Pages

▼

Friday, September 14, 2012

Farm Friday - Pumpkins. Bleh.

So as I wrote over the summer, I tried my hand at pumpkins this year.

Although I started them late, they got off to a good start.

















They grew quickly.




















They grew well.























They got a little scary.




























They were kind of beautiful.
























But now?



Bleh.

They're not looking so hot.





















Lots of vines all over the place.





















Dozens of flowers.

















So that would mean.... dozens of pumpkins?

No.



We have one honest-to-God pumpkin.


























We have a couple wannabe pumpkins.


























We have a lot of anemic vines and pathetic, droopy, splotchy leaves.

















Anyone out there know pumpkins?
Can anyone advise me on what I did wrong?







Or can I blame it all on the gargoyle?























***************************


Don't forget, I will love you forever if you throw me a vote on Top Mommy Blogs. You know the drill by now, don't you? Just click the juggling chick and you've voted. You can vote every day till like, forever.

Top Mommy Blogs - Click To Vote!

Thanks!


***************

In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Here's the schedule I keep:
Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday
and Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny
Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop and Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up

Since today is Friday, that means I'm linking today's post with Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday, but I'll also be linking this same post up with some of the hops listed above in the coming week. Come join the fun!
at

28 comments:

  1. NeighGirlSeptember 14, 2012 at 6:52 AM

    I have never been able to grow pumpkins, I guess they don't like me :(
    NEighgirl

    ReplyDelete
  2. alphamamaSeptember 14, 2012 at 9:14 AM

    Funny thing, we grew zucchini, acorn, and butternut squash this year, the same thing happened to the stems and vines. Did some on-line research and found out that in our case, some kind of bore was getting into the stems and eating them from the inside out. You couldn't see anything wrong until the leaves started to wilt, yellow and die off. We lost all our zukes before we figured it out, some of the other squash. A little pesticide took care of the problem...so much for organic farming...and we were able to nurture most of our acorns and butternut to maturity. Check your stems, girl!

    ReplyDelete
  3. danielleSeptember 14, 2012 at 9:46 PM

    Anne, LOVE your blog! You crack me up and bring a bit of sunshine to the crazy life. Thanks! Congrats on the pumpkin;-) Yeah, like the other comment- check the stems for squash vine borers. They work fast and get the whole plant before you know it. Also, lack of water and or heat stress could also weaken the plant and make it's "immune system" weak, leaving it more vulnerable to disease and pests (check under the leaves for aphids and frass (bug poo)). And... it could be that it is at the end of its season with the sunlight reducing and nights cooling it will trigger the plant to say adios. My butternuts are starting to do that although, my carving pumpkins are still hanging in there. With many winter squash you wait to harvest the fruits till after most of the foliage is dead. Drive by a pumpkin farm at harvest and all you see is orange globes in a contrasting field of dry tangled brown vine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anne BirdsongSeptember 15, 2012 at 10:59 AM

      Thanks, Danielle. I guess next year I'll spray pesticides, though I don't like the idea of doing that. I know I've seen "recipes" for making natural pesticides with apple cider vinegar and stuff. Maybe I'll look into that. It's a shame, too, b/c we had lots of flowers and I saw bees pollinating them. We should have had dozens of punkins. Sigh...

      Delete
  4. Kathy Felsted UsherSeptember 17, 2012 at 3:16 AM

    It's a pretty pumpkin though! Same here with lots and lots of vines, more than you'd ever expect for three LITTLE pumpkins! I only grew them so my granddaughter could actually pick one so mission accomplished. So sorry that something got your vines!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anne BirdsongSeptember 17, 2012 at 3:54 AM

      Thanks, Kathy. It's just so disappointing seeing alllll those flowers, and only the one pumpkin. Oh well. Better luck nex year, right? Glad you got one for your g-dtr!

      Delete
  5. Megan @ Restoring the RoostSeptember 17, 2012 at 4:20 AM

    Ours look the same :(( they did good and then the 2 volunteer pumpkin plants that did better than the rest ended up producing about 10 miniature pumpkins (good for nothing except being cute!) and one large pie pumpkin. That's it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anne BirdsongSeptember 21, 2012 at 11:43 AM

      Hey, you still got about 10x more than I did! I'm jealous....

      Delete
  6. JanetSeptember 20, 2012 at 5:16 AM

    The pumpkin eater got 'em!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Tanya BreeseSeptember 20, 2012 at 5:33 AM

    oh no! sorry the pumpkin crop wasn't so hot!

    ReplyDelete
  8. carol l mckennaSeptember 20, 2012 at 6:19 AM

    Great pumpkin and soon to be pumpkin ~ perhaps it was the dry summer ~ (A Creative Harbor)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anne BirdsongSeptember 22, 2012 at 6:47 AM

      Could be, ArtMuse, but I think it was some kind of parasite that got to the stems. They looked weird. Thanks for stopping in!

      Delete
  9. Lisa @ Two Bears FarmSeptember 20, 2012 at 6:36 AM

    Oh bummer. I grew birdhouse gourds but now they're all rotting - they got some sort of disease I guess.

    ReplyDelete
  10. DanielleSeptember 20, 2012 at 7:24 AM

    Sorry about your pumpkins. My squash did the same thing. The flowers were just beautiful...but nothing. someone mentioned that they weren't pollinated???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anne BirdsongSeptember 21, 2012 at 11:50 AM

      I don't think that was the problem, Danielle. I planted them near some butterfly bush, and I always saw bees and butterflies in the flowers. I think it was something that got to the stems. Ugh.

      Delete
  11. PatSeptember 20, 2012 at 2:57 PM

    They did get off to a beautiful start! No idea what could have happened.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anne BirdsongSeptember 21, 2012 at 11:48 AM

      Thanks, Pat. I've gotten a lot of good feedback (incl a guest post someone wrote for my blog today), so I'm hopeful I can do better next year.

      Delete
  12. NancySeptember 20, 2012 at 3:57 PM

    So sorry about the pumpkins. Hope the big one survives until Halloween.
    Thank you so much for sharing this with us at Rural Thursdays. xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anne BirdsongSeptember 21, 2012 at 11:47 AM

      Thanks Nancy. You know, I never thought about the possibility of the one pumpkin not making it till Halloween. Thanks for giving me something NEW to worry about!

      Delete
  13. DebSeptember 20, 2012 at 7:17 PM

    I had trouble with my some of my squash looking like that...but still produced squash...not as much as it should but we did get tons of blooms and some squash...I think I need to treat my soil...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anne BirdsongSeptember 21, 2012 at 11:45 AM

      I actually just posted an article on how to grow healthy pumpkins (guest post) today. So check it out, maybe you'll get some ideas for next year!

      Delete
  14. BetteySeptember 21, 2012 at 12:45 PM

    I have never had much luck with pumpkins. Well, no. I take that back. One year I threw a pumpkin in my compost, and the next year an amazing plant grew out of the side of it. I did nothing to maintain it and it grew a few pumpkins. So perhaps ignore the plant all together is the key? ;)

    You should visit my blog and submit your pumpkin photo to Orange You Glad It's Friday.

    http://gresham-hoodphoto.blogspot.com

    Hope to see you there!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anne BirdsongSeptember 22, 2012 at 6:55 AM

    Oh, I give up. I have been fighting and fighting with my "reply" comment button, and it wins. So here are my replies to the rest of the commenters:
    @Tanya: Thanks. Here's to better luck for me next year, knock wood.
    @Lisa: That's what I think happened to my punkins. I'll still try again next year. You?
    @HoodPhoto: The only time before that I actually "grew" pumpkins, it had nothing to do with me. I had fed all our pumpkin guts to our pig. Well I guess she "shat" out the seeds, and we had some nice little pumpkins grow from that. There's a lesson to be learned there....

    ReplyDelete
  16. Mariah MOctober 9, 2012 at 11:00 AM

    The curly pumpkin vines are so pretty and unexpected. (I pinned it) Looks so... Tim Burton. I want to visit a farm so bad, I can taste it. It tastes like beauty and hard, rewarding work lol. Maybe someday, someone will invite me to theirs... :D
    TALU

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anne BirdsongOctober 9, 2012 at 1:41 PM

      Thanks for the pin, Mariah!
      As for the taste of a farm, don't leave out the taste of manure and chicken dust.
      And fwiw? You have a standing invitation to visit my farm anytime. I'll save you a pitchfork.

      Delete