To compost giant pumpkins they must first be broken up into smaller pieces!
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MAX TO GET AXED/4th Annual Pumpkin Bash on Friday Nov 4
MAX GETS AXED at 10 am this Friday, Nov 4th at our studio at the 4th Annual Pumpkin Bash. Afterwards at 11 am, we will give all of Max away to anybody that wants a piece to cook and the leftovers will go to Kitchen Angels and the Food Depot. It will be especially fun as this year we will also crack open the giant greenie squash as well. That’s 788 lbs of pumpkin squashes to give away! I let my friends and the guys who lugged the squashes around take a whack at Max to see who can split it open. Anyone who wants to take part as Mad Max gets axed come on by and please take some nice organic fresh pumpkin home as well!
PBS program-Lord of the Gourds on today, Sunday Oct 30
For any of you that might be interested in seeing the program that got me into giant pumpkin growing (where I thought they were a bunch of nuts) it will be on TODAY on KNME, Sunday afternoon at 2pm entitled ‘Lords of the Gourd: The Pursuit of Excellence’ featuring Joe Pukas from New York and the Cooperstown Weigh Off. A really fun program!
Mad Max goes to the Weigh-Off in Colorado Springs
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!
How We Loaded the Giant Vegetables in a Truck
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.
4 New Mexico Giant Vegetable State Records Set in 2011!!!!
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!
Weigh-Off time is upon us!
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!
500 lbs of tomatoes..
There must be 500 lbs of tomatoes all over the house in different states of ripeness now. Little paths throughout the house to walk around! With all the freeze scares each day for the nights, I went out and picked almost all the tomatoes that can finish ripening. I started picking hard on Wednesday and then my good friend Mernie came over and helped picked the rest on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday I had one of my best days ever at the Farmers Market as “The Tomato Lady’. It has been cold and had rained in Santa Fe and snowing on our mountain and I think everyone started thinking OMG- the tomato season is almost over! It was like a shark frenzy. My patrons didn’t want anything else-only tomatoes. I completely sold out. Now I just have to manage the remaining tomatoes in the house to make sure they ripen nicely. While I’m gone on Saturday at the giant pumpkin weigh-off, Caleb will be ‘The Tomato Lady’ again and then I will be back the following Saturday!
Giant Pumpkin, MAD MAX reaches 463 lbs today-Sunday Oct. 9
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!
Greenies battle it out for who will go to the weigh-off!
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.
MAD MAX reaches 439 lbs!
'MAD MAX' reaches 439 lbs
Well my giant pumpkin, MAX or MAD MAX as my neighbor calls him has now (according to the tape measure) reached 439 lbs! He is squeaking out the lbs but still gaining nonetheless. If this is true he will be the new NM State Record set last year at 421 lbs by Kong. I’m holding out for the Oct 15th GPC Weigh-Off. It’s suppose to get cold later this week-down to 36°F at night but as long as it doesn’t reach 32°F Max will be ok. I always cover MAX every night with blankets but will cover the whole plant as well starting on Thursday when the cold snap hits, just to be sure and give the leaves a few extra degrees of protection. I’ve never gone so late to a pumpkin contest because here at an altitude of 7000 feet high you really are playing Russian roulette with the weather. We always get a freeze in Otober, I’m just hoping it waits till after the contest…
Giant Pumpkin, ‘MAX’ hits 421lbs-same weight as last year’s Kong!
My main pumpkin, MAX reached 421 lbs yesterday! I still have a few warm days of September before the big GPC (Giant Pumpkin Commonwealth) weigh-off on October 15th in Colorado Springs, CO. Hopefully it will keep packing on the pounds although it has slowed to a crawl as it gets colder at night. I brought out a blanket to help keep it warm at night. Sounds crazy but if you think about it, the pumpkin is a really large mass and if you let it get cold, it takes a long time in the day to warm up before it starts growing again-sorta like our glass blowing furnace! It looks like it will beat my last year’s NM State record, Kong if the tape measurements are true. They say orange pumpkins weigh lighter than salmon ones with the same measurements so I still want more weight to ensure a new record. Just hoping this glorious weather holds up and we have no freezes till after the weigh-off. GROW NAGUA, GROW!!
Sunflowers and Flowers In The Vegetable Garden
Titan sunflower at dawn
The sunflowers are in full swing right now in the garden. In the entry way are ‘Titan’ sunflowers. I call them the guardian angels of the garden. They can get huge (up to 24 inches) although mine did not this year as they were planted late (like middle of June). Still beautiful.
Hopi sunflowers
Inside the entry are some other sunflowers-Hopi sunflowers, and Chianti sunflowers. We also have wild sunflowers that grow here in NM, they just haven’t found my garden yet.
- Tip Top nasturtiums
I love the green and white dappled foliage of these Tip Top nasturtiums against the other greens in the garden.
Borage is a bee plant
Borage is a companion plant to strawberries and the bees love them too. I’ve never seen the strawberry plant so lush and the bees are crazy for them!
Scarlet Runner Bean
Scarlet Runner beans are a vining pole bean and produce a beautiful orange flower. Here a bumblebee is visiting some flowers.
Entrance to the garden
Scarlet Runner beans compete with the Rattlesnake beans for the arbor.
Zinnias
The zinnias look great mixed in with ornamental corn, tip top nasturtiums and cosmos.
Cosmos
The cosmos next to the silver leafed squash are in full bloom now.
All the flowers have added to create a beautiful entrance and attract beneficial insects as a bonus. I even saw some hummingbirds this year in the garden which I haven’t seen before. If you didn’t plant flowers in your veggie garden this year, you should perhaps consider them for next year. They add so much beauty and I love hearing the bees in the garden doing their thing.
New Mexico State Fair entries
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…
Try purslane weed-it’s good!
Purslane
Purslane is considered a weed here in the U.S. but this year it is the ONLY weed I ALLOW in the vegetable garden. That’s right. I allow this weed to grow freely anywhere it wants. Purslane has been eaten in Mexico and Europe for years where it is not considered a weed and the gold miners in California at the turn of the century ate it as well. Hence it is called Miner’s lettuce also.
What most people don’t know is that it tastes good too. I took a bite of it in the garden and it has a sort of lemony taste and was very juicy as it is a succulent. One of my friends told me their mother use to saute it with a little garlic, salt and red chili pepper flakes and eat it with her pinto beans. Now that sounds tasty enough! I also heard people mix it in their salads which I can imagine also as I liked the taste of it raw. And best of all, it has the highest Omega-3 amino acids of any vegetable, in fact higher than salmon! What a great way to get our Omega -3’s! So pull this weed out and eat it. But if you grow it, pull it out before it reseeds itself or grow it in an area you don’t care about.
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