Back In The Game

Don't count me out just yet! My second plant, the one along the back fence that didn't produce any female pumpkin flowers all season, decided very late in the game to finally put out. So for the past three weeks I have been babying the he'll out of this pumpkin. This means: extra water, weekly potassium rich foliar feedings, weekly anti powdery mildew spraying and finally, my patented extra solar exposure with a mirror method.

The diameter measurement is currently 29" and growing. Chris has a few up at and above 40" so I still have a long way to go this late in the game. I'm at least banking on not coming in last place.

Grow!

Dia de Los Muertos

A sad day. The pumpkin I had all my hopes and dreams riding on, it had to go. Adios.

Gangbusters

The hot and sunny stretch of a week here has been great for growing. Here are two photos taken today of where I am at, looks about as big (or just a little smaller) as my pumpkin last year. The weather is turning to cooler and less sun, curious to see that correlation in the growing data.

Extra Boost of Sun

After about 5:30 in the afternoon, our fence and honeysuckle to the west tends to block direct sunlight to the plant. So in trying to eek out any available solar radiation, the past couple of days I've set up this high tech Directional Solar Capturing Array! Hey, every little bit helps, right??

Exponential Growth

I know it's been a long time since my last entry but I have the excuse of having been off on an island for the past three weeks. So a lot has happened in that time, namely I now have a growing pumpkin that's charging forward!

The competition is also heating up too, both Chris and mom are adding daily circumference measurements to my shared, online spreadsheet. It's fun to track and visualize the progress each of us are making, and important to remember that everyone is still really early on and anything can still happen.

Here's a photo of my pumpkin, the plant is taking over the backyard. The wine bottle scale reference is a little misleading, it's actually the airplane wine bottle size, I thought it would be funny to use that. Regardless, the pumpkin is adding about 2" or more a day in circumference.

Fourth of July

While not the biggest plant, it's looking good. Vine and tendril
growth good. I see some flower buds. Definitely behind where I thought
it would be this time of year, though the competition is in the same
boat.

Chris' Contender

I'm checking in on Chris' rabbit this weekend while he is out of town,
the perfect excuse to spy on his pumpkin. It's actually looking really
good. Leaf size is great. Stalk is thick. Even has a little pumpkin on
there. The competition is going to be fierce.

My plant tomorrow, I promise.