Archive for GIANT VEGGIES-OTHER
November 4, 2011 · Filed under giant green squash (greenies), GIANT PUMPKINS · Tagged composting, gardening, GIANT PUMPKINS, giant pupkins, Kryptonite
Max and Kryptonite are done. Gone. Cut up and given away for food. A good ending to a great story. The giant pumpkin season is now done. In fact all the vegetables are done. Well almost. Gardening is never really over. Now it’s time to get ready for the next gardening season or you can wait for spring.
Either way, you should clean up your vegetable garden of all the plants that have by now frozen and died and dispose of them with the garbage collectors or in a landfill. Why take them to a land fill and not compost them? Most of us don’t really compost hot enough to kill all the disease pathogens especially going into winter. I do compost the actual fruit or vegetables just not the plants. Powdery mildew, early blight and other diseases can be spread to next year’s crops- so bag the plants and dispose of them in a landfill. They’ll still break down, just not in YOUR garden.
November 3, 2011 · Filed under giant green squash (greenies), GIANT PUMPKINS, GIANT VEGGIES-OTHER · Tagged cooking with giant pumpkins, giant green squash, GIANT PUMPKINS, what to do with giatn pumpkins
The inside of giant pumpkins are beautiful
Yes folks it’s true, Mad Max will get axed tomorrow morning at the 4th Annual Pumpkin Bash here in front of Liquid Light Glass’s studio at 10AM. We are looking to give away mass quantities of fresh organically grown giant pumpkin tomorrow by noon. And if anyone sez they don’t taste good, then either they weren’t grown organically or they’ve never tasted one cause they are delicious. Better come early cause last year it was gone in one hour! Any Leftovers will be donated to Kitchen Angels or any charitable organizations that feed the hungry.
Some people have asked me if it’s hard to see my giant pumpkins get cut up and the answer is yes. I have to work through the thought of cutting them up but then I tell myself it’s better than rotting in some compost pile-which isn’t bad either as it goes back to feed the earth.
But they have a higher purpose-feeding people. Besides I need the seeds!
JANNINE’S PUMPKIN SOUP
Here is a great recipe for pumpkin or any winter squash soup
INGREDIENTS:
About 10 lbs of pumpkin or winter squash
Chicken broth or vegetable broth or water
1 can Coconut milk (whole or lite)
fresh grated ginger
honey to taste
Cut, quarter and clean out your squash of seeds and stringy stuff. Put oil on exposed edges and put face down on foil lined cookie sheet in a little water and place foil on top of squash so it doesn’t dry out. Cook at 350 degrees for 30 min-1 hr or until soft when pierced by fork. Scoop out flesh and place in a big soup pot and add 8-10 cups of either water, OR chicken broth OR vegetable broth-your preference. Then take a mixer or one of those hand held blender wands and mix till smooth. Heat and then add the can of coconut milk, some fresh grated ginger (peel first) and honey to taste. Do not boil. Yummy!
October 19, 2011 · Filed under general, giant green squash (greenies), Giant Long Gourd, Giant Pear Gourd, GIANT PUMPKINS, GIANT VEGGIES-OTHER, marrows · Tagged Colorado Springs giant pumpkin weigh-off, giant long gourd, giant marrow, giant pumpkin, giant squash, New Mexico State Giant Pumpkin broken 2011
Here are some pics of the weigh-off on last Saturday in Colorado Springs. It’s always fun to see everyone’s results after growing these giants for 6 months or more. I planted all my giant veggie seeds on April 7 of this year-that was 188 days of the plants growing. No wonder we become attached! And the actual pumpkins/squashes were pollinated around July 10, which was 95 days for my pumpkin/squash to grow. That’s 448 lbs of growth in 95 days! Most growers get around 120 days to grow these behemoths but here in Santa Fe we have a much shorter growing season as most of you know plus we’ve been in drought this year and on a good year we don’t get much rain compared to say Ohio or New York or just about anywhere else!
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October 17, 2011 · Filed under general, giant green squash (greenies), Giant Long Gourd, Giant Pear Gourd, GIANT PUMPKINS, GIANT VEGGIES-OTHER, GOURDS, marrows · Tagged giant pumpkin, giant vegetable growing, growing giant pumpkins, loading giant pumpkins, loading giant vegetables, transporting giant pumpkin
Mad Max and me looking like a mad hatter with that hair! Last day before cutoff.
Many of you asked how to I load these giant vegetables. Here are some pictures of the guys loading the giant pumpkins into the truck. If the pumpkins get much bigger, I’ll have to get them in with a hoist.
Many thanks to Janet and Tom Hiron for loaning me their truck, Pepe, for hauling these behemoths up to the weigh-off in Colorado and to the ‘Mad Max’ guys who loaded them. It truly takes a village to get help grow and promote these giants! Tomorrow I will post pics of the weigh-off.
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October 16, 2011 · Filed under general, giant green squash (greenies), Giant Long Gourd, Giant Pear Gourd, GIANT PUMPKINS, GIANT VEGGIES-OTHER, GOURDS, marrows · Tagged 103 lb giant pear gourd-New Mexico, 2011 New Mexico State Record Giant Marrow, 2011 New Mexico State Record Giant Pumpkin, 2011 New Mexico State record long gourd, New Mexico giant pumpkin record, New Mexico Giant Pumpkin state record broken 2011, New2011 Mexico State Record Giant Squash
Giants Unloaded at Studio after the Weigh-Off
Four New Mexico Giant Vegetable State Records Set yesterday!
Yesterday I set 2 NEW New Mexico Records and BROKE 2 New Mexico Records that I set last year! My giant pumpkin, ‘Max’, ended up officially at 448 lbs breaking Kong’s record of 421 lbs last year. My giant marrow, ‘King Zuc II’ (zucchini) was 62 lbs which broke last year record of 43.5 lbs. My giant green squash, ‘Kryptonite’ (greenie) set a new record of 340 lbs and my long gourd, ‘Jake the Snake’, set a new record of 80″ in length. My giant pear gourd, ‘Gourdo’, weighed in at 103 lbs which was one lb more than the one at the State Fair earlier in September but there is no category for it. Sorry it took so long to post this but we had to get back from Colorado and get the guys back to unload all the giants at our studio! The next two posts will show the loading and Weigh-off but I wanted to get this out for all you following!
October 13, 2011 · Filed under general, giant green squash (greenies), Giant Long Gourd, Giant Pear Gourd, giant pumpkin growing tips, GIANT PUMPKINS, GIANT VEGGIES-OTHER, GOURDS, marrows · Tagged GIANT PUMPKINS, growing giant pumpkins, loading giant pumpkins
The crew-from left Spooner, Ed, Per, Ira, me, Javier, Daniel, and Beto-THE KONG BOYS!
The weigh-off is almost upon us. Tomorrow the pumpkin/greenie squashes will be cut at 8 am and loaded in the truck on pallets. How do I get all this weight in the bed of a truck? 8 strong men! These guys are the best and nicest guys around and I REALLY appreciate their help. I couldn’t do it without them. Here are last year’s crew with my giant pumpkin, ‘Kong’ at 421 lbs. This year’s giant pumpkin, MAD MAX is 463 lbs and the ‘Greenie’ squash, Jabba the Hut is 347 lbs.! Hope the guys have been working out! More pics tomorrow of the loading of the giants!
October 9, 2011 · Filed under general, giant green squash (greenies), Giant Long Gourd, Giant Pear Gourd, GIANT PUMPKINS, GIANT VEGGIES-OTHER, GOURDS, marrows · Tagged giant green squash, giant long gourd, giant pear gourd, GIANT PUMPKINS, giant vegetable gardening, ginat marrows, growing giant vegetables, vegetable gardening
Today MAD MAX (according to the tape measurements) reached 463 lbs. That’s 42 lbs over last year’s record of 421 lbs! Remember it could weigh lighter than the charts, but I feel pretty good that it will now beat the old record. It has to be all the extra water it’s been getting this past week. Over 2.2 inches in the pumpkin patch! Simply wonderful. That plus it’s been getting some extra fertilizer (seaweed and fish emulsion) right now. Pump it up MAXIE! The weather has been challenging but it hasn’t gotten down to 32°F (0°C) yet in the patch . It was suppose to but I’ve truly LUCKED OUT! I have the pumpkin plant covered with row cover and of course MAX has been covered for a month now with blankets at night. Now if it can just get through tonight, I think the rest of the week is suppose to be warmer and then it’s off to the races on Saturday!
Meanwhile the greenies are getting scary! That’s scaary good! Jabba is 349 lbs and Kyrptonite is 341 lbs! They are still battling it out for who gets to go! I hope one of them will actually sit on the mini pallet I picked up!
The other giants going to the weigh-off (if there is space) is a long gourd at 79″. It doesn’t weigh much but may have to hang off the truck. We’ll put a red bandana off the end of it! LOL. There is also a giant marrow (zucchini). I can use as a spacer between the pumpkin and greenie! And a giant pear gourd-ah what’s another 100 lbs! It should fit in the corner!
October 4, 2011 · Filed under general, giant green squash (greenies), Giant Long Gourd, Giant Pear Gourd, GIANT PUMPKINS, GIANT VEGGIES-OTHER, GOURDS, marrows · Tagged giant green squash, greenies, growing giant green squash
Greenie-'JABBA the HUT'
JABBA THE HUT is leading the greenies at 329 lbs while Kryptonite is close behind at 318 lbs! JABBA is called a ‘bird bath’ because it’s belly button is sitting on top of the squash instead of on the side which is more common. We will go to the OCt 15th weigh-off in Colorado Springs to let the squashes gain as much as possible. I hope there will be no freeze or snow to kill the plants before then-it will be close. I read that they can continue to grow about 1 week after a hard frost and then you just try to keep the pumpkins from losing weight before the weigh-off. It looks like it will be 33°F on Saturday. I’ll have to cover MAX and the Greenie plants with some protective row cover material.
News on my other giants:
I don’t know how heavy the biggest marrow (zucchini) is yet. I will cut all 4 big ones before we go up and take the heaviest. I do know they are all over 43.5 lbs which was the smallest one I took to the State Fair.
The long gourd is currently 79 inches long and I have a ‘baby’ one growing that is 50 inches long and gaining fast as well!
I’m not sure how big the Giant Pear Gourd is but I think it is close in size to the one I took to the fair which weighed in at 102 lbs.
September 12, 2011 · Filed under giant green squash (greenies), Giant Long Gourd, Giant Pear Gourd, GIANT PUMPKINS, GIANT TOMATOES, GIANT VEGGIES-OTHER, GOURDS, marrows · Tagged giant green squash, giant long gourd, giant marrows, giant pear gourd, GIANT PUMPKINS, giant tomato, giant vegetables, growing giant vegetables, vegetable gardening
It is a good year for me at the State Fair for my giant veggies! I got 5 blue ribbons and first places for all my entries-giant zucchini, giant pear gourd, giant long gourd, giant tomato and giant greenie) and 2 I entered for Elodie ( a second giant zucchini and a tomato) took second places and got red ribbons. We still have bigger veggies waiting for the national contest in Colorado in October…
September 7, 2011 · Filed under general, giant green squash (greenies), Giant Long Gourd, Giant Pear Gourd, GIANT PUMPKINS, GIANT TOMATOES, GIANT VEGGIES-OTHER, GOURDS, marrows · Tagged giant green squash, giant long gourd, giant pear gourd, giant tomato, giant vegetables, NM State Fair
Today I dropped off my entries for the giant vegetable categories at the New Mexico State Fairgrounds which opens this weekend. I didn’t submit a giant pumpkin this year as I only have 2 going. MAX and BABY HUEY (who I’ve been watching put on 9 lbs a day now for a while). Lava went down to Albuquerque with me to help unload. Here are the candidates I did submit:
This tomato is from a Big Zac variety and is 19.25 inches in circumference and 2 lbs, 14.4 oz in weight. It is still turning red but has completed it’s growth. I didn’t see anything bigger down at the fair. We will see..
This giant ‘greenie’ squash is ‘The Hulk’ and estimated weight is 157 lbs and has put on 7 lbs a day in the last 5 days. Here it is in the back of the Prius. It barely fit in! I still have 2 bigger greenies growing in the garden for the big weigh-off.
Here is the giant Long Gourd, ‘Digi’, which is measured by length-it is 59.5 inches long-basically the length of the back of the Prius with the seats down. It had stopped growing. I still have some longer ones still on the vine that I’m saving for the big contest. In the foreground is the whitish pear gourd.
Here is the third biggest giant marrow (zucchini), ‘Little Boy’, which is 47 inches long and 27 inches wide! It ended up weighing 43.5 lbs which was bigger than the one I took last year to the fair.That one was 34 lbs. I have bigger ones in the garden yet to come for the big contest.
And lastly here is the giant Pear Gourd, ‘Gourdo’, which is 31 inches wide and 41 inches in length. You can’t see it too well here but it is huge. It weighed 102 lbs on the scale at the fair! I debated whether to take it today or leave it for the big contest and decided to take it as it will be for exhibition only up at the big contest as they have no category for it. At least at the state fair I will get a ribbon…
August 31, 2011 · Filed under general, giant green squash (greenies) · Tagged giant green squash, growing vegetables, vegetable gardening
This is my first year of growing ‘greenies’ which are basically giant green squash the shape of pumpkins. I really like this plant. It is huge, by far the taking up the most space in the pumpkin patch. The leaves come up mid thigh to me and they have basically been very easy to grow. I have three good sized greenies that are taking off right now, all well over 100 lbs so far. One will go to the NM State Fair next week and the other two will duke it out to see who will be the heaviest for the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth weigh-off in Colorado. They all have names now. Meet the ‘greenies’!
Here is ‘Jabba the Hut’ named because it’s belly button is tilted more on top instead of on the side like the others and it is very lumpy. I like it’s shape! It is growing the fastest and is the largest at 118 lbs last Sunday.
Here is ‘Kyrptonite’. It has that classic perfect pumpkin shape with it’s belly button in the normal position on the side. It was 111lbs last Sunday.
Last is ‘The Hulk’, who is also growing in a weird shape as seen in the second picture below. It was 100 lbs last Sunday. I probably will take it to the NM State Fair next week.
August 24, 2011 · Filed under general, GIANT VEGGIES-OTHER, marrows, SUMMER SQUASH · Tagged giant marrow, giant vegetable gardening, giant vegetables, giant zucchini, growing giant vegetables, vegetable gardening
Giant marrow continues to grow in garden
I have a giant marrow seed that I got from a grower in the Netherlands that I’m growing this year. They call zucchini squash, courgettes or marrows in Europe. Both zucchini and marrows are in the same family- Curcurbita Pepo. My giant marrow (zucchini) is getting bigger and more gnarly. It is now kept wrapped up tightly with row cover to protect it from the pesky squirrel. I’m not sure how much it weighs as I don’t know of any measurement method like we have for giant pumpkins so it is always a surprise at the State Fair or at the Giant Pumpkin Commonwealth weigh-off in Colorado but it sure looks BIG with that beer can on it for perspective. The US record for this type of giant vegetable is around 90 lbs! Last year, my biggest marrow weighed 43 lbs and set a NM State Record. This one is still growing so we will see!
August 15, 2011 · Filed under general, Giant Long Gourd, GIANT PUMPKINS, GOURDS, marrows · Tagged giant green squash, giant long gourd, GIANT PUMPKINS, giant vegetables, NM State Fair, vegetable gardening
Here’s the update on the other GIANT VEGETABLES I’M GROWING THIS YEAR.
1048 pumpkins on Aug.16, 2011
I also have several little pumpkins (biggest 16 lbs.) on another pumpkin plant, the 1048 Grande, that are in great position on the main vine. They were pollinated later and so they are smaller right now but have the potential to get bigger than ‘MAX’. They are growing slowly right now gaining about 5 lbs a day. Hope they take off as well.
This is one plant! HUGE! Biggest I've ever grown. Notice the greenie squash on the right side.
The ‘Greenie squash plant has really blossomed (no pun intended) putting out 5 little green pumpkin type squashes. They are so beautiful, just like a pumpkin only a beautiful green and the plant is huge. Lots of leaves to feed all of them!
Giant Marrow (zucchini)
Meanwhile this giant zuck is doing great measuring 30 inches in length and 12 inches across right now and growing steady. I also have 2 others that are a little smaller than this one on this plant. One of them will go to the NM State Fair but the biggest I will save for the Giant Pumpkin Commonwealth Contest in Colorado Springs in early Oct.
And the giant long gourd has many gourds but one gourd growing about 6-8 inches a day in length but it is not on the top of the trellis. I hope I get one pollinated way up on top so it has 10 feet to grow down! This is the one I showed you only 7 days ago when it was 4 inches long!
August 7, 2011 · Filed under general, Giant Long Gourd, Giant Pear Gourd, GOURDS · Tagged giant long gourds, giant pear gourds, gourd flowers, gourds, growing giant vegetables, growing gourds, growing vegetables, night pollinating flowers
Long gourds grow over the top
Fuzzy little long gourd baby-4 inches long
The long gourd plants are really taking off. They are now over the top of the gourd trellis or tower as I like to call it and filling in. They seem to like the heat, humidity and extra moisture we’ve been getting lately-in fact all the gourds have gone bonkers. Caleb is coming over today and after we check the bees, we are going to reinforce the top of the tower they are growing on as I hear they get extremely heavy as they get longer. They already have some babies growing but not on top where I want them. If they get big enough this month I will put those smaller ones in the State Fair at the end of the month.
I read and heard from a fellow gardener at the SF Farmers Market that gourds are pollinated by night pollinators like night moths. I’ve never seen a honeybee interested in them. We must have some night pollinators here as I have some baby fruit growing on them.
Mystery gourd (I don't know what type it is)
This little pear gourd came from an 89 lb giant pear gourd
I’m growing three types of gourds this year-giant long gourd, giant pear gourd and a mystery gourd (not sure what type it is but looks like a small pear). All the gourd seeds were extremely hard (at least for me) to germinate-they took forever to come up and some I had to plant twice, but once they came up and I put them in the garden, they have been easy keepers and give a certain lushness to the garden without lots of water. They are part of the Curcubita genus which includes, pumpkins, squash and cucumbers. I bet you didn’t know pumpkins and squash are part of the gourd family did you?
So far none of the gourds seem to attract bugs-like the squash bug, perhaps because of their scent when you handle the leaves. They are kinda stinky but not too bad. But like I said, they are beautiful to look at and the leaves and small furry fruits are fantastic. Both are really soft to the touch, like suede, unlike pumpkins or squash whose leaves are rough. They also have beautiful delicate flowers. I’m really enjoying them so far.
Mystery gourd flowers
July 17, 2011 · Filed under GARDENING TIPS, general, marrows, squash tips, SUMMER SQUASH, winter squash · Tagged GARDENING TIPS, growing squash, growing summer squash, growing winter squash, organic methods for squash bugs, organic vegetable gardening, squash bug, squash bug control, vegetable gardening
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squash bug eggs
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squash bug nymphs hatching
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squash bug nymphs
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squash bug adult
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squash bug damage on leaf
Squash bugs are around my squash and pumpkins right now. I go out AT LEAST ONE TIME A WEEK and go hunting for adults, nymphs and eggs. I know the ADULTS LIKE TO HIDE DOWN AT THE BASE OF THE PLANT or underneath the leaves. I take the hose and spray the whole plant and at particularly at the base which is covered in straw. The adults come running up the stems of the leaves to escape the water. Then I pick them off with my hand. I hate handling bugs barehanded so I use gardening gloves. I either squish them on the ground or put them in a bucket of soapy water where the adults drown. No mercy.
I then look at EACH LEAF of the plant to see if there are any EGGS ON THE UNDERNEATH SIDE OF THE LEAVES, usually in the “v” where the veins form. If I find them, I either tear off the whole leaf (if I have a lot of leaves) or I tear out just the section that has the eggs and put them is a bucket of soapy water where they will smother. THE EGGS WILL BE DARK LIKE ROOTBEER WHEN THEY ARE READY TO HATCH, so get them EARLY.
I also look for the GRAY NYMPHS WHICH ARE USUALLY UNDERNEATH THE LEAVES OR ON THE STEMS. If I find a few I squish them. If I find a lot, I take the whole leaf off because they are fast and I can get them all. Then I put them in the soapy water.
Squash bugs go from EGGS TO NYMPHS IN 7-10 DAYS, so we should look for eggs about every 7 days to catch them from turning into nymphs. I do this on the weekend when I have more time. The squash bug PRODUCES ONE NEW GENERATION EACH YEAR but of course if each squash bug lays 15 eggs on each leaf they chose to deposit their eggs on, then all those newly hatched nymphs will lay more-but not this year. The nymphs will grow into adults this year but will not lay eggs. They will overwinter and lay their eggs next year.
So my thinking is if you get the adults now and the eggs now, then next year you should have way less squash bugs (I’m assuming we might miss a few) and of course if we get them all, in theory we should have none next year.
I keep my plants covered early in the season with row cover until they flower but now that they are flowering, I must uncover them so the bees can pollinate them. The key is to be REALLY DILIGENT ABOUT FINDING THEM BEFORE THE EGGS HATCH. After they hatch you can easily be overcome by the nymphs. Most people don’t keep up on the inspections and then the problem magnifies tenfold-so keep up on them. The hunt is on!
Some people spray Sevin on the plants. I prefer to go organically, so if I get a major problem, I would use Neem which is somewhat helpful but picking them off is the best way to control them.
All pictures courtesy of University of Minnesota. For more info on squash bugs, go to their site: http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/M1208.html
