Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 57 Entries. Thursday, April 22 View Page Soaked seeds and put in incubator set at 85 degrees Thursday, June 3 View Page This is the larger of my two giant veggie growing areas. I am in a 50/50 partnership with the land owner. It is a nice easy to work with sandy loam. It has quite a few rocks but they don't seem to have affected the plant growth. There currently are 15 pumpkins along with 8 watermelons, 6 sunflowers and 2 tomato's. Monday, June 14 View Page Lodi patch as of June 13th. Plants are mostly buried and growing nicely. Monday, June 14 View Page 1032 Urena 120" long Monday, June 14 View Page 800 Neily 111" Monday, June 14 View Page 961.5 Urena 116" Ribbon Vine Monday, June 14 View Page 1037 Carlson/Petersen 89" Monday, June 14 View Page 1200 Sunlin #1 97" double vine that I cut into a single Monday, June 14 View Page 1140 Stevens 113" started out normal vine with every other node double vegetation but now vine has thickened up and is true double vine. Monday, June 14 View Page 1140 main vine tip Monday, June 14 View Page 1073 Carlson/Petersen #1 126" longest in the patch. Unfortunately The main twisted in the wind and ripped open. Monday, June 14 View Page 1200 Sunlin #2 86" Started out double but changed to single by itself. Monday, June 14 View Page 672 Stevens 92" Monday, June 14 View Page 1432 Carlson/Petersen 80" Monday, June 14 View Page 1119 McMullen 120" Monday, June 14 View Page 1356 Reid 96" Monday, June 14 View Page 1355 Kilburn 95" Double Vine Monday, June 14 View Page 1028 Johnson 78" smallest plant in patch. Main vine tip broke off. Will train a secondary as new main. Monday, June 14 View Page 1073 Carlson/Petersen #2 111" Monday, June 14 View Page My best watermelon plant, a 259 Kent. Monday, June 14 View Page Here is my other garden. It's had pumpkins in the vicinity for over 25 years. There are bug and disease issues so that's why I moved most to the Lodi Garden. I have 3 pumpkins, 6 tomato's, and 24 sunflowers in this garden. The pumpkins are 1502 Neptune, 1725 Harp, and 1544 Revier. The tomato's are all Harp 7.18's and the sunflowers are from my biggest of last year (27.5 inches measured seed to seed). Monday, June 14 View Page 1502 Neptune 99" Monday, June 14 View Page 1725 Harp 88" I was so dissapointed in the soil here that I dug out the 1725 plant to move to the Lodi garden. It turned out to be too heavy to move. So I transplanted the rootball back in a different slightly better area. I'm sure it slowed the growth a lot. Monday, June 14 View Page 1544 Revier 115" Best of the three. Growing very well in the heavy clay soil. Monday, June 14 View Page One of the sunflowers. Monday, June 14 View Page 7.18 Harp Tomato's. I planted three weeks later than normal this year so they are still small. Friday, June 18 View Page Pollinated first flower of the season this morning on my Revier 1544. It was about 9 feet out and pollinated with two Neptune 1503 males. This is my earliest pollination I have ever had at a decent distance. Let the fun begin. :) Monday, June 21 View Page The Lodi Patch as of June 20th. All plants are growing nicely. Monday, June 21 View Page 1032 Urena is tied for best in patch so far. Monday, June 21 View Page 1073 Carlson/Peterson tied with 1032 for best in patch. Monday, June 21 View Page 1140 Stevens went ribbon on me. Three pumpkins have formed at one node. Monday, June 21 View Page 961.5 Urena plant was a ribbon from the start and has a strange yellowing of the leaves. Monday, June 21 View Page Buried my four best plants yesterday as well as half of two others. Also sprayed all plants with Bifenthrin. I saw and killed my first vine borer moth. Smashed two leaves in the process. lol Wednesday, June 23 View Page Buried vines at the Waunakee garden. The 1725 and 1503 are looking good, but the 1544 is by far the nicest looking. Also sprayed all veggies with Bifenthrin. Way to much rain lately though. Another inch and a half this morning. Bugs are really doing a number on the sunflowers. Hopefully the insecticide takes care of the problem. Monday, September 13 View Page Long time with no post. Dissapointing year, but we have some pumpkins left and a couple nice tomato's. This is what the patch looks like when you don't take care of it. Monday, September 13 View Page Estimating the largest in the patch. About 900# from the Sunlin 1200Est. It's just about stopped growing now. Grew on it's stem. Monday, September 13 View Page Side View Monday, September 13 View Page Butt view. Monday, September 13 View Page 2nd biggest in the patch estimating about 890 from the 1073 Carlson. Monday, September 13 View Page Squash from the 800 Neily. About 700 pounds. Monday, September 13 View Page Best looking in the patch from 1032 Urena. Great orange color and smooth. About 650# Monday, September 13 View Page One of two tomato plants. Both look really good. Nice green and healthy for this late in the season. This one has about a 3.5 pounder on it. Monday, September 13 View Page Other tomato plant. It has one about 3 pounds on it. Monday, September 13 View Page If you look hard you can see the estimated 3.5 pound tomato. Monday, September 13 View Page If you look hard you might be able to see the estimated 3 pounder. Monday, September 13 View Page And finally this is what my daughter thinks of the patch.(She is trying to roll her eyes) LOL Monday, September 13 View Page Oops forgot to say both the tomato plants were from the 7.18 Harp. Tuesday, September 21 View Page My biggest tomato split on me yesterday. Was leaking lot's of goo. It was only 3#14oz. I think it lost a bit of weight because of the leak. Tuesday, September 21 View Page Top side view. Wednesday, September 29 View Page I take back the disappointing season comment I made earlier. What I thought was a pumpkin in the mid 900's was actually 1203 pounds weighed at the Milwaukee pumpkin contest. What a pleasant surprise! Here is a picture of it and my kids. Wednesday, September 29 View Page Here is the blossom end. Wednesday, September 29 View Page Here is main vine of the 1200 Sunlin plant that grew the 1203. It started out double for about 5 feet and then turned single. It ripped open pretty early on. Wednesday, September 29 View Page Here is a closeup. Wednesday, September 29 View Page I have three fruit left. Here is the 1073 fruit estimating at 907. I hope it weighs nice and heavy too. Wednesday, September 29 View Page This is the 800 Neily Squash estimating at 750. It looks real mean. :) Wednesday, September 29 View Page And last but not least the Urena 1032. The most beautiful fruit in the patch. At around 650 pounds it probably won't see a weigh-off but hopefully will be able to sell it for it's looks. Wednesday, September 29 View Page One more pic, I like her look a lot. Nice smooth ribs. Unfortunately I crossed it with the 1200 Sunlin which was butt ugly. :)