Well I started about 5 giant pumpkin plants this spring and am now down to one. Last night a squirrel (or rabbit) did my biggest plant in by chewing through the stem and killed it. Finito. Done. No hope for that one. And it was amazing because it had 2 layers of row cover on it and some shade cloth over the row cover but something must have gotten underneath all that. This is too bad as I started it in mid April in the house and felt it had the greatest possibility to produce a GIANT giant pumpkin. Now I’m down to only one plant (the back up) which is actually the seed from my 2010 NM State Record but it was started a little later as 3 other of my seeds didn’t germinate at all. I’m actually going to plant 2 more seeds directly in the ground now to see if I can get a backup to my back up. The soil is certainly warm enough but I’m not sure I will have enough time now to grow a really big one unless it is some super seed that takes off!
giantveggiegardener 
Very sorry to hear about your pumpkin. The rabbits are giving everyone a tough time this year.
Diane Lewis
Sent from my iPad
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Sorry to hear, you can borrow my .22 if needed…lol
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I know that someone really enjoyed the free meal but it is still a bummer to hear that you lost four plants.
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😥
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All 5 of my seeds came up and I’m going to have to thin some. Do you want one or two? Jody
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Thanks but I’ve already got 2 other seeds in the ground..
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Oh, major bummer! The prairie dogs decimated the Cactus Garden at the County Fair Grounds.
Every body is so thirsty.The Cactus Crew salvaged all and they are next to our driveway till we can get the garden fenced. Fingers crossed for your back up to the back up! In the end I could not justify trying giants this year, want the seeds back? Just too much water. Might be good next year. Jill
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Nah, you keep the seeds. Maybe next year is better!
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I was so disappointed and saddened to hear about your pumpkin disaster…
Good luck with your back up plant and new seeds in the ground…
Gardening is a bloody crap shoot!
I’m almost giving it up…with drought, garden pests, hungry insects!!! Damn! damn! damn!
My three surviving grape vines had beautiful green leaves and some grape flowers on them…and then, a massive invasion of little shiny green-black bugs–smaller than lady bugs–descended!
They’ve reduced ALL the leaves to skeletons! All I could do was spray some homemade dish detergent-mouthwash solution all over the plants and spray everything with a high power shot of
hose water…and ONLY on my water days (thursday/sundays)…FEH!!
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So sorry to hear about your pumpkin vines! We have some aggressive Prairie Dogs here, and even with fencing and chicken wire across the bottom of my raised beds, they got in and took down some cukes awhile back… so I’m farming on the deck this summer! And this year we have a large infestation of leaf hoppers… took down most of my flowers just days after I put them in, so no color spots this year. ..
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Oh gosh – I hate to see that! If they were just eating type pumpkins you would probably still have time, but not so sure about the really big guys. I ran across your site because of your post about shallot scapes – I’m in zone 5 as well – though a whole different world of zone 5 in Upstate NY. Nice to meet you – hope you will come over to my blog to say hello as well!
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I was told by a professional gardener to use blood-meal to make a perimeter around veggies I wanted to keep critters like rabbits and squirrels out of. It seem to work. More expensive is “Predescent”, which also seems to work, and probably for a more extended time. There are others that use strong smelling spices like pepper, cloves, etc., but I’m they are expensive and don’t seem to last as long..But other critters require other repellents, so you have to know what’s attacking them.
Funny video of the pumpkin motor boat race, after the contest. Loved it. And that zucchini of yours! Wow!
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