7/13/08 - Eastlake Blossoms

First blossom on the potted pump. Potted pump outgrowing the grounded pump in this regard, however, the grounded pump was vertical, leaned over, on Friday, as of Sunday, the main stem is along the ground with growth along the ground accelerating with a new vine not seen on Friday, but the existing (pre-lean) vines are headed skyward, topping at 22.5 inches.

7/6/08 - Boulder Squirrels

I came back to Boulder after being gone 4 days only to discover that our neighborhood squirrels had decided to sample 2 of my pumpkins. I had thought about throwing netting over them before I went out of town. I figured they hadn't chewed on my pumpkins in past years until they had matured a bit more, so I was safe for a few more weeks. Hah!

I immediately found the netting and placed it on a 3rd fruit that was developing. Hopefully that will be enough to deter them for awhile.

The circumference of the larger pumpkin from stem to blossom end is 17.5". I'm going to leave it on the vine and be optimistic and hope it will scale over and keep growing.

7/3/08 - Eastlake update

The "potted" pump was going gangbusters ahead of the one in the ground, but suddenly within the last week, the one in the ground is taking off.... dims for potted are: 21" tip-to-tip, 9 inches above ground max leave height. Gets more afternoon sun. The one in the ground is on the west side of a fence so gets no direct sun until about 11 AM, but the fence heats up as early as 07:55 when the sun can get to the fence. Dims for grounded pump are 21-1/2" tip to tip, and 14-1/2 " above ground. No blossoms on either, looks like more leaves ready to unfurl. These were started several weeks after yours.... No fertilizer yet, but have added a few doses of used coffee grounds to each pump.....

7/5/08 - Canada's latest

Plants 1&2 are going strong and
fighting off the zuchinni and rubarb in the garden. plant 3 on the far
right has almost died several times, so it's encouraging to see it
starting to make a comeback.

7/2/08 - Raleigh - no pumpkins this year, but the sunflowers are doing just fine!

All,

So I am out of the giant pumpkin business this year, well check out the sunflower we have growing. I am 6'4" and when reaching straight up I reach an 8 ft ceiling. Not sure how tall the sunflower plant is but 13 ft might be a good estimate.

Steve