Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 86 Entries. Thursday, January 31 View Page Une grosse pensée à toi Sohan en ce 31 janvier 2013, date de ton anniversaire mon ange. Nous t'aimons très fort. Papa, maman et Ismaël Wednesday, March 13 View Page Here the new tunnel and a new plastic ( better light diffusion, select the right UV, anti condensation, etc...) Soil's very soggy, we had a LOT of rain and even snow since the last 2 days. In fact, we just had the wettest french winter for 20 years ! Wednesday, March 13 View Page The anti root sheet I buried last year works really well to stop the moles and voles in the pumpkins tunnels. So I decided to do the same thing to the tomatoes greenhouse. I spent 4 long days to hand dug the whole perimeter(36m) at 0.50m deep. Booba was helping me LOL Wednesday, March 13 View Page Osyril is a great natural product to develop vegetables roots. I use it since 3 years now. Watch the difference between 2 leeks ( everything I did was strictly the same but the specimen on the right has been watered twice with that liquid). Wednesday, March 13 View Page As every year, I meet the same problem in my pots. Sciarid flies infest the starting mix and the larves kill the plant by eating the roots. I carefully water each pot with predator called Steinernema feltiae. 3 days later, all dead. Very effective stuff. Thursday, March 21 View Page I did a soil test on my tomatoes patch. I took the samples exactly where I grew my 5.12lb. I share the results in case it could help tomatoe growers : OM 7% Phos 789ppm, K 1843ppm, Mg 625ppm, Ca 4956ppm Ph 7 CEC 35.4 Sulfur 544ppm, Zinc 27ppm, Manganese 46ppm, Iron 368ppm, Copper 2.3ppm, Boron 3.2ppm Thursday, April 11 View Page Saddest day of our life. There're no words to describe how much we suffer since that day. Sohan, as every day, we think of you, we love you Saturday, April 20 View Page We went for a family picnic during the first warm and sunny day of the year. I couldnt resist to bring a rod or 2 and wet my line. After 2h, I had a quick run, played softly a fish for 15mn and landed this pretty scaly mirror. Isma�l was well pleased and kissed the head of the carp ! LOL Thursday, May 30 View Page After the wettest French winter for 20 years, now may month is the coldest since 1984 ! and 50% of sun light reduction. It's cold, grey, very windy and wet, ideal for a slow start, damage plants and disease. Monday, June 10 View Page Check out the size of this giga megabloom ! It's even bigger than the flower that produced my 5.12lb last year. Plant is again a 5.07 Boudyo. Right now, I've found about 50 megablooms on my tomatoes plants. Thursday, June 20 View Page I never had a nice 7 lobes female flower before. Happy days ! Saturday, June 29 View Page I pollinated each female with one male for each. It works, all fruit are growing fine now with no exception. Happy days ! Monday, July 1 View Page Went fishing severals times. Had a few nice carp including this long and hard fighting mirror, Almost 30mn of fight. Tuesday, July 2 View Page First ever serious attempt at giant leek. I really like to grow them. Unfortunately, I started them way to late ( end of january instead of late october)) to get a serious specimen but I still enjoy to look after them. Generous Target is 10lb but maybe I m just dreaming LOL Sunday, July 7 View Page Healthy leaves on the pumpkins. Right now, it's over 50�C inside the Tunnels (open) and 31�C Outside. Caliente ! Sunday, July 7 View Page Under the leafcanopy, nice and clean. Sunday, July 7 View Page Here the brand new treillis for Long Gourds. Sunday, July 7 View Page I've 67 nice tomatoe plants growing well. There're dozens of megablooms, here a few examples. Sunday, July 7 View Page Really prefer double like this one Sunday, July 7 View Page This triple specimen looks like Tina and Frank's earlier matter. Sunday, July 7 View Page Sorry, made a mistake, started the leeks from grasses end of february and not end of january so they are 4 months old. Just lost a 800 Neilly young fruit. All plants look very good for the moment. Sunday, July 14 View Page Trinidad Scorpion loving the heat. Friends are already waiting for these chillis...Ouch ! Sunday, July 14 View Page Same leek exactly a week later : a few new leaves. They normally prefer 15 to 18�C but inside this hoop the temperature is regularly over 50�C but they love the intense sunlight. Sunday, July 14 View Page 1623.5 Wallace canopy, healthy leaves, plant and... Sunday, July 14 View Page ...fruit ! The color and the young shape remind me the father. Thursday, July 25 View Page 1623.5 Wallace fruit doing well. We have a heat wave : 35�C in daytime (55�C inside the polytunnel)and 17 to 20�C in nightime. The leaves don't flag with the shadeclothe even at 55�C. Vines are easy to manage. I really like that plant and the shape of that pumpkin. Wednesday, July 31 View Page 905 Vincent is doing well. Thick vines growing to the sky, hard to bury but a nice aggressive plant. Wednesday, July 31 View Page Finally, a fruit growing on the 800 Neilly. Day 20 : 77" CC. I crossed the 800 Neilly with the 905 Vincent and the opposite. I like the shape and color. Wednesday, July 31 View Page Trinidad scorpion started to produce flowers. Wednesday, July 31 View Page 1649 Lancaster is a nice plant with "umbrella" dark leaves. Doing 29lb a day now. I crossed it with the 1676.5 Daletas. Wednesday, July 31 View Page Leaves looking good so far. Wednesday, July 31 View Page ! ! ! ! ! Ugly ! ! ! ! ! Wednesday, July 31 View Page 1623.5 Wallace Tuesday, August 6 View Page A few good tomatoes started to ripe, 1004g and this morning this 1090g not bad considering there're about a dozen of tomatoes per plant. Tuesday, August 6 View Page Leeks still doing well despite the daily 45�C+ inside the mini greenhouse but I lost 2 good ones. Tuesday, August 6 View Page 800 Neilly has a nice shape and color. Doing 27lb a day. Tuesday, August 6 View Page 1623,5 Wallace still plugging along, plant condition is awesome. Thursday, August 8 View Page 1623.5 Wallace canopy is perfect! I keep spraying equisetum arvense and urtica weekly to keep the leaves in right condition. Thursday, August 8 View Page Great pumpkin ! Saturday, August 10 View Page I weighed that great tomatoe on a official scale. 1,955kg = 4,31lb for that triple megabloom. Not bad considering I didnt prune the others fruits on that same plant, actually there'r about a dozen of 1 to 2.5lber. Saturday, August 10 View Page Ismael posing with the specimen. What a beauty ! " Dad, oh it's heavy " Sunday, August 11 View Page 2,71lb for a single one. Sunday, August 11 View Page 2,90lb for another single one. Parallele Cc = 52cm Stem/bottom/stem lenght Cc = 50cm Stem/bottom/stem width Cc = 35cm Sunday, August 11 View Page LOL Sunday, August 11 View Page 3,72lb for that ugly multiple matter. Cc = 58cm Stem/bottom/stem lenght = 52cm Stem/bottom/stem width = 37cm Sunday, August 11 View Page Isma�l loves big tomatoes Saturday, August 17 View Page ok, I have a very bad and a very good news. 1649 Lancaster fruit was growing forward so stressed his mainvine very strongly. I pulled it back a little bit and heard a " crack "... Game Over Very sad, that pumpkin was still very soft and shiny at 850lb and still doing 27lb a day. Saturday, August 17 View Page However, the great News is that big matter ! It weighed 2.320kg which is 5.11lb ! YESSSSSSSS Funny thing, last year, my best 2 tomatoes were 1.952kg (4.30lb) and 2.324kg ( 5.12lb). This season, my best 2 are 1.955kg ( 4.31lb) and 2.320kg ( 5.11lb). So that makes 1gr difference LOL The common point between those 4 tomatoes is the genetic : 5.07 Boudyo 5.11 Daho (Big Zac) 2013 is 5.07lb x Self. Sunday, August 18 View Page Here the 3 dimensions of the 5.11lb : 62.5cm Classic CC 60cm CC (lenght) 45cm CC Width Sunday, August 18 View Page Tomatoe body lenght : 23cm Sunday, August 18 View Page Isma�l wanting some photos ! Sunday, August 18 View Page And another Sunday, August 18 View Page A full plate size ! Note the sudden cracks strangly appearing 2 days after picking. Sunday, August 18 View Page It was time to say bye bye to the Big Girl. Monday, August 19 View Page 1623.5 Wallace, very nice shape, plant is still healthy, fingers crossed ! Saturday, August 24 View Page Got stem ? 33cm long ! Wednesday, August 28 View Page 800 Neilly is still doing well. If everything goes fine, It could be a really nice squash. Time will tell... Friday, August 30 View Page Last year, I gave a few sunflower seeds to my " beau p�re" and convinced him to have a go. I told him that's very simple, just add water and urtica liquid regularly. Result : New French record 4.82m ! (previous one was 4.65m back in 1997) Congratulations Gilbert ! (but don't ask me pumpkin seeds LOL) Friday, August 30 View Page 81 Wolf FP Monday, September 9 View Page 905 Vincent is solid as a rock. Wednesday, September 11 View Page Giant pot leeks still growing fine. I m greatly surprised by the size they reached despite the extreme conditions of the summer. Since it's my serious attempt , I've no idea which one is the heaviest. Some are long and slim but with many nice heavy leaves, others are shorter but thicker. If someone knows, plz feel free to let me know your opinion. Here the first one, it's tall and thick with very nice leaves. Wednesday, September 11 View Page Now the perfect one, I named it " The Top Model". It's perfect and tall but a bit slimer. Wednesday, September 11 View Page And last one is called " The Baobab" Lol Thicker than the others but shorter. Which one will be heaviest ? Since I've 10 leeks, I don't want to bring them all so I have to make a choice... Tuesday, September 17 View Page Still growing slowly...cold/wet/dark/windy weather everyday now. Tuesday, September 17 View Page Same situation for the Squash Thursday, October 3 View Page Finally, I hit my target, the Green 4 digits ! yesss 100% sur, It'll go light but I don't mind at all, still glad! Thursday, October 10 View Page Sunny GPC weigh off here in France. Weather has been cold/grey/wet up to july. Many growers lost pumpkins and others giant vegetables. Happy with my leeks, the 4 specimens I brought beat the National record, heaviest one is 3.550kg, smallest one 3.4kg. Thursday, October 10 View Page Very happy with the fieldpumpkins. The same 81 Wolf plant produced 108.3lb, 107.3lb and 94.9lb ! All 3 fruits were over the chart. I crossed them all with the 110 MacKinnon. Thursday, October 10 View Page Did first with the squash too. As I said earlier, It was a real ballon, estimated at 1004lb but weighed 789lb, 27% light, crazy LOL Thursday, October 10 View Page But the 1676.5 Daletas was a rock ! 24.5% heavy ! 1676.5 Daletas x Self. Thursday, October 10 View Page Finally, I broke the weigh off record with 1425lb. 400" OTT : est 1383lb according GPC chart, 3% heavy. Very nice plant to grow, slow and steady, no problem at all. Thursday, October 10 View Page Side view Thursday, October 10 View Page The cross is 1623.5 Wallace x 1676.5 Daletas (produced the 787 Daho 24.5%) Very pleased with that pumpkin. As every year, all my giant vegetables are 100% organic. It was 103 days old and still growing 4lb per day. Friday, November 15 View Page We picked up the last tomatoes of the season before the frost: 4 wheelbarrow ! Best one is that heart shape weighing 1.631kg ( 3.59lb) not bad for 13 of november. Ismael loves tomatoes ! Thursday, November 21 View Page Our litte L�ane is borned last night ! Saturday, November 23 View Page Family shot Friday, November 29 View Page Interesting details: 81 Wolf plant produced 3 nice fieldpumpkins at 108.3lb, 107.3lb and 94.90lb. I couldn't take the right decision and save a single fruit. ( all crossed with the 110 MacKinnon) That was an awesome plant, very aggressive with a huge roots system... Friday, November 29 View Page Taproots were numerous at each leaf base. Friday, November 29 View Page Numerous and big taproots! All 3 fruits weighed way over the chart. Could have a been a massive fieldpumpkin if I had taken the decision to cull the others 2. Saturday, December 7 View Page Hard work progress I brought, with my little Kubota, 36 Tonnes of fresh top soil to the new tunnel. Each trip (about 250kg) is 700m from the stock to the tunnels. Then, I added 15m3 of 2 years old compost doing the same trip. Did the same work for the pumpkin tunnels and LG patch. That was the hardest work during that november month between cutting 300m trees, cleaning all tunnels, changing the whole watering system ( hundred meters of drip lines, sprinklers, 200m suspending stiff pvc, 200m to provide enough water to the last tunnel etc..) Let's go for december work now ! Saturday, December 7 View Page 108lb Daho 2013 Carved. ( one of 3 fruits on the same plant, the others 2 weighing 107.3lb and 94.9lb) It taped 98lb so 10% heavy. Flawless and very regular thickness from the stem to the blossom. Cross is 81 Wolf X 110 MacKinnon. Saturday, December 7 View Page ! Saturday, December 7 View Page I was digging a little quick trench and hit something solid... Another hard work LOL Saturday, December 7 View Page Almost again...grrrrrr but still glad with the total 4 games. Monday, December 16 View Page Watch that crazy thickness on the 787 Daho 2013. 24% over the new GPC chart Cross is 1676.5 Daletas x Self Monday, December 16 View Page The shoulders are massive and the blossom end is still very thick, not surprising it sounds like a rock ! I used it as pollinator in my 1425 Daho 2013. ( lucky me since that 1676.5 Daletas has already produced some monsters !) As predicted, extremely low seed count... Still 100% organic as all my giant vegetables.