So many kinds of pumpkins!

[MauEvig]

I knew there were a lot of different types of pumpkins...but I didn't realize there were so many! I don't even know if this is an exhaustive list.

https://www.allaboutgardening.com/pumpkin-varieties/

I know most of us are familiar with the standard carving pumpkins, but this goes into different specifics. I think it's fun to look into different varieties for the different potential uses they can offer.

Like the jack be littles and the mini tiger striped are probably best for decor, then you have your pie pumpkins, and your big prize pumpkins you see at the fair! With the right tools, I wonder how impressive of a carving you could make with one.

Does anyone have a specific favorite? It's hard for me to choose, but as a cat fanatic I'm rather fond of these tiger striped ones.

[Murfreesboro]

Mau, it took me forever to browse that list on my phone, but it was so much fun! How can I choose a favorite! I love pumpkins. All pumpkins.

[MauEvig]

I think I agree, Murf because to be honest all pumpkin varieties make me smile! There's something delightful about them. There's so many colors, varieties shapes and sizes, and so many uses for them. I get really excited when I discover a unique variety or if something special pops up in my own little garden. But I also like going to farmer's markets and fairs to see if I can spot any truly unique kinds.
I actually tried growing the Big Max ones but haven't had any luck. But at least my compost has yet to disappoint me.
Now if only I could get more of those speckled pumpkins. I guess I'll just have to see what pops up.
Maybe I'll try germinating them ahead next year. I have some new stuff my dad gave me for gardening and a green house now, so we'll see how it goes next spring.

[Murfreesboro]

I've had no luck growing them, because something comes along and eats the blossoms in the night. A greenhouse might help.

[MauEvig]

A green house might help with starting them, and maybe a fence. It also depends on what is eating them. Deer? Beer? Critters like squirrels and chipmunks? The size and shape of the fence might help. You can also try companion planting, there might be herbs, flowers, or other plants that could deter the critters and even benefit the growth of the pumpkins.
My dad also gave me his hydroponics system, I'm looking forward to trying that for starting seeds next year. He gave me a bigger grow light and some seed starting trays.
If it makes you feel any better, I think the deer ate my apple trees. I just planted them this year too, way too small to start producing apples. I was looking forward to getting a unique apple variety too. I might have to try getting some bigger ones to start in the ground. Apples are another staple of fall after all. The ones I got were from a plant sale I helped to set up that was supported by the school PTO. Getting stuff from the sale saved me some money as opposed to going to a tree farm or Walmart. But it is what it is. Worse comes to worse, I'll just have to get the bigger ones and pay more for them.
Anyway I just thought it would be interesting to share different pumpkin varieties. If I find more, I might share them later. And feel free to share if you discovered anything unique and interesting.

[Murfreesboro]

Our yard is fenced, but that doesn't keep small animals like squirrels, possums, raccoons, and rabbits from getting in. It could be any one of those. Oh, and skunks, too. For many years we had a dog in the yard, and she would frighten off those critters. But then she herself liked to eat tomatoes and peaches ( we had some peach trees back then). I've sometimes seen deer in town, but never on this street.

Sorry to hear about your apple trees! You're in a good area for apples. And school sales are a thrifty way to acquire plants of various sorts.

[MauEvig]

I enjoyed the plant sale, so I decided to sign up to help out next year. But I might try and find bigger trees next spring or put a fence around them.
How big is your fence? Smaller critters might be able to squeeze through, and if it's low enough deer can jump over, but it sounds like it's more the smaller critters that are the problem.
Perhaps try putting a fence up that's hard for smaller critters to squeeze through. Another thing you can do is look into companion planting. Sometimes the right plants will not only deter the critters from coming near your garden but may also benefit your pumpkins in some way too. You could also get into one of those fake birds (like the owl ornaments that turn their heads) that follow the yard around and spook anything that could come near the plants, or those metal cat silhouettes. (The cat ones you could leave out for Halloween and incorporate into your decorating XD) You will know it's fake, but the rodents won't. There's also the ultra sonic things you can put up that emit a pulse that rodents can detect and some of them are solar powered, no plugs or extension cords required. Be wary of the last option if you let your pets out though, they can hear frequencies that we humans can't and you don't want them to run off scared.

[Murfreesboro]

My fence is a 5 ft "cyclone." It is the worse for wear, though. A tree blew down on it during a windstorm, and we never repaired that section, since our kids were grown and our dog was dead. I don't know that it would keep out the critters completely even if it were intact, though. I think some could squeeze under, and others could climb.

[MauEvig]

A wind storm huh? It wouldn't have happened to have been the derecho storm of 2012 would it? I heard it affected more than one state, it didn't affect where I was living at the time though (I moved to Virginia in 2013). People still talk about that storm today and how crazy bad it was.

I suppose that could be a lost cause. You could always try small cages? But I guess it gets into a lot of work just to keep critters out.

Perhaps you could grow a different crop that would be more appetizing to the critters outside of the fence, one you wouldn't care if they got eaten or not. Critters get full bellies and leave the pumpkins alone. It's crazy, but it might work.

You could also always try to plant pumpkin patches in different parts of the yard. ^^;

[Murfreesboro]

Mau, we live in tornado country. I don't even remember which tornado this one was, but it was a few years back. I recall it was rated an EF-0, which is the weakest kind, but it tore up trees all over the place. Sometimes we get straight-line winds, and those can be very damaging, too. The difference between them is that, with straight-lines, all the trees fall in the same direction.

Since our dog died in '09, it must have been after that. It might have been the one that hit when our daughter was in 8th grade and our second son in 11th, so, maybe spring 2011.

[MauEvig]

Mau, we live in tornado country. I don't even remember which tornado this one was, but it was a few years back. I recall it was rated an EF-0, which is the weakest kind, but it tore up trees all over the place. Sometimes we get straight-line winds, and those can be very damaging, too. The difference between them is that, with straight-lines, all the trees fall in the same direction.

Since our dog died in '09, it must have been after that. It might have been the one that hit when our daughter was in 8th grade and our second son in 11th, so, maybe spring 2011.

That's right, Tennessee is one of the states that gets bad tornados. Ouch. I hope you have a safe place to go in case a bad one hits, but I think any tornado could potentially be damaging.
Yeah derechos are straight line winds, still destructive in their own right. Around here people still talk about it, so it's not something that happens here all the time.
Goodness 2011 was such a long time ago. A good bit of time has passed if your kids have already graduated college by now.
Sorry about your dog. At least he didn't have to endure the bad storms though.

[Murfreesboro]

The part of VA you live in is not prone to tornadoes. I don't think they form much in mountains. I recall maybe one tornado warning my whole time in Staunton, 1987-94.

I don't like tornadoes, but everyplace I've ever lived except Staunton has had them. My CA cousins are terrified of tornadoes and say they prefer the earthquake threat, but earthquakes scare me, too. Also they have the wildfires, which are not common around here. I guess everybody has to live with something scary.

Of course, TN has the New Madrid fault over by Memphis, and that one can be a doozy when it wants to be. So I guess we are not free of the earthquake threat, either.

[MauEvig]

I'm thankful that we live in a zone that doesn't get a lot of tornados.
We do get pretty bad thunderstorms though and those are bad enough.
In New York it was the snow storms.
I don't know what's worse, but it feels like it would be easier to predict and escape a tornado than an earthquake. I might visit the west coast one day, but there's no way I'd live there with earthquakes and wildfires.
Some people don't seem to mind the hurricanes in Florida, but I say no thanks to that too.
So yeah...wild weather and shaking ground? Definitely not for me. Not that there's such a thing as a completely safe place to live, but I rather live in a lower risk zone.
Snow storms are weird though because we may not get a lot, but they'll close school anyway. Yet, I can understand why. The twists and turns of the mountains can be dangerous if you aren't careful. They can be dangerous even if you ARE careful.
In New York they salt the roads so much and expect you to go to work even if there's 3 feet of snow. Snow closings are much more rare up there, but they have cars with snow tires, chains for the school buses and such. The down side though? Cars rust easily up there. A car might last 5 years in New York but in Virginia last 10 or more years. The body goes before the engine up North, but the engine will go before the body down south.
Yeah I'm not sure I'd want to live in TN myself, not if earthquakes AND tornadoes are a potential threat. I don't think anywhere is completely free of earthquakes either. I think there's actually a volcano somewhere around Richmond or close to the center of Virginia. We have had earthquakes close to Dayton, VA. There's Mole Hill and another one, Trimble Knob in Monterey but both of them are inactive. I'd hate to live nearby if those things ever erupted. But I guess that explains the presence of the hot springs.
I still remember a quake that started in Virginia and made it's way up to New York. I had no idea WHAT that was and it scared me. Minor quakes like that seem common in CA, but that's something I don't think I'd ever get used to.

Here's a bit of info on the volcanoes that are nearby:
http://www.virginiaplaces.org/geology/volcano.html

I will add that I don't know how people can like tornadoes considering the damage they cause, but the storms themselves are fascinating in how they form. Some people even go as far as being storm chasers...but I think they're nuts.

[Murfreesboro]

Just randomly revisited this thread. I went to Hot Springs, VA, once. It is closer to West VA, so I don't really think Richmond is near the thermal activity.

I think there are minor quakes from time to time over in East TN, but the New Madrid fault along the MS River is the dangerous one. When it went in 1812, it created Realfoot Lake and made the MS River flow backwards for an hour or so (the River changed its channel, which is where Realfoot Lake came from). It's said that churchbells rang in Boston because of it. The lower MS Valley wasn't much settled back then, but that fault line is way overdue for a quake, and I think about that every time I cross the river at Memphis.

Tennessee is a tripartite state, as symbolized by the three stars on its flag. West TN is one division, Middle TN another, and East TN the last. East TN is in a different time zone. It is the mountainous area, and Knoxville is its "capital." Nashville is the state capital and the Queen city of Middle TN ( though Murfreesboro is the geographic center of the state, and there is quite a story behind the establishment of the capital at Nashville). Memphis reigns over West TN, which is flatter country, more a continuation of the Mississippi Delta plains. Each division of the state has its own geography, personality, and music.

Snow in the South: northerners always ridicule us for closing our schools if we see one flake. But we don't invest in as much brine or as many snowplows as folks do up North, because it's not cost effective for us. And snow often comes with a layer of ice beneath the 1/2-2 inches. Also, snow is just so uncommon in the South that everybody gets kinda excited about it. I root for at least one decent snowfall (like, upwards of 3") every winter, but I don't always see it.

I saw the most snow I've ever seen when I lived in VA. I learned up there that I love the first snowfall of the year, but I get really tired of it when it drags on into April, and the snow that stays at the side of the road starts to resemble dirty Styrofoam.

One year, in March, I saw an actual blizzard. There was an actual white out for a while, and I was so excited that I ran inside to get a camera to take a picture of it. When the photo came back from the developer, it was--white.

[Andybev01]

The sickly yellow pumpkins are popular around here.

They look jaundiced if you ask me.