This is an update..... I now have pumpkins the size of a soft ball. I'm so excited I could pee my pants. :yes: :bliss: If all goes well it should be a bumper crop. The vines are jutting out in all directions, and I think they're headed for the road. The Indian corn is not doing too hot. Something tore through it and knocked 4 stalks down. Probably my raccoon friends, I'm sure. Darn critters anyway. It doesn't have any ears on it at all. It may be done for. The green peppers are doing pretty good. The tomatoes are piss poor at best. Really disappointed about them. The sunflowers are about 3 feet tall. They don't have heads on them yet, so I don't know about them. :biggrin:
Yeah Dexter...Hope your 'maters at least do good enough to have some this summer. Ours are doing a little better this year than last but don't thing I'm gonna have enough to freeze for winter. I always but them in the blender and then put them in freezer bags with cut up bell pepper for chili and spaghetti sauce.
Quote from: me on August 03, 2007, 11:50:49 PM
Yeah Dexter...Hope your 'maters at least do good enough to have some this summer. Ours are doing a little better this year than last but don't thing I'm gonna have enough to freeze for winter. I always but them in the blender and then put them in freezer bags with cut up bell pepper for chili and spaghetti sauce.
That sounds tasty. I think we've had maybe 5 so far. They're rotting before they ripen. We've never had problems with them before. I just hope the crop dusting they did recently, doesn't have anything to do with it. :mad: Out of everything we have planted the pumpkins are doing the best. :yes: Last year I found a tomato worm, that was 6 inches long, and the width was about the size of a dime. :spooked: I put it in a jar on the deck with no lid on, I came in for a cold drink, and when I went back out it was gone. :eek: I came to the decision that the cats ate it, horn and all. :o How crazy is that??? lol!!!! :biggrin:
I started planting sweet basil between every other tomato plant and haven't had tomato worm since. I guess there is something about the sweet basil they don't like. They sure are ugly little critters.
Quote from: me on August 04, 2007, 12:41:23 AM
I started planting sweet basil between every other tomato plant and haven't had tomato worm since. I guess there is something about the sweet basil they don't like. They sure are ugly little critters.
Wow!!! I'll have to write the Sweet Basil thing down for next year. I would've never thought of that. I think Tomatoe Worms look evil, because of the red horn on their tail end. :icon_twisted:
Nice thing is you can dry the sweet basil and us it for cooking.
Quote from: me on August 04, 2007, 12:58:45 PM
Nice thing is you can dry the sweet basil and us it for cooking.
So, it's good for dual uses. :biggrin: I just noticed, I've got 100 or more pumpkins on the vines. :koolaid:
Yea!!!!!!! :clap: :food4: Just think when you serve pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread this winter you can say the pumpkin came from your garden..... ;D
Quote from: me on August 04, 2007, 01:11:51 PM
Yea!!!!!!! :clap: :food4: Just think when you serve pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread this winter you can say the pumpkin came from your garden..... ;D
As long as we don't have a super wet Fall, they should turn out good. My big thing is decorating with them. This is the 2nd time I've ever planted them. I'll probably give alot of them away. My Mom used to make pies and pumpkin bread. I bet if I gave her some she'd make some for me. It's crazy, but I'm tickled pink that they made it this far LOL!!!! :biggrin:
I now have 10 pumpkins that are a little bigger than a softball. I have bunches of babys, that are just coming out of the blossom. I've been turning them gently every night. One of the smallest is starting to ripen, and I don't know why. Hopefully we'll have some sunshine now. :biggrin:
Sadly, one of my smallest pumpkins, has gone to that big punkin' patch in the sky. It was the one, that had started to ripen prematurely. :no: I went out last night to turn them and when I picked it up it disintegrated in my hand. YUCK!!!! I gave it a toss over the fence into the corn field. Some of the biggest ones are starting to ripen too. We're going to put some foam sheeting underneath them so hopefully some of them will make it. :yes: It may be touch and go for a while.
Looks like we'll be having a pumpkin carving contest at Dexter's this year! :yes: :hal3:
Quote from: Sunny on August 12, 2007, 06:33:12 PM
Looks like we'll be having a pumpkin carving contest at Dexter's this year! :yes: :hal3:
I sure hope so. :yes: A lot is going to depend on how wet it is, in the next month or so. If we get a lot of rain they may rot. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. :yes: :smile:
I've given away 9 pumpkins so far. My yard is decorated with a bunch of them. I've still got some on the vines,and I'm waiting for them to ripen. By the time it's all said and done, if these last ones ripen, my total count for this season will be 45. That isn't too bad for a first year. I want to do a bigger patch next year, because I've had soo much fun doing it. :hal3: :hal3:
WOW! You've done very well, Dex--maybe next year you can open up your pumpkin patch for kids to come play in--make a little money too!
Quote from: tallulahdahling on September 29, 2007, 07:40:16 AM
WOW! You've done very well, Dex--maybe next year you can open up your pumpkin patch for kids to come play in--make a little money too!
I've thought about maybe next year trying to sell them. They're nicely shaped because I turned them everynight for the first few weeks. Of course, they're not perfect, like the ones you buy at the store, they have some tinny flaws. All in all they're pretty good,and I'm proud of myself. I usually screw up everything I try to do, so this was a pretty big deal. :biggrin:
Well, I'm proud of ya you pumpkin punk! When yu gonna test out those recipes? I've always wanted to meet someone who admits they cooked a stew in a pumpkin or served soup from a pumpkin and then hear the lurid details of how it flopped! :chef:
You know, I saw pumpkin soup at a restaurant once. I didn't try it, but thought it was interesting.
Quote from: tallulahdahling on September 30, 2007, 08:43:16 AM
Well, I'm proud of ya you pumpkin punk! When yu gonna test out those recipes? I've always wanted to meet someone who admits they cooked a stew in a pumpkin or served soup from a pumpkin and then hear the lurid details of how it flopped! :chef:
Ya know, those area neat ideas, but I can't imagine eating out of a raw pumpkin. I can't imagine that would be very good. :no: I mostly decorate with pumpkins. My Mom is making pies with the ones I gave her. I can't make a decent pumpkin pie, so I order mine from Perkins. They really are good,and the price range isn't too bad either, not like you'd think. I think they're around $7 or $8 dollars each. With all the frustration it saves me, they are well worth it. :yes:
We have a large Amish community north of us and they come to town periodically and sell their baked goods--best pies and breads I've ever eaten--they should be back around turkey day--that's when I buy my apple and pumpkin pies! :biggrin:
Quote from: tallulahdahling on October 02, 2007, 02:02:19 PM
We have a large Amish community north of us and they come to town periodically and sell their baked goods--best pies and breads I've ever eaten--they should be back around turkey day--that's when I buy my apple and pumpkin pies! :biggrin:
The Amish are awesome cooks. They make everything from scratch. :yes:
Yeah, they also use butter AND lard in their piecrusts :spooked: --that's why they're so flaky :yes:
Quote from: tallulahdahling on October 05, 2007, 05:10:57 PM
Yeah, they also use butter AND lard in their piecrusts :spooked: --that's why they're so flaky :yes:
Mine are flaky too!!! This is because, I'm the flake making them LOL!!!! :spooked:
Last night, I finally harvested my blue minature Indian corn. I got 20 ears, so that's not too bad for a beginner. :biggrin:
Oh, how kewl! Are they edible or just for arrangements?
Mostly just for decoration. Although, the Indians may have had other purposes for them. Maybe, the cobs were used as toiletries LOL!! :spooked:
:shrug:
:biggrin: Next year I might try my hand at growing popcorn. :yes:
Our neighbors used to grow popcorn and would give us a bag of it a Christmas along with home made fudge and cookies and it was sooo good. It was some kind of popcorn that was purple but popped up huge and fluffy white. I can't remember what kind it was though darn it.
Quote from: me on October 09, 2007, 08:14:44 PM
Our neighbors used to grow popcorn and would give us a bag of it a Christmas along with home made fudge and cookies and it was sooo good. It was some kind of popcorn that was purple but popped up huge and fluffy white. I can't remember what kind it was though darn it.
My Grandma used to grow it every year. I don't know what kind of luck I would have, but I like trying new things. :yes:
Lets hope it goes as well as the pumpkins did... :yes:
Quote from: me on October 09, 2007, 08:40:34 PM
Lets hope it goes as well as the pumpkins did... :yes:
I think it would be neat. I've been tossing all kinds of ideas around in my head. Maybe some of those little pumpkins. Maybe some of those glow in the dark pumpkins, maybe some gourds. I have some seeds for those lufa sponge gourds, I didn't get them planted, but I would like to try them next year. I've still got pumpkins setting on the vines,even though we had a frost. There's probably 10 big ones and a bunch of little ones. We're supposed to have a cold snap over the next few days. Hopefully, we wont get a freeze,or those pumpkins will be toast LOL!!! We had temps in the upper 80's today,and it's dropped to 61*. It's only 9:30 pm. Burrrrr.. :cold:
Its turning colder here too... :'(
I hate you both as I melt in the 90 degree weather here! :rant:
Where is my autumn???????????
Quote from: me on October 10, 2007, 12:30:37 AM
Its turning colder here too... :'(
It only got up to 57* here today. We're getting a lot of wind too. Burrrr... :cold:
Quote from: tallulahdahling on October 10, 2007, 10:27:51 AM
I hate you both as I melt in the 90 degree weather here! :rant:
Where is my autumn???????????
You can have mine. :yes: :biggrin: