Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 39 Entries. Wednesday, April 4 View Page I guess it is about time to get the diary going. I sowed some cover seeds two weeks ago and it is starting to come up nicely now. I'll till it in with some amendments in about two weeks. Soil test came back looking the best it ever has for this patch. Potassium is still too high however but that is manageable. Wednesday, April 4 View Page The following are the seeds that I'll be starting this year: 1471 Scherber, 924 Johnson, 1647 Wallace and 335 Scherber. None of these seeds are proven seeds but I suspect at least one of them is going to pop a big pumpkin for someone this year. Wednesday, April 18 View Page Let the season begin! I filed, soaked and put into paper towels my seeds this morning. The 1475 Scherber, 1647 Wallace and 924 Johnson I have high hopes for this year. My kids started a 335 Scherber and a 924 Johnson on Monday. They really seem to want to grow big this year. Monday, April 23 View Page All of my seeds germinated except for the 1647 Wallace so I started a 1789 Wallace to replace it. I soaked the 1475 Scherber on Wednesday morning and by Saturday evening they were popping through the soil. I'm hoping they are aggressive as mama was last year. The 335 Scherber in the background was started on Monday and seems to be doing pretty well. Tuesday, April 24 View Page Pictured here are all of the plants except for the 1789. The top two are the 1475 Scherber which were germinated on Wednesday. The bottom plant and the one above it are the 924 Johnson. The plant in the middle left is the 335 Scherber. Thursday, May 3 View Page These are three of my favorite 6 plants that I started. The 335 Scherber (1421 x 1161), 1451 Scherber (1725 Harp x 1161) and the 1789 Wallace (1725 x 1810). I also have a very nice looking 924 Johnson (1204 Scherber x 1810) that will probably make the cut. The 335 is 2 days older than the 1451 and it is 2 days older than the 1789. Wednesday, May 9 View Page I put both of my 1451 Scherber plants into one hoop house and put the 335 Scherber and the 1789 Wallace into the other hoop house today. Pictured here is the 1451 plants. They look like they are going to have big, thick stumps like their mama. Wednesday, May 9 View Page Pictured here and the 1789 Wallace and 335 Scherber. Once the leaves start touching then I'll have to make a decision as to which plant I want to go with and take the other one out. Up until about 3 days ago I didn't think I would be going with the 1789 plant but it has started to get going lately and when I took the plant out of it's pot I was very impressed with the root system on it. That plant is 5 days younger than the 335 plant and it had a slightly more extensive root system on it already. Wednesday, May 23 View Page This is my 1451 Scherber plant. The vine should be laying down on it this week. A good grower from the very start. Wednesday, May 23 View Page This is my 1789 Wallace plant. This is a nice plant other than the light green color. I gave it a pinch of magnesium and nitrogen yesterday to see if that would green it up some. Wednesday, May 23 View Page Another picture of the 1789 Wallace. Tuesday, May 29 View Page Pictured here is the 1451 Scherber. The most aggressive grower I've ever had. It will probably be to the end of the hoop house by the end of this week. Tuesday, May 29 View Page This is the 1789 Wallace. The color is looking better now and it seems to be getting into gear these last few days. Wednesday, June 6 View Page This is the 1451 Scherber. Lost the end of the main vine this week in an accident so the plant went from 8 feet long down to 7 feet. Training a side vine as the new main vine. Plants got a little wind whipped yesterday but doing okay. Wednesday, June 6 View Page This is the 1789 Wallace. Growing very nicely these days. This plant is going to have very big leaves on it. Wednesday, June 6 View Page The patch under the hail netting. I did some tilling yesterday but I've got some more tilling to do. Hope to get that done this week. Tuesday, June 12 View Page This is the 1789 Wallace. About 10 feet long on the main. Not much action on the side vines yet. I keep watching for a female to appear but nothing has shown up yet. Tuesday, June 12 View Page This is the 1451 Scherber. The side vines on this one are growing nicely now. The plant has a very nice green color. The one female to show up is bowling ball round. These pumpkins might have a bit of orange in them but it is hard to tell right now. The main is starting to kick it into gear. This plant is about 8 1/2 feet long on the main right now. More at www.denverpumpkins.com. Saturday, June 16 View Page It is interesting to see the diary photo for the 1789 from just 4 days ago and then look at it now. The plant has just taken off. There is a female now at about 11 feet. It is greenish in color so I believe this pumpkin will be white like mama. Saturday, June 16 View Page This is the 1451 Scherber. Also growing nicely. I'm perfectly happy with were both plants are at right now. Friday, June 22 View Page The 1451 Scherber. Lots of side vines. The main in the last few days is starting to get its grow on. Hoping to pollinate at about 2-3 feet farther out on the main. Friday, June 22 View Page 1789 Wallace. Will be running out of room for the main in the next 7-10 days. Friday, June 22 View Page Female on the 1789 at about 12 feet. Sunday, June 24 View Page Pollinated my 1789 Wallace today with pollen from Joe Scherber's 1789 plant. Both plants show a lot of similar traits which I like so I think this will be a good cross. Saturday, June 30 View Page 1789 Wallace is looking good. Looking forward to see if it can grow fruit rather than just salad. Saturday, June 30 View Page 1451 Scherber seems to have a lot of 1161 traits in it. Pollinated a female on the main at about 11' on Friday with another very nice looking 1451 plant. Friday, July 6 View Page Pollinated this one on the 1451 Scherber this morning. Other pollination aborted so I'm really hoping this one takes as we are already late in the game. Weather in Denver is looking kind however over the next week. Friday, July 6 View Page Same flower on the 1451. Sunday, July 15 View Page 1789 Wallace went down this last week due to what looks like yellow vine disease. Never saw a squash bug this year at all but I guess it probably only takes one. Thanks Ron for the seed. It was a great plant to grow and probably the most aggressive plant I've ever had. Sunday, July 15 View Page 1451 Scherber plant seems happy. I was out of town last week (more on that in next post) and when I came back the vines had grown 3-5 feet in the 6 days I was gone. Vine burying was a bit of a pain yesterday. Fruit (1451 Scherber x 1451 Scherber) is shiny and growning. Tomorrow will be day ten on the late pollination. Sunday, July 15 View Page Thanks to Eddy for the patch tour while I was in Calgary last week. His greenhouse setup is second to none and we should hear about a big pumpkin coming out of Alberta in the next few years. Also thanks to Joe for watching my plants while I was gone. He only killed one of them while I was out of town. Better than I could do. LOl! (the trouble in the 1789 plant actually showed up the day before I left--much appreciation to Joe for taking the time to care for them while I was gone) Monday, July 16 View Page This is the 1451 Scherber pumpkin at 10 days old. It is a quarter of an inch from equaling the largest 10 day measurement I've ever had. Doesn't mean much but you would rather be big than small at this point. Saturday, July 21 View Page This is 'Christine' on the 1451 Pumpkin. She is growing at a nice consistent rate right now. Nothing to get excited about but nothing to worry about either. It is a little ahead of the 924 pumpkin that grew off my 1204 Scherber last year in terms of size for number of days grown. She is the great white hope, because at this point she doesn't have any color and I don't think that is going to change much until late in the season. Friday, July 27 View Page This is Christine the pumpkin. 21 Days old and growing very consistently. Tuesday, August 7 View Page The morning sun makes the pumpkin look a lot oranger than it is in reality. No big gains but the pumpkin is still ramping up. Friday, August 17 View Page This is my kid's pumpkin grown from the 924 Johnson (1204 Scherber x 1810 Stevens) seed from my pumpkin from last year. This one is going to be a nice orange just like mama and papa. They have 6 weeks of growing left to go and they are already only 3 pounds behind their pumpkins final weight last year. They probably will end up with a personal best this year. Saturday, August 18 View Page This is the biggest plant I've ever grown. 43 feet wide at its widest point. The pumpkin has been my slowest grower I've ever had in my patch in terms of peak growth but it also doesn't seem to want to slow down. When I hit a peak growth of 25 pounds per day I thought I was done. However it has hung around the 17-19 pounds per day for as long as I've done OTT measurements on it so I still feel like there is hope for this season if it can continue to maintain this slow but steady pace. Both mom and pop were long growers so...maybe...just maybe. Saturday, September 8 View Page This is the 1451. It was putting on some very consistent weight until yesterday and then it dropped off. If it is still growing then it won't be long until it will have stopped. Gave the plant some extra water and some liquid seaweed to see if we can squeeze a few extra pounds of out it. Saturday, September 8 View Page Just too hot this year to grow like I would have liked. You can see here the stress that was put on this plant due to the heat. Normally I'll lose maybe 15 of the oldest leaves around the stump by this point of the season, but this year everything is dead from the stump to about 8 feet out along the main and maybe five feet wide. I believe every record Denver has ever had for heat was broken this year. I think we've had 71 days above 90 so far this year. We average 33 in a typical year.