Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 34 Entries. Friday, January 2 View Page Shot of the new patch. The tunnel will be going up in the next few weeks. Good luck to everyone in 2009   Monday, February 2 View Page Well here is something you dont see every day in these parts ! The patch is under 6" of snow. 10 weeks till planting time. I need to get the tunnel up !   Monday, February 2 View Page Had so much fun last year on the lake I decided to buy myself a boat. No name for her as yet. Any suggestions ?   Thursday, February 12 View Page Putting up the new tunnel is underway.I have some issues with the way the plot slopes but hopefully I will get somewhere with it this week.   Wednesday, February 18 View Page My wife embroidered me a pumpkin pic today. Cool !   Saturday, April 4 View Page Got the tunnel up (at last) Gonna have to get into gear as the pumpkins will be going in soon   Saturday, April 4 View Page Finally !   Monday, April 6 View Page Seeds for the tunnel are in the propagator.   Monday, April 20 View Page The 1207 Young did not germ which is a bit of a blow. I am on the 1156 Hunt. I hope this is fate because this seed has awesome potential. Things are looking up though. (see post below)   Monday, April 20 View Page It`s barbie weather here ! Temp was hovering around the 18 mark at the weekend. I hope this uis a taste of good things to come !   Thursday, April 30 View Page 1066 Chenier on the left and the 1378 Pitura on the right. Finally got something to germ properly !   Thursday, May 7 View Page 1378 Pitura on the left and 1066 Chenier on the right finally in the greenhouse.   Friday, May 22 View Page Plants are now inside the main tunnel. I have had a small tunnel over the plants for a couple of weeks whilst I got the skin on.   Friday, May 22 View Page 1378 Pitura on the left and 1066 Chenier on the right. Both doing well. Should take off now the main tunnel is up and skinned   Sunday, May 31 View Page My 1066 chenier has developed a double vine. It was pulled this morning.   Sunday, May 31 View Page The 1378 Pitura is starting to lay down.   Tuesday, June 9 View Page 1378 doing well today.   Saturday, June 13 View Page Looking good up here in Cumbria. The weather has been great. Not very hot but the tunnel makes up for that. The usual Saturday morning fish, seaweed and Humic applications were made this morning. Both soil and foliar.   Saturday, June 13 View Page Couldn`t resist another lake shot. This place is 30 mins from my house. The mountain (or small hill if you are American) is Catbells   Monday, June 15 View Page First cull on the 1378. This was about 6 feet so no good. Really long stem on this one. About 3"   Wednesday, June 17 View Page 1378 is starting to fill out. Really healthy plant, nice and green with no sign of any problems   Wednesday, June 17 View Page second female at around 10 feet. The end of the main also has another 1 around 13 feet. I will pollinate both with the 340 Beauchemin (if it gets a move on !!!)   Saturday, June 20 View Page Gonna pollinate the 1378 later today. I thought it would be ready this morning but I will have to leave it till later. I will have to self it because the 340 beauchemin is being a bitch and not producing any flowers !   Wednesday, June 24 View Page Looking good in the tunnel. If anything it`s a little too warm in there despite ventilation. This has been the best summer for 3 years at least. Somebody in Europe will grow a monster this year I`m pretty sure of it   Wednesday, June 24 View Page Next one for pollination at around 15 feet. It`s too hot at the moment so I will do this later today or in the morning. Further vine burying and a general clip out of tertiarys etc today.   Thursday, July 2 View Page Bloody ell it`s hot !!!   Thursday, July 2 View Page A future pumpkin grower in the foreground ? He looks grumpy enough to be one !!!!   Friday, July 17 View Page I had to cull the fruit (which was my bloody keeper) on the 1378 Pitura. It looked perfect when I pollinated but got to around 12 days when it started to deform. The deep ribs were a future split I`m sure of it so it had to go. Got another going which also looks perfect but it means I`m 2 weeks behind.   Friday, July 17 View Page You can see that even at this early stage, the walls near the deep rib are starting to thin out. Big seeds though   Monday, July 27 View Page day 20 numbers for the 1378 are 139 OTT. Not record breaking by any means but ok. Hopefully the day 30 numbers will be better. Went to Tatton Park at the weekend. It was the RHS garden show.   Tuesday, July 28 View Page Pic of the 1378   Wednesday, August 19 View Page Latest pic of the 1378. Not doing bad all things considered.   Wednesday, September 2 View Page My 1378 went down yesterday to a blossom end split. It goes through to the cavity. I was checking over the fruit and just happened to notice a slight leak seeping down one of the ribs. When I bent over to take a peek I was confronted with this ! It`s ironic because I was concerned with the stem end which was getting a little bit of rot.   Wednesday, September 2 View Page Final pic of the 1378. I will give it a couple of days and then clean out the tunnel and sow some field beans for overwintering.