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Post by Toby Benoit on Apr 30, 2006 11:57:39 GMT 12.75
Buck - bovines!
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Post by brittonfaith on Apr 30, 2006 15:27:30 GMT 12.75
Paws, Major Reynolds, Steve M......Maybe one of y'all might be able to answer this one since you're in the general vicinity. Couple of us pumpkin growers got to talking this evening. We've heard rumors that there is a pumpkin weigh-off or competition for the "middle weights" (400-675 lb.) down at Marietta or Lowell - maybe part of the county fair or a garden center contest. Any of you seen any big pumpkins down there last fall??? We don't know any of the growers down that way or we'd just call them up for the scoop.
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Post by Paws on May 1, 2006 5:19:04 GMT 12.75
I'll ask Sue, if she is still talking to me and I'm still talking to her, if she knows anything about Marietta. All I know about is Circleville in the fall!
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Post by Paws on May 1, 2006 5:27:02 GMT 12.75
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Post by brittonfaith on May 1, 2006 9:23:35 GMT 12.75
Thanks Paws, but I've got Barnesville p-fest covered. Had the largest sunflower head (24 1/4") and best canned foods display there last year. The pumpkins I set out this year will be a cross of the "Kings" from 2004 & 2005. We'd just heard a rumor of something going on down in Marietta. Thought maybe we could load up some of our early maturing or not so big ones for a little pre-season fun. It would be a whole lot closer than Canfield or Circleville. The parade line-up runs right in front of our house. They paint numbers on the road for assigned spots. 233 is at the mailbox, and it keeps going for about a mile past here. Some of the floats park in our barnyard overnight. So we get to watch everyone put the last finishing touches on them. Last year a elderly neighbor entered his Model A. It died just past the house. We got him pushed to the field and spent the rest of the evening learning about it's mechanics. Got him running with a piece of baling wire and a 16 penny nail, and he drove it home.
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Post by Brikatw on May 1, 2006 14:25:42 GMT 12.75
400 - 675 lb punkins? Miss Faith, you just gave me a buck n great idea!!!!! PUNKIN CHUNKIN!!!!! This is a way for our artillery guys to stut their stuff. Just how far will a 400 lb pmpkin fly? ?? ;D
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Post by Toby Benoit on May 1, 2006 15:24:13 GMT 12.75
Are those really big ones fit to eat? I've heard that they are, but tend to run a bit pithy.
Seems like a lot of groceries for the homeless shelters right there. Thy could have punkin' soup and such for a while!
I like roasting them seeds too for snackin'.
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Post by brittonfaith on May 1, 2006 16:56:43 GMT 12.75
My opinion is any pumpkin over 50 pounds is nasty. By the time they get up in the 300 lb range most livestock won't even eat them. Past 600 lb, well...now your just showing off!! ;D
Atlantic Giant and all of its different strains aren't really bred for flavor and are horribly stringy and the seed jackets are twice as thick as a normal jack-o-lantern type. I tried making pumpkin butter out of a little 300 lb'er a couple of years ago. After simmering the meat for hours until it was soft, my food mill still couldn't tackle it. For eating, I like Sugar Pie, and Howden.
Pumpkin soup, pumpkin fudge, pumpkin bread, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin butter, pumpkin pie, baked pumpkin, pumpkin fritters, pumpkin casserole................
This pumpkin thing has really gotten to be an addicting game with me in the past few years. I'd compare it to raising pedigreed show dogs or even stalking that world record buck! Everyone stays pretty low key to the other growers until it's time to show what they have. Then all heck breaks loose!!!!
Other than weight lifting, I think this is the only "sport" where getting a massive hernia is not only a possibility, but totally expected.
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Post by brittonfaith on May 1, 2006 17:03:04 GMT 12.75
400 - 675 lb punkins? Miss Faith, you just gave me a buck n great idea!!!!! PUNKIN CHUNKIN!!!!! This is a way for our artillery guys to stut their stuff. Just how far will a 400 lb pmpkin fly? ?? ;D Hmmm.....Suppose it depends on your weaponry and the laws of physics. I know a fellow in Malaga, OH that shot a 250 lb one 160 yards using a pneumatic catapult he built for such an occasion.
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Post by brittonfaith on May 3, 2006 14:57:34 GMT 12.75
Heads up to any of you growing melons, cukes, pumpkins and the like! The blasted striped cucumber beatles are in full force and about a month early! The plants I set out this past weekend were nealy chewed to death. Think I caught them just in time.
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Post by Toby Benoit on May 3, 2006 15:31:20 GMT 12.75
I've got cules and water melon's in, but I've already treated with liquid seven. Ain't no bug damage at all out there this year.
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Post by brittonfaith on May 3, 2006 15:44:27 GMT 12.75
This year, I'm going with systemics on the pumpkins only because they're not going to be eaten. Still a little uncertain as to how safe systemics are for cukes and the other edibles. If it kills the bugs that eat the plants, I just wonder what it might do if I eat the plant. Sprays and powders can at least be washed off.
Here in our neck of the woods, the cuke beetles are building up a stong resistance to both sevin and malathion. I think it's because all the orchards are also using them. So I'm going with Imidacloprid (tree & shrub systemic) on the pumpkins and liquid seven in the sprayer for the rest of the field.
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Post by Bro. Freddie on May 4, 2006 10:31:15 GMT 12.75
Am getting ready to plant son's 4-H project watermelon and pumpkin seeds. MAybe since i know nothing and I mean nothing about these could ya'll tell me a little about these varietys? The watermelons are the Carolina cross and the pumpkins are Atlantic Giant. What do I need to expect out of these seeds?
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Post by brittonfaith on May 5, 2006 13:08:30 GMT 12.75
Something else I didn't mention in the PM, Freddie. For the pumpkins - WATER!!! and I mean LOTS of it!! Keep the ground wet except for where the pumpkin is sitting. When you fertilize, don't forget to spray the leaves too. They soak up quite a bit of fertilizer. This is called foliar feeding.
The watermelons need water too. But actually prefer dryer ground. Don't ask me how you get WATERmelons if they don't drink a lot of water. Haven't figured that one out yet. Just know that if you water them too much they shrivel of the vine and get all wierd shaped before they flat out rot.
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Post by Bro. Freddie on May 5, 2006 13:18:02 GMT 12.75
Faith,
I was told that to water them, to poke a small hole in the bottom of a gallon milk jug, fill it full of water and let it slowly soak in the ground. I also plan on using Miracle Grow and a little chicken litter. My "bed" will be made up of topsoil, potting soil, a little ccicken litter and maybe some peat moss. Any thing I'm missing?
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Post by brittonfaith on May 5, 2006 13:42:48 GMT 12.75
Careful with the chicken litter. It's pretty high in nitrogen. Cow or horse works much better. Like I said, try to stay away from nitrogen if you can. If not, use a balanced fertilizer like 20-20-20 or the Miracle-Gro Bloom Booster.
Your bed sounds super!! You might want to bury the vine from the stump to within 4 feet of the pumpkin. The vine will root, which in turn provides a larger feeding system. Keep it all fairly moist. Also after you decide which pumpkins are your "keepers" start pinching off the rest. Let one set of leaves come on the vine past the pumpkin then start pinching off any new growth to that vine. And if you can, try training the vine away from the pumpkin. If you don't the pumpkin will crush the vine and break at the stem after it gets some size.
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Post by brittonfaith on May 6, 2006 14:30:41 GMT 12.75
Well, I have to give my new seeder credit. Picked the first spinach today and yielded almost 3 bushels off a 50 ft. row. That's triple what I got by hand seeding. I am happy!! ;D If I keep those kind of yields up from the rest of the garden, it will have more than paid for itself. Now I just have to make sure I'm picking and not sitting every 4 days!
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Post by gsoflittledove on Feb 15, 2007 5:17:52 GMT 12.75
Well I'ts Valentine Day and Time to put the tators eyes in the ground, that according to folk lore around here. Have planted Feb. 14 to march 17 and can't tell witch makes best. But i think i'll wate a few days Its 32 degrees and north wind of 15 mph and very wet== best to stay inside and keep the fire going
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Post by Toby Benoit on Feb 15, 2007 6:05:57 GMT 12.75
I haven't got anything in yet. I have to turn the ground and get it ready soon though. I've got plenty of seed, I just don't have the time to do it.
I might hire my two much younger brothers to come over and get it put in in a week or two.
I see that Dad's got in a garden already, but I don't have a clue what he's sewed. Probably pole beans, squash, black eyed peas, and okra...same as every spring. ;D
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Post by brittonfaith on Feb 18, 2007 7:29:30 GMT 12.75
Had a spot tilled up and plants started before the squabble with MIL. Not even gonna think about setting a garden out at her place. Just sitting on my hands and chomping at the bit till we get moved into our place. Don't even know how big the back yard is (or what the inside of the house looks like), yet. Might think about one of those English gardens where everything is compact. Anyone know the techniques for growing fruit trees against a trellis or wall?? I've seen it done, but not sure what it's called or how to do it. Have done container gardens and raised beds though. I might give that some serious consideration.
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