Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 47 Entries. Tuesday, April 18 View Page After a 3 year absence, Holly and I are back growing. 2020 was a year that our season ended July 6th with a confirmed case of Yellow Vine disease. Growing in 2021 and 2022 wasn't in the cards a I battled full-time with cancer. I am feeling better now and we are going to try one pumpkin plant this season and see how it goes. (fingers crossed)   Tuesday, April 18 View Page Going to start with the 2359.5 LeBlanc 2023 and the 1935 Ford. unfortunately the Ford was damaged by the post office and in probably will not germinate, but will give it a try.   Tuesday, April 18 View Page typo, the LeBlanc is a 2022 seed   Friday, April 21 View Page 2359.5 LeBlanc is throwing a nice root system, time for dirt. Unfortunately the 1935 Ford did not germinate. so, we are going with one plant and no backup...   Friday, April 28 View Page Plant is up and looking good!   Monday, May 8 View Page 4X8 pumpkin hut in the patch to heat soil a little bit and maybe hatch a few flies. (Not using heating cables this year)   Tuesday, May 9 View Page Pumpkin plant coming along nicely.   Saturday, May 13 View Page Giving the plant some outdoor time.   Monday, May 15 View Page Soil amended and tilled, I had planted mustard in 2020 to clean up the patch, then Zinnias in 2021, and a wildflower mix in 2022. with winter rye each fall. The soil test came back perfect for my liking, so only 5 lbs of nitrogen was added before tilling.   Monday, May 15 View Page Also tilled in 5 pounds of WOW mycorrhizal inoculant. (trying something different, we are not burying vines or adding inoculant at each leaf node. I am not yet able to spend time kneeling and squatting so I figured this would be a great time to experiment on a few growing methods.   Monday, May 15 View Page The 2359.5 Leblanc is in the ground...... no heating cables this year.   Thursday, May 18 View Page frosty night, cooler than usual this spring, lets hope it warms up.   Sunday, May 21 View Page Plant is settling in and Holly is giving the plant a good drink.   Wednesday, May 24 View Page An unwelcome guest... seems like they always appear shortly after planting.   Thursday, May 25 View Page Laying down a vine, nice!   Friday, May 26 View Page Memorial Day is almost here and we have another frost coming tonight.   Tuesday, May 30 View Page Coming along nicely.   Sunday, June 4 View Page Timber Rattlesnakes are out, warmer temps on the way.   Friday, June 9 View Page Wind fence and shade cloth is up.   Saturday, June 10 View Page Plant wants out of its hut!   Monday, June 19 View Page Looking good!   Monday, June 19 View Page Granddaughter anxious to drive Pumpkin Pie.   Tuesday, June 27 View Page Plant is growing well, picked the first female off the main at about 12 feet. Looking to pollinate the next pumpkin a few feet farther out. Took a couple of days off and went to the Schroon Lake Lodge in the ADK.   Saturday, July 1 View Page We went out early this morning and cut a few male flowers and noticed that the female blossom appeared ready but had not opened yet. We took the male flowers inside for the pollen to dry and went back out an hour later. The female still wasn't open, so I forced the blossom open.   Saturday, July 1 View Page A picture of the finished product, Holly did a great job of spreading the male pollen on the blossom. Now for the pantyhose covering and some overhead protection, then we wait to see if forcing the blossom open was a good idea or not. 2359.5 Leblanc X self, 16 feet out on the main.   Sunday, July 2 View Page Photo of the plant, the pollinated kin is under the table with pantyhose covering... it would be nice if the rainy weather would stop so more weeding can be accomplished. Vines are growing like crazy though.   Thursday, July 6 View Page Time away from the patch for July 4th parade and one of the weekly band concerts in the local park.   Sunday, July 9 View Page And the rain continues for days.........   Tuesday, July 11 View Page It's stopped raining for a few minutes, Holly is weeding and catching up on the plant maintenance. I am deadheading many of the secondaries. The pumpkin is 10 days old and laying down, it looks small, but its bright and shiny. Since it's already July 11th we have decided to go with this kin and see what happens.   Tuesday, July 11 View Page So, here is the finished product (2359.5 Leblanc X self). She's ten days old on her 4X4 piece of plywood with mill fabric. More weeding left to do but we are beat...... that's enough work for today.   Saturday, July 15 View Page Pumpkin has grown quite a bit in 4 days. Holly is busy as usual, weeding while the sun is shining.   Monday, July 17 View Page We went to the lake for the afternoon to enjoy the sunshine and relax.   Monday, July 17 View Page Holly relaxing at the lake too.   Monday, July 17 View Page Pumpkin is 16 days old. Bigger than the basketball and looking much bigger than she did on day 10. (July 11th)   Wednesday, July 19 View Page Early morning photo of the plant, it has filled the patch. The majority of side vines have been dead headed.   Thursday, July 20 View Page Enjoying another concert in the park with the grandkids.   Friday, July 21 View Page The plant is complete, 770 square feet.   Friday, July 21 View Page Day 20 for the pumpkin (2359.5 Leblanc X self). 174.5 OTT. Oops, it's beginning to look like we might be growing orange? That's just not normal for us.   Saturday, July 22 View Page Another photo of a full patch, 770 square feet. Smaller than our 1,000 square foot patches of the past, but I wanted to try a little smaller plant and see what it can produce.   Sunday, July 23 View Page Taking time out to enjoy the grandkids.   Sunday, July 23 View Page Life is short.... ending a fun day with a delicious prime rib dinner at a local pub.   Monday, July 24 View Page We decided to install the drip tape today. With all the rain in June and 7.91" so far in July, we have not watered. I fear that a lot of nutrients have leached from the soil and supplemental feedings may be in order.   Wednesday, July 26 View Page Day 25, chugging along when compared to the basketball. Nothing earth shattering yet, 228.25 OTT, approximately 275 lbs.   Wednesday, July 26 View Page Just another angle of the pumpkin on day 25. We also had to pull the pumpkin back, because of main vine crowding, and reposition some of the main vine (after the pumpkin) to accommodate the growth. The plant is looking healthy.   Sunday, July 30 View Page Beautiful sunny and less humid day.   Sunday, July 30 View Page Inspected the pumpkin and found a stem split.. but not into the cavity, thank goodness. Almost 1" of ran yesterday. I think there is too much stress on the stem due to its position on the vine. We cut the main after the pumpkin and loosened the vine before the kin. Painted Ortho disease control in the split and placed a fan 24/7. No watering for a couple of days and hopefully the split will heal up.   Wednesday, August 2 View Page Back from a two day trip to Boston to check on the stem split, and it's looking better. Going to resume watering with small amounts of ferts. She is 32 days old today and has smaller gains from cooler temps and less water. Estimated at 469.5 lbs. gains of 27.7 lbs. per day. Down from the 31 lbs. per day a week ago. On a brighter note she is getting wide and crowding the basketball off from the 4x4 plywood. Also she's a pretty orange color with white highlights.