2013 Pumpkin Patch

Well, last Saturday I planted the pumpkin patch.  Not much to say about that.  Today I had planned on spraying the patch with Miracle Grow but it has been raining all day so I don't see much of a point.  As of today there are seven plants that have popped up, all jack-o-lanterns.  I did take a look and there is one Big Max pumpkin plant that is now just starting to pop up out of the ground.  I decided to plant more jack-o-lantern pumpkin plants this year and less big max.  I figure more pumpkins is better than big pumpkins.

The 2012 Pumpkins Are Here!

Well, 2012 was a very successful year for Ryan's Pumpkin Patch.  I ended up with 18 pumpkins with a total weight of 201.4 lbs.  That is a personal best in terms of number of pumpkins.  The most I ever got in a year was 15.  It is also the most total weight for the pumpkin patch ever.  So here they are:

From Left to Right - On the Table: The Tardis (28.0 lbs) [This Year's "Big Mutha"], The Dalek (22.6 lbs.) - On Cinder Block: The Bro Code (13 oz.)* - Middle Row: Knucklenose (10.8 lbs.), HooDoo (12.6 lbs), Captain Sneaky Pants (14.8 lbs.), Han Solo (13.2 lbs), Twisted Sister (17.4 lbs.), Challenge Accepted (16.4 lbs.), Knucklehead (12.6 lbs.), August Rush (14.4 lbs.), Sally Slingshot (7.8 lbs.) - Bottom Row: Snickerdoodle (4.0 lbs.), Peter (6.4 lbs.), Susan (5.4 lbs.), Edmund (6.2 lbs.), Lucy (5.0 lbs.), True Story (3.0 lbs.)

So, there you have it.  I know that to many of you the names make no sense.  But, that is simply because you don't watch the right TV shows.  Anyway, Happy Fall!

*Yes, that is ounces, not pounds.  Smallest pumpkin I have ever grown.

The Final Days of The Pumpkin Patch

You know, my last semester of college was both happy and sad.  I loved my time at BYU and the friends I had made and the things I had learned.  However, as I started my last semester I had finished all my linguistics courses and the only classes I was taking were a bunch of random ones I needed in order to finish up the last of my graduation requirements.  In addition to that, it was finally dawning on me that I had majored in linguistics and that I had absolutely no idea or plan regarding what I was going to do with my life.

Much like those final days of my college career, my pumpkin patch is in its final days.  Most of the pumpkins have now been picked and there are just a few stragglers clinging to the dying vines as I wait for them to turn orange.  So, in the next little while I will be picking the last four pumpkins and I will be taking out the pumpkin patch for another year.  It's happy and sad all at the same time.  Much like my last semester of college.  Hmm, deep.

First Pumpkin of 2012

Well, yesterday I picked the first pumpkin of 2012.*  This is the earliest I have ever picked a pumpkin.  Since I picked it on the last day of August and it was clearly in a big hurry to ripen I decided to name this 14.4 lb beauty . . . wait for it . . . August Rush.  I know; my creativity knows no bounds.  Sometimes I'm amazed my brain doesn't explode under the weight of all this creative genius.

*Technically, the first pumpkin I picked was the one that had gone rotten.  This was the first intact pumpkin of 2012.

Pumpkin Patch Update

 

Well, I am happy to say that the pumpkin patch has been doing incredibly well this year.  Due to an unusually hot summer the pumpkins have grown faster and become ripe earlier than they usually do.  I actually have several that I could pick right now if I wanted to.  As a result of this heat and fast growth I actually have new pumpkins starting up even now.  In fact, I hand pollinated two female buds just this morning.  If things keep going well with these new ones I could actually end up with somewhere in the area of 20 pumpkins this year.  That's more than I have ever gotten in case you were wondering.

The pumpkin shown above is Pumpkin #23.  This was one of the later pumpkins.  I actually almost snipped it off thinking that I should stop any new pumpkins from starting so the plants' energy could go into to the pumpkins I already had.  But, I saw that the pumpkin was already staring to grow so I let it alone.  I'm glad I did.  Even though this one started somewhere in the area of a month later than most of the others it grew like crazy and may very well end up as the biggest jack-o-lantern pumpkin I get this year.  I'm sure there's some kind of Sunday School lesson in there.

Above is Pumpkin #13.  It should probably end up as the smallest of the batch this year.

 This guy (Pumpkin #18) decided to hide behind the butterfly bush.

These are Pumpkins #15 and #16.  Not much to say about them.

Here we see Pumpkins #17, #5 and #22.

On the left is Pumpkin #8.  This is the one competing with #23 for the distinction of being the biggest of the jack-o-lanterns.  On the right is Pumpkin #4; one of the three Big Max pumpkins I got this year.

In the front you can see Pumpkin #1.  This will undoubtedly be the biggest of this year's Big Max pumpkins.  Pumpkin #7 can be seen in the back and should be the second biggest.  Now, this picture is missing something.  Pumpkin #6 is not here.  A few weeks ago I came out and looked it just to discover to my dismay that it's bottom had turned to mush.  As a result, I had to pick it.  It weighed in at 8.6 lbs and I named it Oh Potter, You Rotter.  It seemed appropriate.

2012 Pumpkin Patch - Engage!

Well, back on May 9th I planted the Pumpkin Patch. As you can see from the above picture I planted three hills. The one in the middle is your regular jack-o-lantern pumpkins. The other two are planted with the seeds from the 36 pound and 26 pound Big Max pumpkins I grew last year. I have high hopes that I will set a new personal best this year. My goal is to get a 50 pounder. We shall see.

Oh, so you noticed the newly redesigned pumpkin patch sign. Now some of you may be rolling your eyes and saying; "Oh no he didn't." Well, yes he did! You may feel inclined to point out; "But Ryan, that show ended 2 years ago. When are you going to move on." To which I say: "NEVER! Indeed you are correct, it did end 2 years ago. But, I have the complete series on blu-ray so for me it shall never end!!"

Anyway, if you think that's nuts check this out. As you know, I love to grow my pumpkins and I just feel like I could never really ever have enough of them. So, I decided to try planting some pumpkins on the roof. I'll let you know how this works out.

In case you were wondering this post has been backdated. I actually wrote it 8/2/12. I decided to show the date I meant to write it.

The Pumpkins are Here!

So, here we have it. Ryan's record breaking 2011 Pumpkin Patch. In spite of the fact that this year there were only ten pumpkins I broke my own personal weight record, grew my first white pumpkins and produced my first truly successful Big Max Pumpkins. So without further ado, here they are: From Left to Right - On the Stove: Super-Sonic Sucker Punch (12.0 lbs), Megatron [This Year's "Big Mutha" and new personal best] (36.4 lbs.), My DHARMA Lady (10.6 lbs.) - On Chair: Starscream (26.8 lbs.) - On Shelf {Top Shelf}: Fighting Whitey (4.0 lbs.), Cookies (11.0 lbs), They Might Be Pumpkins! (5.4 lbs.) - On Shelf {2nd from Top Shelf}: Wannabe Softball (2.4 lbs.) - On Shelf {3rd from Top Shelf}: You Will Be Assimilated (5.2 lbs.) - On Shelf {2nd from Bottom Shelf}: Goobermeister Meistergoober (9.0 lbs.)

White Pumpkins

I have picked my first two white pumpkins. The one on the left weighed in at 10.6 pounds and is called My DHARMA Lady. I picked that one last Saturday. The one on the right weighed in at 2.4 pounds and has been dubbed Wannabe Softball. I picked that one this morning. There's still one more white pumpkin out there. I'll probably pick that one pretty soon.

First Pumpkin of The Year 2011

So, back on Monday September 5th Collin and I went out and picked the first of this year's pumpkins. This pumpkin had actually been ripe and ready to pick for weeks but I didn't really see any good reason to pick it in the middle of August. However, on Labor Day I just couldn't resist any more and we went out and picked it. This is actually a really nice looking pumpkin that weighed in at 12 pounds. Considering our less than stellar crop of pumpkins last year I should note that this pumpkin, which is by no means the biggest one out there, is almost 2 pounds heavier than the biggest one I got last year. So, after picking this and weighing it the next task was to decide on a name for it. Since I picked it about a week earlier that I picked the first one last year I contemplated calling it something along the lines of Early Bird or some such other descriptive name. But, in the end, my good old Hobbit sense kicked in and I picked a much simpler name. I therefore dubbed this pumpkin Super-Sonic Sucker-Punch. OK, there's no real practical reasoning behind the name but hey; it's pretty cool!

Pumpkin Patch Update

As you can see from these pictures, all our "pumpkins" are growing well. The pumpkin patch has been doing remarkably better than last year. In the pictures above and below you can see that the big max pumpkins have actually been a success this year. The one that Liam is sitting next to will most likely turn out to be the biggest one I've ever grown. The one in the picture below should also be pretty huge.

One of the best improvements this year is the fact that, for the first time, I have not had problems with the dreaded powdery mildew. This has come about mainly because of a combination of changing the watering schedule and some homemade fungicide spray.

The above is currently the biggest of my jack-o-lantern pumpkins. We have several more but this is the one that is the furthest along.

I tried my hand at growing white pumpkins this year as well. The above is the biggest one we have. Anyway, if all goes well we should have between eleven to fourteen pumpkins of various sizes and colors this year.

The Pumpkin Patch Is In!

It's that time of year again. One week ago, I planted my 2011 pumpkin patch. However, due to the difficulties I had with my pumpkins last year I actually started preparing the soil a couple of months ago. There's really only one place in our garden where I can realistically plant the pumpkins without them completely overtaking everything else. As a result, I got nothing but a crop of rather small pumpkins last year. So, not long after I harvested them last year I started researching ways to solve the problem. One of the results came to be known as "The Pumpkin Pit." I dug up a nice big area and, over time, I replaced the soil with a combination of soil from other parts of the yard, manure and compost. The result will hopefully be a much better yield of pumpkins this year. In addition to planting the traditional orange pumpkins I am, once again, going to try my hand at Big Max pumpkins this season. I have also planted white pumpkins.

Now, you may have noticed in these pictures that in addition to the cute little boy, there is already a pumpkin plant growing. Now, I don't want anyone thinking that I went out and traded our only cow for a pouch of magic pumpkin seeds. No, that was a Big Max starter brought to me by our dear friends and arch pumpkin growing rivals the Handys. They referred to this gift as "The Gauntlet." It would seem that the age old pumpkin growing contest betwixt our families has begun. I would like to say to the family Handy: IT'S ON LIKE DONKEY KONG!!

The 2010 Pumpkins

Well, in spite of rumors to the contrary, I have not abandoned my blog. I've just been a little bit lazy in my updates as of late. However, it is now that important time of year were I present to the world the fruits of my pumpkin patch. As I indicated in previous posts, this year's patch has not yielded any big pumpkins. This saddened me greatly especially since this was the first year that I planted "Big Max." So, I had really been hoping for some mega pumpkins. However, 'twas not to be. At first I thought that the primary problem was the weather but now I think it was more of a problem with crop rotation. It seems that when you grow the same plant in the same spot three years in a row you don't get as good results. Who knew?! So, since I have a crop of diminutive pumpkins I decided this year to name them all after equally diminutive characters from some of my favorite (and not so favorite) books. A special Halloween treat to the person who can successfully identify the book that each and every one of these twelve pumpkins got their names from.* So, with no further ado, I proudly present to all one of you Ryan's Pumpkin Patch 2010!Back Row: Old Fatty Lumpkin (10.2 lbs), Frodo (4.4 lbs), General Woundwart (4.2 lbs), Reepicheep (4.4 lbs), Gorbert (7.8 lbs) - Front Row: Samwise (4.4 lbs), D.L.F. (6.0 lbs), Trufflehunter (4.6 lbs), Jenks (4.0 lbs), Griphook (4.0 lbs)

Roofintop Dobby (3.0 lbs) and Flitwick (4.0 lbs)

*Open to legal U.S. Residents. Void where prohibited; please see official rules (if there were any). My wife and my sister Shanna are not eligible because I've told them all or most of the answers at some point. No treat if you cheat by typing the names into a search engine.

First Pumpkin of 2010

So, yesterday I picked the first of this year's pumpkins. Collin was really excited about it so I put it in his room. It weighed in at 7.8 lbs and I named it Gorbert after a furry-faced little monster in one of Collin's current favorite books. Sadly, this rather small pumpkin is in all likelihood the biggest one my pumpkin patch is going to produce this year. Pumpkins, and vine fruits in general, have not done very well this year around here due mainly to an unusually cold and wet June. There is one other pumpkin out there that might possibly make ten pounds but I'm not holding my breath.

The Pumpkins Are Coming! The Pumpkins Are Coming!

As you can see from these pictures my pumpkin patch has started to produce a lot of pumpkins. I took these pictures a few days ago and many of these are a lot bigger now and there are a few new pumpkins that have since started to grow.

The first picture and the one above are some of the "big max" pumpkins that I planted for the first time this year. They will not be the traditional dark orange color of the pumpkins most people use for Halloween but they can get to be over 50 pounds so I'm really hoping to have a few really big jack-o-lanterns on my front porch this year.

There are actually two pumpkins in this picture. Can you spot them? Wow, this post is kind of like an "I Spy" or a "Where's Waldo" book!

It's A Sign!!

I grow some pretty awesome pumpkins. In fact my pumpkins have been described as legendary and epic (mainly by myself). So, I decided that I needed a sign to mark Ryan's Pumpkin Patch that would be just as epic as the pumpkins themselves. Unfortunately, I don't actually have the skills or the materials to make an epic sign. What I did have was some old pieces of scrap wood, a drill, some random rusted screws I found in the shed, a can of left over exterior white paint that we had used to paint our door jam, some brushes and paint pilfered from my wife's old arts and crafts supplies and a couple random pens. These I took and and was able to throw together this little sign. Yeah I know, I'm a bit of a dork.

It's that time of the year again!

Well, yesterday I planted the 2010 crop of pumpkins. I planted a bit late last year and by Halloween I still had a number of green ones so I've planted this years pumpkin patch about 2 and a half weeks earlier. Another big difference this year should prove to really be a "big" difference. This year in addition to planting the regular pumpkins I have planted some "big max" pumpkins. Those are the kind that people grow for the competitions. Now, I'm not anticipating that I will have any 1000 lbs pumpkins. That would require a lot more work than I'm willing or able to put in. But, I am hoping for some that will be at least 50 lbs. I will of course keep you all posted.

Ryan's Pumpkins 2009

Well, I have just picked the last of my Halloween Pumpkins. Here they are! From Left to Right - Top Row: Ava 2 (11.8 lbs), Smooth Move (20.2 lbs.), Psycho Jack [This Year's "Big Mutha"] (22.0 lbs.), George (16.4 lbs.), Ava (12.2 lbs.) - Middle Row: Casper The Friendly Pumpkin (10.2 lbs.), Sadee (15.2 lbs.), Buck Rogers (14.0 lbs.), Ichabod (13.4 lbs.), The Jolly Green Giant (15.0 lbs.), Itty-Bity (2.4 lbs.) - Bottom Row: Half-Pint Harvey (5.4 lbs.), Wormy (4.0 lbs)*, Captain Buttless (6.2 lbs.)** - Insert: Collin (11.2 lbs.)

So, with 15 pumpkins totalling 179.6 lbs. I think "Ryan's Pumpkin Patch" did pretty good this year. There are a lot of green pumpkins in here so I am making a note to plant a bit earlier next year.

*This pumpkin had to be carved immediately. I didn't name it "Wormy" for nothing.

**This pumpkin is so named due to an unfortunate run in it had with a rouge weed-whacker that left it with a rather large hole in its bottom regions.

The First Pumpkins Have Arrived

So, after months of waiting and painstaking work I was able to pick the first pumpkins of the year. The one on the left weighed in at a bit over 20 pounds and is a solid contender to be this year's "BIG MUTHA." So, I have not chosen a name for it as of yet. The pumpkin on the right weighs in at about 11 pounds. It is tall, skinny and has a very hard time standing up on its own so naturally, I decided to name it "Collin."

Now, some of my beloved nieces and nephews may be thinking: "But Crazy Uncle Ryan, there's only two pumpkins. Will there be one for me for my jack-o-lantern?" Fear not little pipsqueak and dry your eyes! These are but the first ones to ripen up. There are many more of various shapes and sizes so there will be one for you as well.

Ryan's Pumpkin Patch

Well, the whole “job search” thing hasn’t really been going too well today so I took a little time to plant my pumpkin patch. So, come October I should have pumpkins all ready for my good little nieces and nephews to make into jack-o-lanterns. That is if I don’t decide to keep them all for myself.