Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 31 Entries. Tuesday, April 13 View Page Greetings again fellow pumpkin growers! I am growing in historic Fredericksburg, Virginia whis is nick named "Fred Vegas". Tuesday, April 13 View Page Last year after carving the pumpkin... Tuesday, April 13 View Page That pumpkin was not mine, but I thought it was the coolest design ever! Tuesday, April 13 View Page At the end of last season, I had added compost, and biochar to the patch. This is a picture with everythin tilled in. I also planted my cover crop of winter peas and crimson clover. Tuesday, April 13 View Page This winter dropped more snow on us than ever before! I'm glad we are done with snow! Tuesday, April 13 View Page Spring is finally here! Tuesday, April 13 View Page The cover crop is growing every time we get April showers. Tuesday, April 13 View Page The Easter Bunny gave me a new camera, and it can really zoom in! Check the ant out on this weed. Wednesday, April 28 View Page My cover crop of crimson clover is in full bloom right now. I also started two of Mark Fowler's 694 seeds from 2007 last week (by baggie method), and they both sprouted. They were potted on sunday, and they have their first leaves today. I have more seeds ready to germinate, so I hope I will have my full line up by the end of the week. Sunday, June 20 View Page My line up this year is: Two Fowler 694 pumpkin plants (1180 Daletas x 1446 Werner)germinated on 4/20. Two 1125 Shenola plants (1185 x Jurtas 1385)germinated on 4/27. One 1173 Shenola (1385 Jurtas x 1161 Rodonis)germinated on 5/3 and one Bosworth Cross (1566 Rodonis x 1161 Rodonis)germinated on 5/7. Sunday, June 20 View Page My two biggest plants are the Fowler 694, and both are at about 112 square feet. (roughly a triangle that is 15 feet by fifteen feet. I pollinated two females this morning, but I don't know if they will take because the temperature was 95 F today. Sunday, June 20 View Page I just wanted to show that my winter cover crop dies down and makes a good mulch. Sunday, June 20 View Page Here is a picture of buckwheat that is my summer cover crop. It brings in benificial insects, and crowds out weeds. Sunday, June 20 View Page This week I have seen a good number of leaves with this. I believe it is fungal, maybe anthracnose. Sunday, June 20 View Page The leaf tissue starts to have sunken spots that quickly turn into dry dead sections. I had been spraying weekly with Neem oil as a fungacide, and this week I began using Daconil on it, but it continues to spread to other leaves. Sunday, June 20 View Page The fungal problem may be due to high humidity, and the almost daily thunderstorms we have had in the last week. Monday, July 12 View Page I came home from visiting relatives for a week, and things had gotten a little out of hand with the pumpkin patch. Monday, July 12 View Page Where do I start with cleaning up these plants??? Monday, July 12 View Page But these two pollinations look like they are growing nicely. Sunday, July 25 View Page This is my Shenola 1125 at day 32 - 101 inches in circumference. It has gained an average of 16 pounds a day for the past 10 days. I hope it continues on this pace. Sunday, August 8 View Page This pic was taken on August 8, and it is weighing about 415 pounds. Saturday, September 4 View Page Weight gains have slowed, but I am still getting closer and closer to 600 pounds. Thursday, September 30 View Page Here is my patch a few days before the lifting party and weigh off. I've always wanted to have a field full of giant pumpkins. This picture just shows two plants with all the pumpkins on it. Thursday, September 30 View Page The plants are all done and faded away, but these are some nice pumpkins in the 100 to 350 pound range. Thursday, September 30 View Page My lifting crew helped me get them all to the front yard. Thursday, September 30 View Page My pumpkin in second at the Virginia State Fair. Woo-Hoo! this was a personal best weighing 624 pounds. Sunday, November 7 View Page What do you do with a pumpkin after Halloween? Sunday, November 7 View Page Take it up as high as you can get it, and let it drop! 624 pounds dropped 50 feet is impressive! Sunday, November 7 View Page Here is a copupe of small ones to make sure he was on target. Sunday, November 7 View Page Here is a couple of small ones to make sure he was on target. Sunday, November 7 View Page I tried to get a picture of it hitting, but it went to fast, but take my word for it, it was cool!