The Season is DONE!
What a challenging growing season for the giant pumpkins! I already know what I will do different next year to try and hopefully be more successful. Yesterday (the 6th) I harvested the pumpkins off of the Wallace 1257 and the Lancaster 1713. For those that have been following along, the Lancaster 1713 was planted on a whim late in the season and I was not expecting much out of that one at all. As it turns out, it was my biggest pumpkin. The 1713 wasn't even planted until late May and in an area that had not been cultivated, other than growing daffodils and tulips. And, as I found out yesterday, the vine was split in half right at the stem of the pumpkin! This limited the intake of water into the pumpkin so no doubt restricted the weight gain. Here is a closeup of that split... The final tally on this pumpkin was 595 pounds! I would wager that without the stem split it could have been closer to 800 pounds. Next season I believe I will grow a plant off of the seed from this one