the fridge during the day.

The original Epona I did was on a 36 pound pumpkin and took me a full week to carve. Man, it was gorgeous, but I did not take pictures *bonk me!*

Stonehenge didn't take me quite as long as the knotwork ones, but in some ways it was far more tricky to do. The pumpkin was fairly large (32 pounds) and the meat was very thick. Seemed to take forever to bring it down to where the light would show through. It looked awesome on my front porch, though.

Can't wait until this year and I'm already working on some new designs.

Hugs!
Roan

8/20/2004 10:24:00 PM

Aldie, VA

Hey, Brigitte!

Yep, gotta have a fence to keep the dogs out. Knowing Hamish he'd try to eat one of the pumpkins and develop a taste for them. *shiver*

I've seen him eat some strange non-dog things like watermelon and stuff. Kahless, our older dog, is our resident vacuum, but even he won't eat raspberries off the bush.

What kind of dogs do you have?

Roan

8/20/2004 10:27:04 PM

Monrovia, CA

Hi Roan!! I'm Michelle...this is my second 'serious' year of growing AG's...last year "Huey" made 543 pounds. THis year it's "Howard" whose around 440 on his 35th day. I too finally built a fence last year to keep the collies out!! THey don't eat the pumpkins but when three of them run through the patch at top speed it pretty much anhilates (sp?) EVERYthing. I am going to your pumpkin carvings website next to check out your artwork!! Welcome!! Hope you stay a long while
This year the cat is the issue. Howard 'adopted' Aerial, my nine-year-old tabby....he sleeps on the foam right next to the pumpkin, under the shade structure..I have a mister going on hot days and Aerial has discovered how cool it is around the pumpkin...but the other night it looks like he did the funky chicken on top of Howard and there are slices and groupings of pin pricks EVERYWHERE on the skin..lucklily it's healing with the help of alittle Captan dust.
Glad you are here!!
Love the story about all the pumpkin vines!

Michelle

8/20/2004 11:38:11 PM

Ontario, Canada.

CindySi, the LanTerra seeds are yours. Watch out this hobby has a way of realing you in. However it is the greatest hobby of them all. We are conducting regular tours of my patches and today I found out the local newspaper wants to come out for a story and pictures of the Kahuna's patches at LanTerra. hope I can keep my big ones growing. The seeds are already mature on two of my June pollinations. Send me an email. I will send some to you after the frosty harvest in October.

8/21/2004 1:09:23 AM

Ontario, Canada.

Roan, Ya'll really gotta consider movin back to Gods Country. Virgina is the nicest State in the Union but the Barrie area is full cottages and clean air.

8/21/2004 1:13:36 AM

In the shade - PDX, OR

Welcome Roan.

By your postings I can already see that you are going to be a HOOT to have on the site. LOL.
If you have any Pics of your carvings please share. (post in the photo gallery)

There are some good growers in your area. Check out Bruiser's grower diary - He's from Herndon as well.

Be warned giant pumpkin growing can be addictive. Once you start it will be hard to stop.
Others would advise you not to start altogether. Most of us here are OBSESSED to one deegree or another - some worse than others.

Cheers!

8/21/2004 3:18:02 AM

Joliet, IL

read the first entry of my 2002 diary. i was a mess.
still am.

8/21/2004 3:43:13 AM

two labs. their pictures can be found in my diary from '03.

8/21/2004 1:48:45 PM

Aldie, VA

Michelle,

Oh cool! You have collies too? I also have three! What are their names? Bloodlines? Color?

Mine are Kahless aka Afterhours Nobody Home, he's an 8 year old white sable-headed merle of Clarion breeding, then there are our "puppies":
Hamish aka Highland Harlequinn Hamish, blue merle
and his sister,
Rowan aka Lady Linlithgow Rowena, tri-color
They 2 years old Raebeth bred collies.

We also have three cats -- 1 American Bobtail and 2 Pixie Bobs -- so I can sympathize with you there as well! Sounds to me like Aerial either had a "cat attack" on Howard or he was chasing something that was using Howard to ward him off.

Hope your Captan treatment works! Let me know about your collies please!

Hugs,
Roan

8/21/2004 4:49:36 PM

Aldie, VA

Kahuna,
Hrm, there's more to Barrie than cottages and clean air -- my brother's been sending me "joke pics" of some legalization in that area *innocent whistle*

Sowwy!
Virginia is great and we'd love to move to Barrie. Unfortunately there aren't as good job opportunities in Canada as there are down here. Sigh, wish there was 'cause then we'd move in a heartbeat.

Roan

8/21/2004 4:53:23 PM

Aldie, VA

CEIS,
Hello Portland, Oregon :)
I used to work for Blount Canada and head office is in PDX.

Thanks for the welcome. Hey, I thought "hoot" was strictly a Canadianism? Guess I was wrong :)

Pics of my carvings -- sure! I have a web site with 8 on there. Is it okay to post them here? They're carved on "regular" pumpkins, not big or giant or behemoth ones.

Bruiser's Diary -- first thing I did was go through all the diaries looking for Herndon area ones and his was the first I found. Read the whole thing before I started posting here. Awesome information, extremely well-written and detailed, cool pumpkins and the guy is mighty handy with chainsaw carving too! Great job on Pikachu and Blue!

I think my husband will agree with you on the obsession bit. I'm lazy as all get out and today I was out in the pouring rain cutting into my best azalea bush just so that Hortense had enough room to grow. I left enough over top for a sun shade :) She's almost basketball sized now! I'm so excited!

Thanks for writing, CEIS :P

8/21/2004 5:00:13 PM

Aldie, VA

shazzy,
A mess? Except for the fact that it took me a few minutes to figure out what a "squmpkin" was, you were in far better shape than I :) At least you had SOME idea of what you were doing.

Gonna read the rest of your diaries later today. There are so many on the site!

Thanks
Roan

8/21/2004 5:02:00 PM

Massillon, Ohio

your carvings are AMAZING !!! i wish i had some artistic talent. ( having 1/100th of yours would put me in good shape). good luck.

8/21/2004 5:33:18 PM

Monrovia, CA

Hi Roan...my collies are from a pretty unknown bloodline...a hobby breeder from the area. They are all sable and white ...two have black shading and one is a sable merle that's honey-colored. Their names are Kyle, Clancey and Shadow. Shadow is the sable merle "Kid" of two years. The other two are 4 years old. We also have a 13-year-old bi blue sheltie. He lives separately in the backyard with some of the turkeys.
We also love our 'other' pumpkin patch that has a variety of different pumpkins...big max, Howden biggie, prizewinner,and a french one who's name I can't pronounce (nor remember how to spell) that has some wonderful deeply ribbed fruit and fairytale shapes.
Are some of your other artwork samples on line as well? The pumpkin carvings are magical!

8/21/2004 5:46:45 PM

Aldie, VA

Baseball7: thank you so much! I'm glad you like them. Btw, I think *everyone* has artistic talent lurking about. It's just a matter of finding out which form it will take on and expressing it. Really! :)

Michelle: I love sable! That's the only color we really haven't had. We were just talking the other day about getting a sable puppy. My daughter wants a sheltie instead :) No matter if it's a hobby breeder. Collies are collies and they all have that great collie personality and curiousity. I've seen some "hobby" bred collies that put show quality animals to shame.

My daughter has some Lumina growing. She's 8 and really excited about her pumpkins. I was going to plant Jack Be Little too, but ran out of time.

Yes, I have some of my artwork on line, but I haven't done any serious work since my youngest, Connor, was born. He's 3 and I'm just not the kind of person who can paint and be a mother at the same time. I take my painting very seriously and have to be "one" with the work :) So, the painting is on hold until Connor is in school and I dabble in other things in the meantime. Here's the link to my artwork, but remember it's old stuff and some of it has been sold:

http://members.cox.net/roan/gallery/index.html

The rest of the site is functional, but 3 years behind the times.

Hugs!
Roan

8/21/2004 8:53:11 PM