2011 Champion Declared!

October 12, 2011 was a tense day as five colleagues brought their best to be judged for their weight and girth. Zdenka and Denise deliberated intensely, double checking results and conferring on points of contention. In the end, the winner was clear cut. Alida's Wallnmeyer stood tall (well, at least wider) than the rest with a score of 51.5 easily quashing Dan's 35.5, Tom's 34, Laurel's 28 and Scott's 21.1.

The highlight was the celebration food provided by Laurel and Cheryl. Zdenka declared Laurel's pumpkin soup, the "best I've ever had and I've had a lot of soup! Cheryl's "Intense Pumpkin Explosion" muffins were a perfect complement to Dan's President's Choice coffee.

Congratulations to all the participants. Thank you to our judges and foodies. We hope you had some fun today and along the way.

See you next year.

The Harvest

One little, two little, three little pumpkins…four little, five little, six little pumpkins…seven little, eight little, nine little pumpkins…ten little pumpkins…yum. Although I don’t think any of them are large enough to win our little contests, they’re sure to enhance many meals to come. I’m curious to meet all the other pumpkins on October 12.

The growing season winds down

My big boy is turning orange which means the growing season is winding down. Although he's not nearly as large as Audrey's winner from last year, I believe he may be a contender. I just hope the bear doesn't decide he needs a pumpkin for dessert. I may have to pick him sooner than I'd like just to make sure that doesn't happen, but I do love to see orange in the garden (or in this case, on the lawn).

Wallnmayer Jr. falls but survives

The sunny and warm weather was good for Junior's growth. Too heavy for the vine tendrils though, as they broke away from the deck rail netting and Junior fell to the ground. He's fine and this will be his resting spot for the remainder of the growing season.

It just keeps growing

Four photos: August 8 - one of the many fruits that have survived, August 6, August 2, July 23 - the monster just keeps growing. We finally decided that enough was enough and on August 6, I pinched back all the runners. Probably won't win the contest since I didn't have the heart to cut off any of the dozens of fruit that have formed and survived...but they were so good to eat last year, that any way you look at it, we'll win...yum - barbecued pumpkin, pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins.

The good one, a Wallmayer seedling

Here's the good one, a Wallmayer adoptee. The vines are nicely growing up to the netting attached to the (wobbly) deck railing. Three pumpkins have emerged with one noticeably bigger as you can see in the middle. Should I pinch the other two, so the bigger one grows bigger? Hmm.

The Survivor

Can you believe it? This plant was a (supposedly) failed seedling from last year's competition. It managed to survive last winter and surprisingly sprouted in mid-June. I thought annuals weren't suppose to survive.

I think this plant deserves some special nurturing.

The monster has taken over my garden

Though it's been dry, our little pumpkin has turned into a real monster -- but it appears ready to give back an abundance of fruit. It seems to love the heat and humidity almost as much as I do.

The first photo was taken on July 9. The second was July 18 - the change in size is, to me, astonishing! And it already has several small pumpkins. I hope their growth keeps up with the growth of the plant. Yum - I can taste pumpkin already.

Planting Time at Wallnmeyer's - June 11, 2011

After sending one little pumpkin off to the Pang House, we still waited for our garden to be dry enough to plant the one remaining seedling - and this weekend it happened. Now we'll keep our fingers crossed that rainfall amounts remain reasonable.

Pumpkin Adoption

Laurie Nealin realized her garden capacity wouldn’t work for the impending pumpkin plant growth, so she asked if anyone else would be interested in nurturing her sprout to fruition. Tom Rhodes, her temporary workstation neighbor, jumped at the chance. Like Spiderman, Tom knows that with, “Great pumpkins, comes great responsibility”. He is grateful for the opportunity and eager to begin his journey.

Winter's Over - Maybe

And what that means is that it's time to start those pumpkin seeds growing. Dan's been busy handing them out...says there's 10 of us this year. Audrey's retired, but she'll grow vicariously, checking in on the blog to see who can out do her winning effort from 2010.

Happy growing! Hope to hear from all of you soon.