my story


OK -  This is for all of you who have had bad luck and or have tough
decisions to make:
Here is my true story.  (sorry its so long) 

		Ever since I was a little boy I have loved to grow
pumpkins.   Every year I would plant some seeds that I got from the
store or from last years pumpkin.   I didn't know there was anything to
it other than planting a seed in some dirt and watering it.   One year
in grade school I almost won a pumpkin at my schools fall fair.  You had
guess the weight of this big pumpkin, the biggest I had ever seen.  "The
one who guesses closest to the actual weight gets to keep it."  the man
told me.  My eyes got big "really" I asked.  "Really"  he said.   I
spent ½ hour coming up with my guess.  I finally guessed 38 lbs. I
waited around that pumpkin all afternoon for the results. It weighed
42.5 lbs.  Some other kid had guessed closer than me.   But I had almost
won!  I remember the first year I got to carve my pumpkin my self.  I
drew the picture of the face I wanted and helped scoop out the seeds, my
dad cut it out.  Once I planted my seeds near my brothers pigeon coop.
The plants grew big and had lots of pumpkins.  I didn't figure out he
connection till next year when I was going to plant my pumpkins
somewhere else.  My dad suggested that I plant them near the pigeons
again.  Why ? I asked.   He said, "because pigeon poop makes great
fertilizer".  Wow I didn't know that.  I scooped some of that pigeon
poop stuff out of the coop and mixed it in with the dirt where I was
going to plant my pumpkins. I must have had 10 vines growing and lots of
bird seed, that year.  By the time Halloween came around there were lots
of pumpkins for me and my 3 brothers and 2 sisters, to carve.  One year
I was going to grow the biggest pumpkin ever.  I guess I was about 12
years old.  I started my pumpkins in doors real early, around valentines
day as best as I can recall.  There was 2 feet of snow on the ground
outside.  But that didn't deter me.  I figured that, the sooner you
start them, the longer you plant has to grow, the bigger it will get,
and that means big pumpkins.  For some reason the plants never grew any
bigger when I transplanted them outside that May.   The next year I went
back to putting the seeds in the ground outside in mid May.   I planted
nearly every year all through high school.  It was lots of fun.  
		In the college years I didn't plant any pumpkins.  I
guess I was pretty busy with school and other things.  Then it was
graduation and a job and on to the real world.  It is kind of hard to
grow pumpkins when you live in an apartment complex.   After a few years
I was married and we had saved up enough to buy a house.   We dug up a
spot of grass and planted a garden.  The first things that went in were
pumpkins.  The joy of growing pumpkins had come back to me.   Now they
had this new variety call Atlantic Giants.    As soon as I saw those I
knew I had to get some. My first year I grew a 55 pounder.  It was
bigger than my 3 year old daughter.  That was 3 years ago.  I remember
seeing a photo of a really big pumpkin in the news paper.  Wow  just
under 1000 lbs.  I knew I wasn't in the big leagues.  I wished I was
somehow.  Since then I had grown a couple of 75 pounders. Not bad for
the high elevation, short growing season and hot summer days of Salt
Lake City area.   Then late last summer I found the all the pumpkin
stuff on the Internet. I subscribed to the pumpkin email list.  I found
that  I had a lot to learn If I wanted to get big league.  Even in Utah
the state record was over 300 lbs.
		I recently moved into a new job and a new home in the
Seattle area, a great pumpkin growing area, from Utah, a bad pumpkin
growing area. I was quite excited for the upcoming season.   But I had a
lot of work to do since my new home didn't have a garden and I didn't
have any seeds.   I quickly ordered some 500-700 lbs. seeds from Dill.
My move disrupted my getting on my email and subscribing to pumpkins- so
I missed out on the seeds that way.  I was hard at work every night
after work getting my patch ready.  Killing and digging up grass,
buying some dirt and compost mix.  Digging up more grass.  Buying
fertilizer. Debating in my mind weather to built a mound or a huge
raised bed.  Buying stuff to build a minigreen house and wind
protection. My seeds arrived just a few weeks ago but with enough time
to still get going and maybe grow a decent size pumpkin.  I soaked my
seeds (all 7 of them) and planted them in plastic pots.  I put a plastic
bag over the top of them an put them in my oven with the light on.
That was in the evening on a Wednesday.   All was fine till Saturday
morning I woke up and was still semi asleep when I went into the kitchen
to get some breakfast.  I found some rolls in the fridge,  the kind you
bake in the oven.  ( you all know what is coming )  I turned on the oven
to 400 degrees and put the rolls in the pan.  Set the pan on the counter
and went to get the newspaper.  I read the  paper for a while, I guess
about 30 min. or more.  Then I realized that I hadn't put the rolls in
the oven.  Then I realized that I had my seeds in the oven !!!  I
quickly took them out - the plastic pots were to hot to touch with my
bare hand and some of them had stared to melt slightly around the edges.
I held out hope that they might still somehow recover - but I knew in my
heart they were gone.   I placed them on counter and after 2 weeks,
still nothing.  I so cooked my seeds to death !   I killed them ! I
killed them !  I killed them all  !!! How could I do such a thing.  And
it wasn't even my wife or someone else, who I might understand if they
accidentally turned on the oven.  But, it was me.    How could I live
with myself.    Just last Saturday I finally dug them up to see what I
had done.  The poor things had sprouted a root and were just starting to
reach for the sky through the soft dirt.   Now they were a mostly clear
with a little yellowish color.  They got a proper burial in the compost
pile.  After I toasted my seeds, my loving wife went to the store and
found some AG seeds.  She got them for me.   It was a wonderful gesture.
But seeds from a store.  Who knows where they came from ?  I grew
several  pumpkins in the 50-75 lb. range in Utah from store seeds.   But
this was going to be my year, a El Neno year too,  rumored to help
northwest grower with extra sunshine and less rain, and hurt other
areas, namely those darn Californians.   Everyone in the Northwest (and
Utah) hate those Californians!    I mean they move into and
overpopulated our cities, sent our housing prices through the roof,  but
worst lots of times they grow bigger pumpkins than we do.  Can you
believe the nerve of them.  At least I have the Jazz to cheer for.  But
I digress,  It was to be my year to take a shot at the big leagues, to
get grow the big one, to have all the neighbors not just the neighbors
kids come by to look at and take pictures my plant and pumpkin, to win a
ribbon at a fair,  to have me and my pumpkins pictured in the local
paper,  to have seeds that everyone wants,  have "the number" and my
name mentioned in newsletters and emails across the world.  ... but it
was not to be and it was my own fault.   Well at least I some seeds,
some lowly seeds from a package from a hardware store.   The first of my
store seeds just started to poked its little leaves above the ground
yesterday and in spite of all that has happened, ... I am happy because,
I love to grow pumpkins  !

		Gordon Tanner
		Maple Valley, WA



---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PUMPKINS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index