Gardening

[jamesngalveston]

the chain link is part of a dog kennel my sister runs out there...its part of an old one she does not use any longer.
I am going to start fencing monday are tuesday...I have 2 other areas like the one i tilled...i am tilling those this week also.

as said...I will plant just about all summer crops, and see what the peacocks eat are not eat...they will not go under a fence, and if they see anything that looks weird they want fly torwards it...i may get lucky.
so far we have found that they eat just about anything...they will not go anywhere around anything thats has stickers are thorns...
I do not like them, but there protected here..they are a complete nuisance.

 

[Runningwolf]

Whoa...I thought these were your sisters pets. You mean these are wild birds? Are they aggressive towards humans. What about when they are breeding?

I think you should seriously take pumpkinman up on his pumpkin offer. I know nothing about them but I would think with your soil and high water table that might be a good thing. Next through in all the fish guts and everything you could feed those pumpkins your just might come up with a killer fruit. At the end of summer you could either donate or sell it or maybe make pumpkin wine.

 

[the_rayway]

I'm attempting to sweet-talk Pumpkinman into sending me some of his giant pumpkin seeds. Here's my plan after it's full grown:
Canoeing anyone?

 

[jamesngalveston]

in 1954 a head doctor owned property next to ours....he raised 2 pairs of peacocks...he closed...now in 2014 there is about 60...wild...
no one owns them, everyone feeds them, and they are just nuts.
galveston listed them as wild...meaning we cant eat them.
they eat on site, not smell.
they are not aggresive unless you have food in hand.
so far we have figured out they eat the following.
bread,chips,fritos,cat food,dog food,rice,all fruit, bell peppers..onions.
any kind of cookie, cake, are pie...raw are cooked meat, snakes,bugs,lizards.
almost anything that we eat, they eat.
they even eat hot peppers.
im going out tomorrow, will take some pics of feeding time.

 

[ckvchestnut]

That's cool! I think they're pretty. I heard they can be territorial. They will eat anything! Like chickens and other fowl they don't have tastebuds for sweet, salty, bitter or spice... I have some nasty egg eating chickens that someone told me to mix in cayenne pepper or hot sauce to some eggs to get them to stop. It didn't work and only made them want the eggs more! Lol now we are working on angled nests that roll the eggs into a trap so they can't get them - darned cannibals!

 

[LoneStarLori]

the fence rows you see are solid blackberry vines, i measured all of them today and theres about 1500 linear feet times two.

WOW! Those blackberries are looking good. It doesn't seem that the cold has affected them at all.
I can't wait to get my pickin' gloves on and head up your way.

 

[jamesngalveston]

they are just getting a few buds, to early to tell what kinda of crop..hope one like last year...

 

[Pumpkinman]

Raelene,
Someone small like you could fit into a pumpkin and row it....for me....I'd need a 2000 lb fruit and an outboard motor..LOL
I'll get the seeds out to you asap, I'll probably put them in a DVD case so that customs doesn't confiscate them....somewhere there is a customs agent that is growing competitively...lol

 

[Pumpkinman]

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Here are a few pics to give you an idea of what we do:

My first or second year of prepping the soil, a clay based soil, I carted in 20 yards of organic matter, mostly manure and hay (which at the time I didn't realize would take a while to break down).

The next pic. is a Carolina Cross Watermelon, a small fruit in the world of giants, but big enough to take first place that year.

The next two pics are at the weigh off, one to show just how many people enter these pumpkins, and the second pic is the Winners Circle, both me and my mentor placed top 5, I believe 3rd and 4th, beating him by less than a pound.

The next picture is to show you how thick these pumpkins can get, this was taken after Halloween, I got tired of it being displayed in my front yard so I cut it up and put it in the compost pile.
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[Pumpkinman]

These next Pictures are of the giant pumpkin regatta in Cooperstown, NY.

The first two show them cutting an opening in the pumpkin to create a place to sit, and the next is a young lady harvesting the seeds.

Next, a racer getting into character..lol, followed by a few "boats" being tested for buoyancy.

The next images are of the actual regatta.

The last image is a carving done by a professional carver.
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[Runningwolf]

Tom, that hobby is way cool! My wife says no.

 

[jamesngalveston]

amazing, just amazing, how big was that watermelon

 

[Pumpkinman]

The watermelon was only 72.6 lbs, in 2006, this was a fairly decent size.....the current world record id over 350 lbs...LOL

Dan, the camaraderie is amazing, but I guess we have to be a tight group, who else would understand what in Gods name we were talking about ...lol

 

[LoneStarLori]

Tom those are great pics. It looks like a pretty fun 'hobby'. I didn't realize people actually could sit in them and row away.

 

[Pumpkinman]

Yep, it was a ton of work, minimum of 40+ hrs a week managing the plants, but a lot of fun. And yes...lol.. the giants float!

 

[the_rayway]

Tom, those pictures are fantastic!

I guess I should get a good couple of truckloads of "Kurbis Gold" for this spring. Also, I've been slowly wading through the "Teaming with Nutrients" book and while the biology is totally over my head, I at least am grasping the basic concepts behind it.

Lol, Bryan keeps saying to me "what are you going to do with such a big pumpkin?" (apparently assuming it's going to get as big as yours, Tom!). All I say is "cut a little door and windows, and let the kids play!" Although, with the river right here, it would be tempting to make it into a tiny little boat for a teddy bear or something.

 

[jamesngalveston]

just noticed today..my roses are budding,the lemon is getting buds,the crackle birds are terrible, and the bull nettle is coming up....water temp is about 52... spring not far away.

 

[ckvchestnut]

Tom those pics are amazing I too had no idea we could use a pumpkin as a watercraft! I loved that pump ikon carving at the end!

Wouldn't they need a long growing season? Min don't think it would have enough time to get big up here would have to be started indoors and then transferred out and hope that here are no late frosts in spring and no early ones that fall....

James - again jealous! Nothing but snow out here! I'll be so glad when my magnolia and forsythia bud out. I planted eastern redbuds last year but not sure if they will flower yet. The other cheery thing that blooms early spring is my flowering almond. All before leaf break.


Carolyn

 

[Pumpkinman]

To be honest, some of the biggest pumpkins have been grown in Canada!
Here is a little history for the Canadians, the birthplace of Hockey, in Windsor, Nova Scotia at what has been the Dill's Farm, is also regarded as the birthplace of the Atlantic Giant strain of Giant pumpkins by Howard Dill, so for all you Canadians...it's all your fault that I got into that hobby...LOL!
These giant can put on between 20-50 lbs per night, no lie, it's incredible! They get put into cold frames in early may, by the end of Sept, early Oct they are done.

 

[ckvchestnut]

Wow that is astonishing!! There is no way to get those seeds up here or some cdn must be selling seeds? I know this ccbp people are pretty strict and the X-ray everything!


Carolyn