Anyone Growing Your Own Pkins?

Do you have a special way to carve a pumpkin?
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Re: Anyone Growing Your Own Pkins?

Post by NeverMore » Sun Aug 26, 2012 1:29 am


Here's my haul. Not bad for my first time! There are still five more on the vines that haven't ripened yet. I'm hoping with all the pruning I did today some of the vines will get new growth. Sam is in the second picture as a reference to size.


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Re: Anyone Growing Your Own Pkins?

Post by Tee » Sun Aug 26, 2012 3:48 pm

They're gorgeous!!! I'm so jealous =)
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Re: Anyone Growing Your Own Pkins?

Post by Pumpkin56 » Mon Aug 27, 2012 2:49 pm

Wow, Nevermore. Those are beautiful. They all look so flawless :)

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Re: Anyone Growing Your Own Pkins?

Post by witchy » Mon Aug 27, 2012 4:46 pm

WOW!! Thats a nice haul and they look perfect!!!!!
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Re: Anyone Growing Your Own Pkins?

Post by Murfreesboro » Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:25 am

What a great crop!

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Re: Anyone Growing Your Own Pkins?

Post by jadewik » Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:36 pm

NeverMore wrote: Jadewik,

I'm wondering how your pumpkins are coming out. That heat has to be tough on them? Hope you're getting some good output.
I have vines taking over my yard, but few actual pumpkins-- a lot of them died 'till we heard the trick about putting a board under the fruit-- I think I'll have a yield crop of 4 if they don't die between now and when I pick 'em. I'd post photos... but... I was kinda robbed a couple weeks ago and, as a result, no longer have a camera... at least 'till my husband takes care of the insurance paperwork (I'd do it, but I filled out the police report... all he has to do is copy what I wrote and he said he'd do it... so... we wait. Can't afford a new camera 'till the insurance is sorted out.)

Our garden kinda suffered from some of the RL drama that's been going on as a result... kinda sucks, but nothing I can really do about it for the time being. I'm really digging your photos, though! Keep 'em coming. =D

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Re: Anyone Growing Your Own Pkins?

Post by NeverMore » Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:38 pm


Thank goodness they didn't get your pumpkins!

I don't have much more to post as far as pictures go. I spotted another heirloom pumpkin starting to grow so that makes 6 still on the vines but there isn't much more to see. Now I'm just trying to figure out the best way to keep the remaining vines growing. There's still a few flowers blooming on the sections that are still healthy so it's possible I could get more pumpkins. Those are so far from the source, and there's so few leaves, that I doubt I'd get very big ones.

You're right about the plywood, or something else to set them on. I had three that I didn't spot amongst the leaves that were sitting on the ground and they all rotted.

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Re: Anyone Growing Your Own Pkins?

Post by jadewik » Thu Aug 30, 2012 11:15 am

I checked on the pumpkins this morning. We planted two different variety-- the giant orange and those white ones. I have two giant orange-- one looks to be about 15 lbs. The other looks like it'll be about 5lbs. I have 3 of the white pumpkins. They range from about 8 lbs to 3 lbs in size... and then there are 3 pumpkins that are quite new. They're really small-- too small to tell which variety they are (since our vines are just all over the place because we planted 'em waaaay too close together, it's tough to tell which plants are which). There are still a few flowers, so we could potentially have more... but I doubt they'll be very large.

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Re: Anyone Growing Your Own Pkins?

Post by Pumpkin56 » Thu Aug 30, 2012 2:36 pm

Silly question, I'm sure, but do either of you think that your really big pumpkins will be any tougher to carve than just your average standard sized pumpkin? I'm wondering if the shell is significanly thicker or harder to cut through. I've never tried to carve a huge one, but my niece likes to bring me super small ones to carve and they damn-near kill my knives they're so tough. They're practically bullet-proof.

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Re: Anyone Growing Your Own Pkins?

Post by NeverMore » Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:56 pm


I'm half tempted to cut a couple open to find out. Nah! I'm patient. I can wait a couple more months.

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Re: Anyone Growing Your Own Pkins?

Post by jadewik » Tue Sep 04, 2012 11:31 am

Pumpkin56 wrote:Silly question, I'm sure, but do either of you think that your really big pumpkins will be any tougher to carve than just your average standard sized pumpkin? I'm wondering if the shell is significanly thicker or harder to cut through. I've never tried to carve a huge one, but my niece likes to bring me super small ones to carve and they damn-near kill my knives they're so tough. They're practically bullet-proof.
I actually like the thicker shells better-- they're certainly better for sculpting. Just make sure the insides are still moist-- when pumpkins dry out, they get really stringy and less pulpy. Stringy pumpkins are harder to carve.

Another good thing about thick shells is that you can shave the shell down to a thickness you like, depending on how you're going to carve. This means, you can better control the thickness and have fewer thin spots. If you're doing a traditional, not-too-detailed carving, you can shave it down to 1/2-inch (1.25 cm) thick to carve. If you're doing something more detailed, it helps to leave it thicker (~3/4-inch) and then trim it down after you carve-- the thickness can help keep those details more stable as you carve.

I'm not sure about the skin being thicker or thinner-- I think the thickness of the outer shell/skin remains the same on small or big pumpkins.

What sort of knives do you use to carve?

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Re: Anyone Growing Your Own Pkins?

Post by NeverMore » Thu Sep 06, 2012 2:11 pm


Wahoo! I just spotted an open female flower on my 'Big Max' vine. The single male flower had lots of pollen so I took care of it myself since it seems to be the bees day off. Not really expecting a pumpkin to grow because there are very few leaves and it's so far away from the source. I'll keep my toes crossed. If I walk around with my fingers crossed that would look pretty silly wouldn't it?

My 'Jack-o-lantern' vine is still growing out of control with lots of flowers. Looks like I missed a female bloom so I hope the bees weren't slacking off that day. It really made a difference when all the flowers were blooming. Bees were everywhere. Stupid heat killed everything off. I even had to chop down my sunflower stalks.

The 'Jack-o-lantern' vines are growing so well I planted the rest of the seeds at the trellises where the other vines died off. Even though it's too late to get pumpkins from those in time for Halloween, I may get new vines and leaves so I can have my pumpkin patch for our carving party. Just crossed the toes on my other foot. If you see someone walking like a duck, that's me.

Now my thoughts are turning towards what to do with the trellises and irrigation when pumpkin season is over. I'm thinking about planting grapes. It would be cool to be able to go out there and just pluck them off the vine and eat them. Like I'm doing with my roommate's tomatoes. Don't tell her! My kumquats are about to ripen but I only have about a dozen of those. The tree is still in the pot. It goes into the ground next year.

Over on the ground where the irrigation is I'm thinking about doing a dark, or gothic garden. Nothing but dark plants. There are lots of black plant and flowers, maybe highlighted by some bright ones. I could put gargoyles and other spooky stuff amongst the plants. That should keep me Haloweenyized throughout the year? Man! I really got the gardening bug.

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Re: Anyone Growing Your Own Pkins?

Post by Murfreesboro » Fri Sep 07, 2012 9:44 am

That link to the black plants is amazing! I had had no idea there were so many!

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Re: Anyone Growing Your Own Pkins?

Post by NeverMore » Sat Sep 08, 2012 9:37 pm


Don't think that giant pumpkin is taking off. Just not enough plant support for it. My first cinderella pumpkin is finally turning orange. Yay!

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Re: Anyone Growing Your Own Pkins?

Post by NeverMore » Thu Sep 13, 2012 5:40 pm


I was able to self-fertilize two female blooms this morning. The giant pumpkin I fertilized doesn't seem to be getting any bigger but it hasn't withered yet. Need to get some leaves on that vine! The seeds I planted the other day are all sprouting. I may have a yard full of vines and leaves in time for the carving party after all. Looking forward to greeting The Great Pumpkin on Halloween night.



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