Meanwhile, back at the rancho, Russ and Christy

Good afternoon, Pumpkinistas!

This update and pictures were received from Russ and Christy, part of Team 6 at the patch complex of Rancho Mission Viejo, San Juan Capistrano:

"Hi Stuart,

Well July was an exciting month for team 6 "Calabaza Vaqueros". We had to show you all of the crazy products that are "growing" in our shed. The white pumpkin is on plant #1 (1157 K. Companion) it was pollinated 6-27 the circumference is 84" for a weight gain of 171 pounds in July. The orange pumpkin is plant #3 pollinated 6-16 the circumference is 110" (over 9' around) for a weight of 337 pounds. This pumpkin gained 296 pounds in July. This pumpkin is slowing down to about 6 pounds per day. Powdery Mildew appeared this week on the plants. We are trying Green Cure applied with a garden sprayer to combat this plant killer. All growers should be ready to spray at first sight of Powdery Mildew.

Congratulations on the nice pumpkin, Stuart!

Calabaza Vaqueros,

Russ"

Thank you very much for your update! (What's in the JD bottle?) Well done on a great season!

Stuart

Photo by Carolyn Villa-Scott

Banners greeted the soon-to-become Pumpkinistas!

People arrived early to meet and ask San Francisco garden radio host Bob Tanem questions. That's Bob's hand on the left, and a close-up

of his wife, Bev's head, in the middle.

Before the workshop

After the workshop

A Great Day at Yamagami's Nursery!

Good evening, Growers!

I thought I'd send a long some of the images of yesterday's workshops at Yamagami's Nursery http://www.yamagamisnursery.com/ in Cupertino. It was a lot of fun, and I hopefully planted the seeds for a new crop of giant pumpkin growers. The management and staff at Yamagami's did a great job! I may even be back to be a judge at their weigh-off October 11th!

Fun was had by all!

Have a great evening!

Stuart