Pumpkin patch practices and gourd garden grooming.
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By nosferatu
#72559
I had to bi my first pumpkin today. I went to check on them and one was covered in mold. Another 3 have soft spots and might be carvable if I do them today although as its my daughter's birthday (no Ravens is not my daughter) I doubt if I will have the time.

I always purchase more than I need as I figure a fifth of them won't make it until the actual day. What worries me is the rate at which the rot has set in.

Still as I can't find either of my pro carving tools at the moment, I'm not really in the mood. Carving without them is like trying to walk with pins and needles in both legs, you convince yourself you can do it but the resulting sight is not pretty.

I'm sure they'll turn up. I just hope they do before any more rot. Each year I say that I will be better organised when in fact, each year I am even more unprepared.
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By amandap80
#72568
Can you fill a spray bottle with a diluted bleach solution and give them both a spritz? This might help delay the molding. :cry:
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By monstermash
#72638
I hear you Nos. I think four of mine have soggy tops but they will defiantely hold till I carve tomorrow. I'd have no chance of keeping them if I were carving on the 31st. Didn't you misplace your ZP tools last year too or was that Gus? Tut tut, you should know better. :)
You could always try cutting the soggy bit out if its at the top. It should slow the rotting process a bit. Thats what I do and its working so far, it jsut means I wont have lids on a couple of kins but thats no bog deal.
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By nosferatu
#72649
I can never find anything. Keys, wallet, parked car, carving tools! I've found one, thankfully.

The rot is on the sides and quite severe. I'm hoping to carve them tomorrow but they'll have to be binned straightaway. The mouldy one, I've ne'er seen anything like it. It was like a really moldy satsuma. Powdery, smelly.
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By monstermash
#72658
Not your big ones?? I hope you still have them.

Theres nothing quite like the smell of a rotten pumpkin. Pure boggin!!
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By nosferatu
#72660
No those ones are fine although they have their own problems. They are so big, I have nowhere to keep them. They are still on the kitchen table. The skin is very coarse, texturised and not smooth. Pattern transfer will be uneven and the lines once carved will not look sharp and smooth but hey thats how all my carves look!

I may carve one of them this weekend otherwise zi think I'll run out of time.
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By Zombie Pumpkins!
#72860
nosferatu wrote: I can't find either of my pro carving tools at the moment
Did you check the sandpit out in the yard? Might be inside a Lego ambulance.
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By zombombie
#72861
Zombie Pumpkins! wrote:
nosferatu wrote: I can't find either of my pro carving tools at the moment
Did you check the sandpit out in the yard? Might be inside a Lego ambulance.
:lol: :lol:

Really hope your 'kins are ok Nos. Carved another last night because of a soft spot. I'll post pics later ;)
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By matspud
#72876
I just can't get into the Halloween groove this year. I know its bad because I haven't checked my pumpkins once :( Normally I check them every day but, at the moment,I just don't seem to care. :?
Got a friend coming over for a carving session tomorrow before we go on the local megamaze torchlit pumpkin walk tomorrow night. Hopefully I will feel more Halloweeny then. :)=
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By monstermash
#72953
matspud wrote:I just can't get into the Halloween groove this year. I know its bad because I haven't checked my pumpkins once :( Normally I check them every day but, at the moment,I just don't seem to care. :?
Got a friend coming over for a carving session tomorrow before we go on the local megamaze torchlit pumpkin walk tomorrow night. Hopefully I will feel more Halloweeny then. :)=
I could sense that you weren't really feeling the spirit, I noticed you haven't been on the forums as much. You're welcome to come to my party tomorrow night if your torchlit walk doesn't get you in the halloween mood. :)
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By Raven
#72979
matspud wrote:I just can't get into the Halloween groove this year. I know its bad because I haven't checked my pumpkins once :( Normally I check them every day but, at the moment,I just don't seem to care. :?
Got a friend coming over for a carving session tomorrow before we go on the local megamaze torchlit pumpkin walk tomorrow night. Hopefully I will feel more Halloweeny then. :)=
I kind of have that problem every year. It's not until I start carving that I really get into things. Then it's all over with and I feel like it all went by too fast. I'm the same way with Christmas (I know, I said the C word!).
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By nosferatu
#72996
Zombie Pumpkins! wrote:
nosferatu wrote: I can't find either of my pro carving tools at the moment
Did you check the sandpit out in the yard? Might be inside a Lego ambulance.
Thankfully, I've found one. Yep, things have been hidden in the sandpit before. One of the greatest delights is finding your son scrubbing the kitchen floor with the backs of your credit cards, using Sharpie markers to improve the look of the tv screen or washing things in the toilet....having just used it.

We had a crisis earlier this year when he lost his bedtime toy, the thing that he clings onto. He had hidden it so well, it has never been found. Maybe that's what is causing the drain blockage.

It wouldn't surprise me if he had had the carving tool. When he was much younger, I was assembling his new bed and he crept into the room. I had been using a Stanley knife (like a big Exacto) to slit the plastic ties and I turned round to see him with it in his mouth, blade open. How he never managed to cut his tongue off I'll never know.

A few more pumpkins are rotting but I will still have enough for the big night. Like a few people this year, I feel kind of subdued about it all but I'm sure the next few days will change all of that