Week Eight

We had another bad hail storm, and the heat has been horrific, easily reaching the high ninety's to low hundreds. The plants are trying hard, but I'm not sure if anything could survive these smoldering conditions. The humidity has also brought in the bugs, so I went ahead and treated the vines again with some organic pest control in a last attempt to ward off the unwelcomed invaders. Otherwise, we've had many more male blossoms, and the bees have been very active. Here's hoping for a girlfriend!

Week Seven

The Black Horse got it's male blooms! At least I think their male? One may be female, not sure yet. I will have to verify.  Check out the pics below, hopefully the pollinators will come back to complete the process.

And the flowers say their good night and good bye, hope the bees enjoyed. (The blooms close as evening draws near, never to open again)

Week Six

The past two weeks have been pretty rough! Four of my pumpkin plants (two mounds) were destroyed by a hail storm. So, I did the only thing I could, I planted the Black horse!

I laid the pot partially in one of the mounds, and filled in the rest with organic soil, and some manure. So far it seems to be responding very well, and has excellent drainiage due to the type of pot that is holding the plant. Hopefully, I get a bloom fairly fast because I'm running out of time for a pumpkin. I guess I should have taking the advice of many blogs and provided some protection for the plants, such as a tent cover. Now, I'm just letting nature take over, and hoping for the best.

Week Four

I lost two pumpkin plants in the hail storm last week. They fell victim to broken stems, and this one does not look particularly well. However, the manure mound is doing fair, and I'm hoping for a blossom out of that one soon.

But behold, the Black Horse in the race, I call her the Climber, and she's doing well. A farmer once told me that pumpkins will grow ontop of roofs, limbs, walls, if allowed. After  all, it is a vine. See you next week.

Week Three

The pumpkins had much growth this past week, at least three to four inches. They look pretty healthy; however, I am somewhat concerned about the yellow discoloration on the bottom leaves. I treated them with a plant food called VF-11; it’s supposed to work like magic according to amateur gardeners across the blogosphere. I have to say that I used it on my pumpkins Saturday morning, and by Sunday morning they had grown about another two inches. I also used it on my tomato plants Saturday morning, and by that afternoon all the plants had tomatoes on them! I would've thought that this was my imagination, but when my wife came outside and exclaimed that tomatoes had suddenly sprouted, I got a little excited and a little creped out with this voodoo plant food. When I feel it has successfully contributed to my harvest, I will discuss further and possibly link to the website. The chipmunks are still running the show in my yard. After watching one of them run through the humane trap with peanut butter and sunflower seeds in his jaw, without setting it off of course, I returned to my more murderous attempts. Of course, my attempts failed due to equipment malfunction. The battle continues, but hopefully I can satisfy them with feed to the point where they are not interested in my pumpkins. See you next week.

Week Two

I had to make the first of many hard decisions of pumpkin cultivating. I thinned each mound to two to three plants in order to ensure maximum growth if am lucky enough to produce pumpkins. I tried to choose the healthiest plants, and so far I think I made the right decision. The pure manure mound contains the three plants, but both mounds seem  to be doing fine so far.

I also treated the plants with UltraGreen Plant Food, and Bonide, an organic insecticide. Now the big news, after having a come to God meeting with a chipmunk, to no avail, he proceeded to bury feed provided for him in my mounds! Luckily the plant was saved with only minor surgery. Providing an easy meal, was not the best advice. So after murderous attempts, I have decided to set a humane trap to relocate this particular troublemaker, hopefully I will have an update on that next week. I also added chicken wire to deter the rabbits, dogs, and cats that have developed a hankering for the manure.

A Hydrangea and a Heliot were also added to attract more bees, and it seems to be working.

On the funny side of the garden, a dove has taken a liking to the buffet provided for the squirrels and chipmunks. It won't leave, and it actually lets you walk right up to him! I believe he would eat right out of one's hand, but I am trying to discourage its behavior in fear the neighborhood cat might have it's own buffet. Check out the pose the dove provided! See you next week.

First Week

I planted the Big Max pumpkin seeds about five days ago, after soaking the seeds in warm water of course, and the first few sprouts are bursting through the soil. This first mound is a mixture of organic soil and Black Kow manure. All seems well so far, lets hope for continued success!

The mound below is just Black Kow manure. Well, it seems that life does come from a big pile of composted Black Kow manure!