RP continues to expand, with the help of seaweed tea and a top-secret fertiliser….he is slowly beginning to get the characteristic ridges of a well-bred pumpkin. With the finish line still four weeks away, RP is, hopefully, saving something for the final surge to the line (fingers crossed that it includes a colour change, as he is still looking a bit pale).
RP continues to grow….as he has little else to do, this is reassuring. The bottle is a Boundary Road Chocolate Porter, in case anyone is sad enough to ask!
When watering RP yesterday, I noticed that the vine feeding water to him has split…need to check it again today, to see if some first aid is required. If not first aid, perhaps some fencing around him, with floodlights and patrolling Dobermans….he may be trying to break free.
That is a genuine Red Band welly! Due to the unwarranted scepticism that followed the previous post, here is a photo from a different angle.
RP providing shade for my motorbike….imagine how large the pumpkins are going to be.
RP’s move to the sunny side of the street seems to have worked, so far. He has developed a new leaf, and more are making their way out. 179ers should not despair at his ‘steady’ rate of growth, as all of the major activity is going on underground….RP is being fed a fertiliser designed to help him establish a strong root system, which will stand him in good stead in the coming months.
The high chicken wire has been removed, after a call from Sting and Amnesty International, and RP is now encircled by only the green mesh…this development also follows us rounding up the escaping five brown shavers and clipping their fight feathers, thereby restricting them to their measly 1/4 acre paddock…we await a call from the Poultry Protection Society at any time, accusing us of similarly unjustifiable incarceration.
Until that time, the sun is shining and we’re all expecting RP to soak up the rays and do what he was put on this earth for! Onward to glory….
Just in case RP gets a bit dry…..
After concerns about RP’s melatonin levels, he was today moved to a sunnier spot in the veggie patch. He has also been given a nice feed, to encourage formation of a strong root system.
At present, RP is somewhat overshadowed by the spuds, but in time he’ll have the last laugh!
Gales up to 120 kph are being predicted for later today….RP is in a prime spot for protection, but a little extra can’t hurt!
This is ‘RP’, on the first day in the earth. He was bred, along with his two siblings which are being grown by two other teams in our company, by my wife.
Each of the three teams has until the end of March 2013 to grow their pumpkin, with the largest taking the prize.
rumpypumpy - the life and times of an Atlantic Giant Pumpkin 