How Is Your Garden Coming Along?

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
26,241
9,605
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Regina, Saskatchewan
Thanks. Today and tomorrow while be a big boost. I wont be cutting until we hit consistent-5C at night. Hopefully mid October
Interesting. We’ll treat for spider mites and dig some up (transplant to the house) for the dog to chew on for the next couple months. It’s good for him. Lisa popped a bud yesterday to dry just out of curiosity.
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Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
26,241
9,605
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
Garage. The colder and drier the better. Around here a week will do. Humidity is something we only hear about on TV.
Going to give it a couple days for the wind to dry things out after the weekend rain & that from earlier this morning…, then we will pull everything (most of the ones that are ready) up by the roots & hang in the garage rafters.

The others that are further behind will get transplanted into pots for the old dog to chew on….as Lisa is starting another crop for him to nibble on from December until spring.

(Lisa has some concoction or potion that she wants to make from the roots)
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
113,363
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Low Earth Orbit
Going to give it a couple days for the wind to dry things out after the weekend rain & that from earlier this morning…, then we will pull everything (most of the ones that are ready) up by the roots & hang in the garage rafters.

The others that are further behind will get transplanted into pots for the old dog to chew on….as Lisa is starting another crop for him to nibble on from December until spring.

(Lisa has some concoction or potion that she wants to make from the roots)
Frost on (-1) Thursday but warm days following. Mine are starting to purple up. 1 is ready to come down any day.

-1 isn't cold enough to do damage.

Root balm is allegedly good for the skin.
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
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B.C. man takes one-tonne pumpkin on road trip to win California weigh-off
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Published Oct 03, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
Seventy-eight-old British Columbian Dave Chan his wife Janet Love, shown in this handout image, took his 2,212-pound “mama” pumpkin for a road trip to Wheatland in California and now he has won $28,000 for the National Pumpkin weigh-off competition.
Seventy-eight-old British Columbian Dave Chan his wife Janet Love, shown in this handout image, took his 2,212-pound “mama” pumpkin for a road trip to Wheatland in California and now he has won $28,000 for the National Pumpkin weigh-off competition. PHOTO BY HANDOUT /THE CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER — An enormous pumpkin nicknamed “Mama” grown in a Richmond, B.C., backyard has won first place in one of North America’s most prestigious pumpkin contests, weighing in at more than a tonne.


Grower Dave Chan, 78, said “a lot of good science” went into his victory on Saturday in the National Pumpkin Weigh Off in Wheatland, Calif., where “Mama” tipped the scales at 1,003 kilograms, or 2,212 pounds.


It’s the first time a Canadian pumpkin has won the weigh-off, said Brian Myers, chairman of the California Pumpkin Growers’ Club.

Chan, a retired dentist, said the secret to growing a gargantuan gourd begins with good genetics.

After doing some research, he obtained Mama’s seed from a friend in Michigan. The seed came from a 990-kilogram pumpkin.

Chan and his wife Janet Love sent soil samples from their pumpkin patch to a laboratory to calculate the extra nutrients Mama needed, including calcium, nitrogen and phosphorus. Chan said they uploaded the data into a spreadsheet to perfect their fertilizer.


“We don’t just throw on a whole bunch of fertilizer. We’re calculating exactly how much calcium, how much nitrogen … about 15 different elements to make plants grow really well. Pumpkin growing is half the study of soil science,” said Chan.

The next challenge was getting the pumpkin to Wheatland in one piece. They loaded Mama and another giant pumpkin onto a trailer and drove more than 1,300 kilometres to attend the weigh-in, which organizers say has been held since 1921.

“There are so many things that can happen to a pumpkin. They can crack and go rotten … so just to get to the weigh-off is quite an accomplishment and I feel very lucky,” said Chan.

Chan, who’s been growing giant pumpkins for more than 40 years, won $28,000 — that’s US$9 per pound — as well as a flashy championship belt, worthy of a heavyweight champion.


Chan said he and Love will use the money for a trip to Italy, where they plan to meet the grower of the world’s heaviest pumpkin, which weighed in at 1,226 kilograms in 2021.

Meanwhile, they’ll continue their U.S. road trip with Mama and her smaller trailer mate, which weighs about 725 kilograms, and will take part in another competition this month at Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco.

After her road trip, Mama will be displayed on Chan and Love’s Richmond driveway until after Halloween.

Then Chan said they would extract the pumpkin’s seeds, before Mama’s final journey to a pig farm. Pigs love to eat pumpkins, said Chan.
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