Friday, June 24, 2011

Maybe All is NOT Lost.....

Guess what I saw?


Some of the pumpkins are starting to vine! See the little "Curly Q"....


We are still battling bugs... daily. We go out and squash them, trap them, spray them, hypnotize them... well, we don't really hypnotize them, but we would if we could! We have tried to do some repair work around each hill... as the squash bugs have tried their best to destroy the root system. They destroy the roots and somehow keep the pumpkins from thriving, and often even killing them.

Like this... We have some poor plants that still look like this one. No hope.


But we have several that are trying their best to come out of it. Like this one. Notice the smaller curled leaves on the left? That is evidence of damage. But you can definitely see evidence of growth. This one maybe has a chance at bearing pumpkins for us.


And we have some that really do look healthy.


These plants with the speckled leaves are supposed to bear mammoth pumpkins. We only planted a few of these, but they are doing quite well.


Here is a shot of a portion of our pumpkin patch.


Compare it to last year....
June 20, 2010


They were even blooming last year at this time.


We've planted nearly TWICE the pumpkin seeds as last year, but at this point we would be happy with HALF the yield. But hopefully all is not lost.

6 comments:

  1. Dear Stephanie,

    Just found your blog through Melanie's...and wanted to let you know that you are not alone! We are just getting our potatoes in the ground...last year they were already a foot high! We've had so much rain. I wanted to offer a possible suggestion for your bug problem. I make an organic bug spray that has worked on every pest we've encountered thus far...including deer and rabbits! You can find it on my blog...it is super easy and CHEAP to make! Hope it helps.

    Have a blessed evening,
    Laura

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  2. THANKS for the tip! And thanks for visiting.. I will most certainly check it out!

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  3. Hello. :) I just found your blog through my friend, Laura's. I really like it, and I'm praying for your pumpkins. All the best!

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  4. I am cheering for team Stephanie and the pumpkins. I have not been successful with pumpkins... yet. I am trying again this year. My plants are smaller than yours. So far, no bugs. knock knock.

    Re: those bad bugs. Are they underground? My old farmer neighbor talks about these bugs, that almost like striped lightning bugs. They get his cucumbers. So he lays out a circle of "dust" before he puts them in the ground.

    In any event, I like seeing a blog with garden photos! I a follower! :-)

    Thanks for stopping over at my place.
    crow

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  5. I hope your pumpkins make it this year! We got a late start to planting anything in our garden this year. So far we haven't gotten anything from it at all.

    We have a volunteer pumpkin plant that came up in our back yard this year! lol I haven't taken a good look at it yet but I hope we get a few pumpkins from it!

    Have a Great Weekend!
    Angela

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