Just waiting for you to ask MC!
Jesse add grawrc and Potimarron s'il te plaît!
:o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o 8)
Somewhat overdue... here's some snaps
(http://bellebouche.com/snaps/blimpkin1.jpg)
That's my first one... it's long been the smaller of the two large ones that I have on the go but it is catching up rapidly. I measured that at about 47" girth today... it's in better physical condition that my larger pumpkin and is rounder. Could turn out to be my 'winner'
(http://bellebouche.com/snaps/blimpkin2.jpg)
Here's Blimpkin #2.... that's up to 49" girth (measured as midway between the top and bottom) but has started to develop a bit of a 'slope' shape now.. hard to describe really but it looks like it's been in a wind tunnel! It has some dinks and nicks on it that have healed but left white scars. If I measure the widest part of the circumference now... it comes in at an eye watering 54"... but in my heart of hearts I know that's a teensy bit like cheating. It's an ugly fruit, but a big one.
I noticed today that there are a couple of butternuts (you can see the rounder leaves in the snap above) that have spouted in this patch from the compost I dug in when I planted the pumpkin seedlings earlier on in the year. Nice bonus to have as 'weeds' I guess :)
I have a third and fourth 'Big Max' vine at the edge of my gourds bed... one has a 12" fruit on it at the moment and I'm hoping that come the cooler weather it'll puff up a bit and grow on well should we get some autumn rains. It's gets some shade from my sweetcorn patch too so that's helping keep the skin fairly pale at the moment.
All told - I'm delighted. The rate of growth on the bigger fruits has slowed right down now... they just seem to be bulking out rather than putting on any serious girth - that's fine I guess as it's all still rather entertaining. I know I'm not going to get the 50Kg fruits that the plant is capable of producing... I haven't paid a great deal of attention to them and I'm not really feeding them on anything... but I will certainly grow them on again next year.
We're planning on getting a couple of weaners (due next week) so these things will ultimately end up as... sausages! I'll post back pics in a month or so and certainly some more snaps should my #3/#4 fruits do anything spectacular.
- Adrian