The Great Pumpkin Weigh-In

12 packages of seeds were handed out; but only four pumpkins came out for the final weigh-in.

And the winner and still champion, from the Anola area of Manitoba, weighing in at 16-3/4 lbs, was a great, green pumpkin with a circumference of 37-7/8”, for a total of 51-1/8, thereby narrowly beating out last year’s entry at 51.5, but still well behind Audrey’s first year winner at 64.1.

 

Pierre and Jane’s joint pumpkin came in at 15  lbs, with a circumference of 31-3/8”, for a total of 46-3/8, while Scott’s tall giant came in at 13-1/2 lbs, and a circumference of 29-7/8” for a total of 43-1/8. Tom and Laurie’s joint offering was a cute little darling at 5-1/2 lbs., and 22-7/8” for a total of 28-1/8.

Laurel’s soup was outstanding, muffins and cake were delicious, coffee was perfect, and it was great to get together with friends and colleagues “In honour of Public Affairs' brighter, vegetative tomorrow, by growing gourds.” Dan, although retired, promises to join us again next year now that he has his gourd growing space ready.

Congratulations to all the participants. Thank you to Lea and Christian, our  judges. We hope you had some fun today and along the way, and hope to see you all again next year.

Two for three (so far!)

I see life emerging from the soil; my second little pumpkin seedling has emerged.

Here's a photo of my newest little one. Please don't laugh at my blurry photo attempt; my camera isn't that great at close-ups. 

I also have a few extra artichoke seedlings. I promised some to Dan and to Cheryl. Anyone else want one?

Time to get serious...

Again, I’m going to try to give Alida some more competition.  Little cotyledons have emerged from the soil from one of my three seeds.  Photos to come…

2012 Pumpkin Growing Contest Kicks off

Since Dan intends to retire before the growing season ends, he passed the sceptre to Cheryl at last year's wind-up. Cheryl was up for the challenge and send out the following call on April 19...and so it begins.

The 3rd annual MPI pumpkin growing contest is soon to be underway!


Pumpkin growing?? Yes, you read that right. There is an ever growing group of MPI staffers who lovingly nurture and cultivate pumpkins from seeds to see who takes the title in the pumpkin growing smackdown held each year. This is a free event!*
Last year’s champion was Alida with her “Wallnmeyer” pumpkin which easily tipped the scales to give her the trophy over 2nd and 3rd place winners, Dan Pang and Tom Rhodes respectively.

New changes this year: with the blissful retirement of head judge Zdenka Melnyk, Lea Currie has stepped in to fill the role. Lea’s vote cannot be bought or swayed!** Also, Dan Pang has passed on his convenor’s hat to me, so I get to make the rules this year!

What about you?

Do you enjoy an exciting and high-stakes competition? Do want a shot at the title? Do you have a largish patch of dirt? No? But under your fence your neighbour does! Or would you grow a pumpkin just for a pass to the culinary feast on Judging Day?

If this sounds like too much rivalrous fun to pass up send me your name by 4pm, Friday. In the spirit of conservation I’ll give you your three seeds on Monday, the day after Earth Day. See what you can produce with a dirt, water and a little love. Pumpkins will be judged by weight and girth in September or October.

Three seeds. One title. How they grow is up to you.

Cheryl,
Convenor, Pumpkin Growing Contest

*Unlike Sawatsky’s cry for $2 for entry into his NFL/NHL pools. Pfff.
**Except with extremely high quality dark chocolate and popcorn twists.

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.

Grand Champion declared!

The day of reckoning arrived.

Lea and Zdenka, our official judges, began measuring (circumference and weight) with the careful attention and reverence that we could expect from professionals in the workplace. (Well, they were the only ones who would do this. Thanks for nothing, Ron!)

And the results showed a clear cut winner (the one with bandaids on the stem.) Apparently, thieves tried to cut off Audrey and her husband on the way to work forcing them to slam on the brakes as they out maneuvered the would-be culprits. "Big Boy" took a tumble but survived for the weigh-in. Audrey, you do know that it's the responsibility of the driver to make sure occupants are properly restrained. Actually, being 5 months old, "Big Boy" should have been in a child seat. Oh well, next time.

The scoring results were officially (who's counting?):

1. Audrey 64.1

2. Dan 44.4

3. Sonia 41.8

4. Laurel 39.3

5. Alida 34.5

Congratulations to Audrey for her winning green thumb.

It was a lot of fun for everyone.

See you next spring.

Here today, gone tomorrow!

As the season winds down

I heard through the pumpkin vine that Audrey's pumpkin has a 29" waist. Ours don't come close and I'm afraid with the frost we received Saturday night that the race has been lost...perhaps one of them will win the "Miss Congeniality" title. After all they did happily share space with petunias, and tomatoes and zucchini, playing nice with all of them.

Orange speckles

The Great Pumpkin Patch

in Lorette

We have about 10 punkins in the bunch now.

Two are nearly the size of a soccer ball and are starting to turn from green to orange.

Check it out ...