Thursday, October 11, 2007

The Great Pumpkin Weigh-Off

It was a beautiful weekend. My new plants were all in the ground, watered and mulched. So it's time for some fun. I've seen photos of those large pumpkins but had never been to a weigh-off. It sounded like a great idea for a lovely day. I've never had room to grow pumpkins but love driving by fields of them in the fall. Sets the scene for the season. This event was held in Old Colorado City, a delightful historic shopping area west of town. There are many quaint shops to stroll through, outdoor restaurants, ice cream and chocolate to tempt you.

I think these are some kind of gourds.

Beautiful shape (don't know the significance of the rat)

Waiting their turn.

Groovy!

The largest were saved for last. We left before the end so don't know who the winner is.


Getting weighed

Careful travelling

Pumpkin carving drew lots of attention.


Old Colorado City. Friendly and fun.


The festivities included a scarecrow contest.

Here's DH and a scarecrow. Guess which one.

And if your feet get tired you can always hitch a ride.
Well, that was a nice reprieve from end-of-summer chores. Now back to work. I'm trying to add compost to all the plants on the strips but it is a difficult chore, what with the mulch in the way and the size of the plants. Hopefully I got enough down. I always spread some more around in spring when I clean up the beds. This year I used a mixture of compost (either mushroom or cotton burr), Yum Yum Winterizer and corn meal. I'm hoping the corn meal that I purchased at High Country Gardens will help prevent root rot from compacted snow. Yuk, I don't want to think about that yet!


8 comments:

Carol Michel said...

Sounds like a very fun day, love the giant pumpkins. Whatever work you have to do on the "hell strip", it sure pays off in the spring and summer. Keep telling yourself that!

Annie in Austin said...

After seeing pumpkins priced at 78 cents per pound at the grocery store, when I look at this post there are dollar signs floating around!

Nice photo essay, Bev! It does look like a fun day.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Anonymous said...

Woooow, these huge pumpkins! Lucky gardeners who planted them! There will be a lot of work to make soups, jam, pies....out of them!!
Greetings from Switzerland, Barbara

Jocelyn H. Chilvers said...

Looks like a fun outing, Bev! I think the rat with the pumpkin was representing the Cinderella story. The pumpkin was "as big as" a coach, and there was the rat waiting to serve as coachman!

Bev said...

Duh... Jocelyn, I never thought of that! A couple of them had rats and I was wondering about it. Thanks for enlightening me.

Thanks too Carol, Barbara, and Annie. Now you have me thinking...what do they do with those large pumpkins when they are through with them??? Do they actually use them or are they displayed until they are no longer good to eat?? Hmmmm...

Robin's Nesting Place said...

I love autumn and that looks like a perfect autumn outing. I didn't get the rat significance either, especially since it wasn't a particularly friendly looking rat.

Anonymous said...

That looks like a lot of fun!

Anonymous said...

What an interesting post lots of amazing veggies and great scarecrows a fun day. sara from farmingfriends