Update from Team Arod

Hi all!!!

Arods brother was eaten by the bugs and alas did not pull through it's long and painful extended illness.Arod is in moarning...but

Happy to report that Arod is doing better everyday - but no pumpkins yet! 

If a pumpkin does come up it will be called Groot Seun!! Which means big boy in Afrikaans!

-Carni

Trojan Squash is Doing Fine

My baby girl is pregnant !!!!    At least I think so since the bulb at the bottom of her flower has turned into a bright yellow mound that's about the size of a golf ball...   I have two more boys (both very big and beautiful) that have appeared, but no girls for them to play with so have just watched them bloom into beautiful flowers.
If anyone needs a male companion for girls that have appeared, let me know and I will share the wealth for higher purposes than simply being delicious eye candy.   :-)   More photos to follow, but Gerti's green monster definitely deserves to have a photo shared with everyone.


Until the Next Update,
T (Tamara of Team Trojan)

Update from Team Gliese

Gliese has Many flowers but no pumpkin yet, it has been days of battle against the bugs but they just won't go away and that is probably the reason why nothing pops out. Many ladybugs are also living there, I guess they are eating the bugs?

And also the leaves have White stains :(

I hope it gets better with the new ones!

Note to Marisela: Yes ladybugs are probably eating your aphids–HURRAH!

Other Uses for Your Pumpkin

So, Hercules has 1 baby and no other female blossoms in sight. I decided to make use of all the beautiful big male blossoms that keep popping up - and EAT them!

I collected some one one day - the ones that had just blossomed on that day - and put them in the fridge overnight. Then I collected some more that blossomed the next day and 2 that were just about to open. Paolo's mom said that they do not keep for more than one day so I had to eat what I got. Which was plenty.

I prepared the batter - 1dl water whisked with 1 dl flour. Put a generous amount of oil in the frying pan (in hindsight, using a pot would have been smarter - I got hot oil in my face!), and dipped the flowers in the batter and then fried until slightly golden. Then I put them on some kitchen paper to absorb the excess oil and sprinkled on quite a lot of salt. Lovely. It tasted great and I am waiting for more flowers.

Highly recommend!

If more flowers appear Paolo also promises a pasta sauce recipe! Waiting for sunshine....


-Gerti, team Hercules

Big News from Team Trojan Squash

Hello Ladies,

Finally, I have something positive to post and am so happy to share with all of you....   Hurray !!!!!

I have been watering my Trojan Squash II faithfully almost everyday since I received it (which was gracefully delivered by Anita and Dave, my horticultural heroes) and I am happy to report that I have had 2 beautiful baby girl blossoms appear.   Unfortunately, there have been no male suitors ready to tickle their fancy, so sadly, the window of opportunity came and passed for the first girl.   The second was so much luckier…

While Gerti has been on holiday, I have been given the overwhelming responsibility of keeping her sweet little Hercules happy (which I take very seriously after the whole friendly neighbor incident).   She has a wonderfully round and plump little green pumpkin that has appeared out of nowhere and is very happily spreading its vines across her entire terrace.   She also now has 5 new stunning studs, but no girls for them to get jiggy with, but I am hoping that by the next time I go to water Hercules, more girls will have come out to play so I can make her little boys work for their keep!   To allow at least one of them the gratification of getting his rocks on, I took one of the studs home with me to my lady blossom in waiting and helped him to get her groove on.   If all was successful, she has now had her very own flowergasm and should be expecting anytime in the days ahead….

Cross your fingers!!!!!   Picture of Gerti’s little green love monster will follow, but I forgot to take my camera with me, so will have to wait until the next post.  

Good luck to everyone and happy holidays to those that are away…   :o)


Yours Competitively yet Compassionately,
Tamara
  

The birds and the bees, especially, the bees

-Gerti, Team Hercules:


So...we had Tamara over for dinner as she is responsible for watering Hercules during the time when we are on holiday and we wanted to make sure that she knows where everything is. We are sitting around the table and I am sharing the exciting news of cross pollination that I did that morning. Tamara is listening intently. Then she asks about how I know which blossom is male and whichis female. I am happy to explain with the help of the photoson this blog. Very good, very nice, we all understand. The dinner continues and then... Tamara asks...but how does it happen when humans do not pollinate the plant? How does the plant do it on it's own? Does it have to grow so that the female and male accidentally find each other and cross pollinate? Meaning, does it have to grow in a circle or something? Or ... How do the blossoms find each other?


We were in disbelief. Tamara is a very smart woman...so all I could do, is ask...have you heard the stories of the birds and the bees? Well, the bees really do get the job done. :)


Before leaving Luxembourg for a month I had the chance to make I happen! I wore protective rubber, of course, but the lead Man and lady did not. Attached are photos of the grand event! Cannot wait for results! 

And here are some gorgeous and very instructive photos that Gerti took of her pollination of Hercules:

A beautiful lady-in-waiting:

A handsome gentleman (see the pollen already collecting under the stamen?):

Preparing the male blossom to reveal the stamen, coated in pollen:

Applying the stamen directly to the interior parts female blossom:

One must be thorough and make sure there is plenty of pollen on the female:

Black Bugs

Hello
Several of us are battling the masses of black bugs on our plants. They are most likely Black Aphids and they breed rapidly and while some say they wont damage your plant others say that they could spread diseases to your pumpkin. So, I have been reading up on them and what you can do to get rid of them. You can buy insecticide sprays in garden stores or you can try a home remedy that is more gentle and less toxic to the bees, etc.

Basically you mix a batch of warm soapy water and spray or brush it on the bugsThe soapy water eventually kills the bugs by stripping their protective coatings (yuck). You can either spray the leaves with a spray bottle or you apply the soapy water with a paint brush to really get into the hairs of the plant and dislodge the bugs.  I have done both methods. The brush method is more thorough because you actually remove the bugs rather than just coat them with the soapy water. The spray method is quicker. With either method you should reapply the mixture every few days. The bugs might come back but it will slow them down and minimize the damage.

If you use the brush method (use as large of a brush as you have) I suggest having a second container of plain water to wash off the brush to remove the dead bugs, etc. before reapplying more soapy water.

SOAPY WATER RECIPE:

1 gallon luke warm water
1 Tablespoon (medium-sized spoon) of mild dish-washing soap, preferabley a BIO brand (Ecover, etc.).

Mix thoroughly and spray underside of leaves (where bugs are) or apply with paint brush.

GOOD LUCK and keep us posted on your progress!

-A