The pumpkins are in!

[TheWaterbug]

This weekend my son and I put in 30 pumpkin seedlings:

[url=https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3552590/PumpkinPatch_web.mov][img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3552590/PumpkinPatch_web.jpg[/img][/url]

(If you have QuickTime installed [e.g. anyone with an iPod, iPad, or iPhone] clicking the picture will pop up a 360 panorama. Drag inside the pano to pan around, and press Shift/Ctrl to zoom in/out)

These are Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins. Around the pumpkins I'm going to put in a row of Big Maxes, a row of cantaloupes, and a row of watermelons.

You can see my 3 rows corn in the background, and left/counterclockwise of the corn is a patch of carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower that's just germinating.

I just got all the drip watering system set up, so now I can relax a little. Well, not really. I still have the rest of the melons to put in, and then there's weeding, and squirrel cages, and the artichokes and brussels sprouts, and now someone is asking for tomatoes. It never ends, does it?

[johnny123]

Now woodchuck season begins.
[img]https://i978.photobucket.com/albums/ae263/nemf/HenryGoldenBoy22.jpg[/img]

[garden5]

Wow, your pumpkin patch looks great! It looks like the whole area is reserved for vyning crops.

On a side note, how did you take that panoramic shot? Did you use a video mode or a series of pictures?

[vegetable-gardener88]

Nice pumpkin patch - makes mine look rather silly

[TheWaterbug]

Now woodchuck season begins.

In my area we just have the average garden-variety tree squirrels.

They were brutal to my pumpkins last year, which is why I have all these redonkulous chicken wire cages. Once I get female flowers I put one of these cages over each of them, then replace them with larger cages as the fruit get bigger. It's an exercise in insanity.

[TheWaterbug]

Wow, your pumpkin patch looks great! It looks like the whole area is reserved for vyning crops.

About 80% of it is/will be planted with melons/squash. The rest of it will have other vegetables; I just haven't gotten around to finishing that other part because I wanted to get the pumpkins in before too late. Last year I started late (started seeds June 20) and had squirrels eating the fruits, so by the Halloween Pumpkin Patch party I had 60 green pumpkins. It wasn't a failure; I just had to convince 30 kids that green pumpkins were "in." Heck, anyone can have an orange pumpkin, right?

On a side note, how did you take that panoramic shot? Did you use a video mode or a series of pictures?

Series of pictures using a Nikkor 10.5mm fisheye lens on an old D70s with a [url=https://www.nodalninja.com/products/panoheads/nodalninja3.html]special panorama head[/url]. Images were stitched together using [url=https://www.ptgui.com/]PTGui software.[/url]

Then again many of the smarter camera phones can do basic panoramas, too. This more-complicated method is nice because I get 360 degrees horizontally as well as 180 degrees vertically. I could edit out the tripod head if I had the time, but I spend all my free time in the garden these days .

[jal_ut]

D-Con
22LR
410
I liked the Henry suggestion.

Hey, that is going to be some pumpkin patch. We expect a picture when it matures.

[SPierce]

I'm so jealous! What a lovely looking pumpkin patch. I hope you get lots of pumpkins!!

[TheWaterbug]

I'm so jealous! What a lovely looking pumpkin patch. I hope you get lots of pumpkins!!

We'll see! I got ~60 out of 24 plants last year, and last year I really had no idea whatsoever as to what I was doing.

This year I know this --> <-- much, which is only slightly more, but I started 6 weeks earlier and I already have 60 (!) cages sitting in the shed, waiting to be used. I also have a drip system in from day 1, as opposed to last year when I hand-watered for the first several weeks, and they all nearly died when I went out of town for a week. This year I used a broadfork to break up my rock hard soil underneath each hill, so the roots can go deeper if they're so inclined.

So everything should come out better this year (knock wood), but something unexpected _always_ comes up, which is why I planted so many.

[SPierce]

I'm so jealous! What a lovely looking pumpkin patch. I hope you get lots of pumpkins!!

We'll see! I got ~60 out of 24 plants last year, and last year I really had no idea whatsoever as to what I was doing.

This year I know this --> <-- much, which is only slightly more, but I started 6 weeks earlier and I already have 60 (!) cages sitting in the shed, waiting to be used. I also have a drip system in from day 1, as opposed to last year when I hand-watered for the first several weeks, and they all nearly died when I went out of town for a week. This year I used a broadfork to break up my rock hard soil underneath each hill, so the roots can go deeper if they're so inclined.

So everything should come out better this year (knock wood), but something unexpected _always_ comes up, which is why I planted so many.

Wow. Thats so wonderfully awesome! I would love to have just one pumpkin- I have two plants I got in ground a little under a month ago. I'm taking a chance on 2 pumpkin plants, and 3 gourd plants this year. I sure hope I manage to get at least one baby pumpkin!

[TheWaterbug]

Panoramic update:
[url=https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3552590/PumpkinPatch071611.mov][img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3552590/PumpkinPatch071611_web.jpg[/img][/url]

So that's 32 days since the first one. They started out slowly, but they're growing much faster now. The corn growth is much more impressive

I've got something funky going on with the focus, so it's not as sharp as it should be, but at least you can tell how it's growing.

The back row (against the white fence) is Big Maxes, and the left/right columns are cantaloupes and watermelons (Moon and Stars).

[bogydave]

[quote="jal_ut"]D-Con
22LR
410[/quote]

+1

[TheWaterbug]

Another panorama update, shot on 7/23/11:
[url=https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3552590/PumpkinPatch072311.mov][img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3552590/PumpkinPatch072311_web.jpg[/img][/url]

As with the others, click the picture to pop up a 360-degree panoramic view.

It seems like it's grown significantly even in the last 2 days. I have to walk through it carefully now, lest I trample a vine.

[TheWaterbug]

Another of my [url=https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3552590/PumpkinPatch080211.mov]approximately-weekly panoramas[/url].

The vines are like a carpet now.

[TheWaterbug]

I haven't had time to do a panorama lately, but I did pick on our Big Max pumpkins this weekend.

61 lbs!!!

[img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3552590/BigMax2011_web.jpg[/img]

The kid weighs less than that.

[rainbowgardener]

The kid and the pumpkin both look great! You did a good job.

The panoramas are very cool also. I love it that you can scan up and see the sky as well as panning around horizontally. Even those of us with old fashioned non-mobile desk top computers have QuickTime!

[SPierce]

Awwww, congrats on the beautiful looking pumpkin! Perfect timing too!

[jal_ut]

Very nice.

[TheWaterbug]

The 2nd Annual(?) Pick-and-Paint Pumpkin Patch Party was a huge success! We had more than 80 pumpkins to share amongst the more than 50 kids:
[img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3552590/PumpkinPatch.jpg[/img]

Kids painting:
[img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3552590/KidsPainting.jpg[/img]

Fruits of their labor:
[img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3552590/PumpkinsPainted.jpg[/img]

Next year will depend on the construction schedule. We're doing some remodeling (again), and the paddock will likely be the staging area for the construction crews. I'm hoping they're done and out by June!

edit: corrected link on last pic

[rainbowgardener]

what a wonderful event! Great use of a garden!

[soil]

we do something similar locally each year, everyone loves it.

great pics

[TheWaterbug]

Of course no Halloween party is complete without Bloody Eyeball Punch:
[img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3552590/BloodyEyeballPunch.jpg[/img]

To make the eyeballs, drain a can of long-an fruit (also spelled longyan, available at Asian grocery stores) and insert Maraschino cherries or black grapes. Serve with Hawaiian punch and a small block of dry ice.

Soil, what other stuff do they do at your local pumpkin party? I'm all ears!

[applestar]

Looks like so much fun! The kids (and growups?) must have had a blast!

[TheWaterbug]

A few weeks ago I decided to get all the remaining pumpkins off the ground so that they'd last longer. This one looked a bit roughed up on top, but I thought it'd be OK:

[img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3552590/ThisPumpkinLooksFineFromTheTop_web.jpg[/img]

Then I rolled it over:
[img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3552590/TheGopherGotToIt_web.jpg[/img]

He went right inside and ate all the seeds!!

I'm fortunate that I had ~15 other pumpkins that were still in decent shape.

I made a couple batches of pumpkin soup and my first "from scratch" pumpkin pie!

[john gault]

I have a bunch of pumpkin plants now from two pumpkins I collected while collecting leaves. I smashed in my garden (sheet composting) and expected that the seedlings would eventually die from the cold, but our winter has thus far been very normal (as opposed to the last 3 extremely cold winters), so I guess I'll have pumpkins some time in the future

[TheWaterbug]

[img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3552590/PumpkinPatch.jpg[/img]

I just realized I never posted [url=https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3552590/PumpkinPatch091011.mov]the final panorama[/url] that I took of the patch. It's out of focus for some reason, and it's a full six weeks before Halloween, but you can see lots of orange pumpkins!

I'm starting to think about pumpkins again already for this year.

[SPierce]

[img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3552590/PumpkinPatch.jpg[/img]

I just realized I never posted [url=https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3552590/PumpkinPatch091011.mov]the final panorama[/url] that I took of the patch. It's out of focus for some reason, and it's a full six weeks before Halloween, but you can see lots of orange pumpkins!

I'm starting to think about pumpkins again already for this year.

So am I THis year, I'm damn determined to get some- even if it's before halloween! Just the satisfaction in general

[TheWaterbug]

I'm damn determined to get some- even if it's before halloween! Just the satisfaction in general

Put in a lot of plants!

[SPierce]

I'm damn determined to get some- even if it's before halloween! Just the satisfaction in general

Put in a lot of plants!

I sadly don't have the room to do so I may end up having to do container pumpkins (trash cans with drainage holes) this year to see if I can manage anything. I just don't get enough sunlight in the ground.