Last year I grew a completely accidental pumpkin patch and it was the most fun thing I've ever grown. I had the best time watching the plants overtake a pretty big section of the side field and the pumpkins were all different sizes and colors and the sheep had two big pumpkin parties at the end of the season and I decided I was going to be a pumpkin farmer. Pumpkins at Punkin's Patch!
This spring I picked out three different varieties of seeds (including one called Big Moose!), figured out my plant date for fall pumpkins and then found out the extension office was going to do a "Who can grow the biggest pumpkin in Harrison County" contest and I was All In.
I waited with great anticipation for the date I could go pick up my free pumpkin seeds and in the meantime strategized as only I can over-think things and gathered up special dirt and compost and researched and watched YouTube videos and created a baby pumpkin nursery and went ahead and planted my earlier chosen seeds out in a special safe zone in the yard, fenced off and everything.
Since all the volunteer pumpkins last year grew so well just laying out on top of the pasture, I thought if I made a little effort to amend the soil for each seed this year they'd really take off. And I thought the Big Moose pumpkins could just live in the fenced area with the other pumpkins. I mean, how big could they get?
When I got the educational handouts from the extension office I found out that the Big Moose pumpkin getting labeled as a "giant" meant it was going to be...a giant. Who knew. I carefully dug as many of those seeds as I could find back up and put them in starter pots along with the extension office seeds. The rest of the seeds sprouted, but have not taken off in any sort of manner. Pumpkin farming, not as easy as I'd hoped.
Four of the five extension office seeds sprouted and four of the five Big Moose seeds I found sprouted as well. As the babies grew I made their fancy growing mounds, which involved lots of shoveling and moving of heavy materials on some really hot and humid days. I was becoming less enamored with pumpkin farming by the day...but the baby pumpkins all grew well and looked good.
When the plants got big enough to transplant, I moved them into their respective mounds. Four Big Moose plants and three of the extension office plants (I'll try to remember to come back in and update the variety) were planted in Del Boca Vista. I put the biggest and strongest extension office plant out front, next to the driveway so I could really keep an eye on it, in preparation for the October 27th weigh in at the office.
I lost one of the Big Moose pumpkins in a wind accident fairly early on. I moved a tiny volunteer from just outside the Wool House into it's open spot and babied it through some hot weather and it survived and is now doing a great job trying to catch up.
I'm concerned about these leaves turning yellow. This is my biggest Big Moose plant...of course. It's also the first one to produce any female flowers and now has two pumpkins growing along it's reaching vines. I haven't decided if I'm going to limit it to only two in hopes of growing a true giant. At this point I'm probably just going to be happy if I get any pumpkins.
This Big Moose plant did not look good yesterday and has not rebounded today so I'm afraid it's going to be a another casualty. I've been carefully watching the plants for bugs and mildew and all sorts of other problems. I've used diatomaceous earth and a couple of careful applications of organic Neem Oil in the evenings when the bees are long gone, but I don't have any control over the too wet conditions that may be causing some of my issues.
Three of the extension office plants.
While my volunteers last year were big, hardy, heavy producers, the volunteers this year (probably a different variety) have been a bust except for a couple plants here and there. This nice volunteer is growing out in the barn lot, so I have zero expectations for a pumpkin to reach maturity surrounded by sheep, but it's helping provide pollination for the female flowers in the main patch.
The bees, hard at work.
Oh, here's a funny story. The first morning I knew I had a female flower ready to open it was drizzling rain. The flowers are only open for a short time on one morning so there's just a small window where they can get pollinated. I didn't think the bees would be out until the rain stopped, so I read up on how to manually pollinate it, grabbed my paint brush, picked up some pollen from a male flower and when I went to dust it into the female, two bees popped up and scolded me.
"Do you mind?!?"
I shouldn't have doubted them :-).
I think this epistle basically catches everything up on the 2023 great pumpkin venture. I have lost any expectation that it will be a Great Pumpkin venture, but I hope I'm wrong and will have some happy updates through the next couple of months.
I'm glad I'm just trying to find something fun to do during my least favorite time of the year and not trying to feed my family. Farming is not for the faint of heart and we all need to be cognizant of that fact and remember that food does not miraculously appear at the grocery store.
It would be nice to be able to feed at least a couple of pumpkins to my sheep family.
It is really hard to type pumpkin instead of Punkin.
9 comments:
Might need a bit of fertilizer:) I use to plant three seeds to a hill...a long time ago and watch them go crazy:) One time the vines went out of the garden through the woods and to the edge of the gravel road where I headed them back into the woods:)
Ever since I started following you, I can't stop saying punkin instead of pumpkin!😂 It just seems like fate that you should have a punkin...eh, pumpkin patch. Keep at it.🎃 K.Littrell
Maybe some fertilizer water made from the sheep poop? It seems my pumpkins were (I stopped growing them years ago) always heavy eaters. Of course, there is a point when (If) you feed them too much they just produce leaves and vines. Farming is always a huge adventure, lots of hard work, and finger-crossing. Good Luck!! They just might all surprise you!
I’m back to finding it. and thank you for this adventure. I can well imagine how warm it is.
Hopi g I can catch up on the news.
I hope the plants surprise you so there will be treats for the sheep and chickens.
I've never been good at growing vegetables so am ever so grateful to have two wonderful farm stands nearby.
Worked as a ranger at a historic cabin on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We had a garden; the other ranger really got into finding the varieties of vegetables the family who lived there would have been growing 1875-1935. Found out the locals weren't that into pumpkins - found them tricky to grow. Instead, they were growing an old variety of squash called Georgia Candy Roaster. Much easier to grow and process and made the best pie I ever ate.
I loved this post! My mom had a similar experience a few years back. This year it's gourds! She grew some by mistake last year and she loved them! Making things out of them like baskets, birdhouses, etc. She even went to a gourd class thing at a place called Gourdlandia in upstate NY. She got obsessed! So my dad made her a giant new field just for gourds and pumpkins. A trellis was built and gourds are growing. But years ago we had a HUGE pumpkin patch and we thought we could do it again. But the deer enjoyed eating every blossom...the fence has helped! Hope you get some giant pumpkins and win your contest!
Maybe next year try some heirloom seeds? They would be worth saving the seeds for future plantings.
Now if you were growing zucchini.... you could feed an army!
I've added fertilizer twice. I could do a soil test I suppose and see if that tells me anything. We got another 2.5" of rain last night. Maybe it's leaching it all out.
Tricky to grow for sure! Looked up the Georgia candy roasters. Very interesting!
Sadly the plants that are dying are the heirlooms and the hybrids are all still going strong...although not putting out female flowers yet... My zucchini tapped out early and I've been bumming zucchinis from my neighbor. I should have let her grow the pumpkins I think :-/.
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