Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 65 Entries. Friday, January 29 View Page Pumpkin Man Dan has arrived . . . . dreaming of spring, and putting into practice everything I've learned during the past several years. Good luck to everyone in 2010! Friday, January 29 View Page Shade trees were encroaching on my old patch, so it was time for a new one . . . Friday, January 29 View Page Iowa is known for it's incredibly fertile soil. Except for my back yard (aka Clay City), so . . the Dirt Man cometh with a load of Black Dirt and composted manure for the new patch. Monday, February 1 View Page My little helper Monday, February 1 View Page is glad she can use the old patch to plant more flowers this year. Friday, February 5 View Page Keep'n It Orange, back in 1994 Sunday, April 18 View Page A picture of my germination chamber, uhh, make that germination "area". Some Early Challenge Hybrid tomatos and red & yellow bell peppers growing there now. Sunday, April 18 View Page A few of the amendments I tilled in last weekend, along with a few cubic yards of horse manure/maple leaf compost. Sunday, April 18 View Page My first attempt at a mini-greenhouse. Yesterday it was 72 degrees outside, and 101 degrees inside. Sunday, April 18 View Page Me with my lucky orange t-shirt, my helpers, and the Craftsman tiller that gets the job done year after year - thanks Gary! Tuesday, April 27 View Page 2010 Line Up. Seeds have been filed, soaked, wrapped in moist papter towels, and are in electric blanket at 85 degrees. Thursday, April 29 View Page The 1622 Young and the two 910 Young seeds sprouted roots overnight and have been placed in 5" peat pots. No action yet on the 1002 Paton. Friday, April 30 View Page Last week a "Mystery Pumpkin" showed up - growing in the middle of my mini-greenhouse. Weird. Reminds me of a few years ago when a patch of morel mushrooms magically appeared overnight - growing smack dab in the middle of my front yard. I have a feeling these two incidents may be related:-) Tuesday, May 4 View Page 1662 Young in the foreground, and two 910 Young plants in the back. Thursday, May 6 View Page Shop light did a pretty good job of maintaining the temp in the mini-greenhouse last night - much needed as there is a danger of frost the next few nights. Plan is for the pumpkins to go in the garden later today or tomorrow. Saturday, May 15 View Page The two 910 Young plants today. Saturday, May 15 View Page 1622 Young today. We've had cloudy weather with way below normal temps the last 10 days. Hope that with the warmer weather this baby will really start growing! Sunday, May 16 View Page Last night was another night of incrementally expanding the patch: 1) Remove clay, which enjoys a midnight sled ride downhill to the ravine. Sunday, May 16 View Page 2) Replace with black dirt, compost, and a few other amendments. Hopefully in a few weeks the patch will be the size I want it to be for two plants. Wednesday, May 19 View Page Planted the English giant sunflower and the tall corn seeds (2009 Iowa State Fair winner) I received from Marty Schnicker over the winter. Friday, May 28 View Page Earlier this week the pumpkins came out of the mini-greenhouses. Picture of the 1622. Friday, May 28 View Page Also from earlier this week - picture of the two 910 Young plants. Soon I will have to choose one. Friday, May 28 View Page The Tall Corn plants are up a few inches, as are the Giant Sunflower Plants. Saturday, June 5 View Page Disaster last night for the 1622 plant . . . Saturday, June 5 View Page after surviving some helacious storms the past few weeks, last night the wind got ahold of it and snapped the main. Tuesday, June 8 View Page My one remaining plant, the 910 Young Saturday, June 12 View Page It rained 4 1/2 inches in a matter of about 2 hours today Saturday, June 12 View Page Going on vacation this week, at least I don't have to worry about watering! Friday, June 18 View Page Back from vacation and the 910 Young plant seems to have been enjoying it's daily rain storm. Have had 9 3/4 inches of rain in the last six days. Monday, June 21 View Page Missed a few opportunities with female flowers that opened while I was on vacation. A nice five lobe female is ready but no males have been open, but . . . . Monday, June 21 View Page I received a couple of much appreciated male flowers - thanks Chad!! Polinated the female with a 1622 Young male. Thursday, July 1 View Page A shot of the patch earlier this week. Thursday, July 1 View Page Pic taken yesterday - Day 7 for this baby (pollenated with male from 1622 Young), growing about 14' out on the main. Have pollinated another one on the main and one on a side vine. We'll see how they do. Wednesday, July 7 View Page For record keeping purposes only: Day 14 and 35" Circ. Slid mill fabric under the pumpkin and culled the other two which were growing on the main vine. Thursday, July 8 View Page What's that Jimmy? You say we've got a big one here? As long as Pumpkin Man Dan is on his way to a PB, that's all we can hope for . . . Friday, July 9 View Page Jimmy, I think you better just go back to the pro bass tournament and leave the pumpkin growing to us. Tuesday, July 13 View Page Since Jimmy's visit last week it's all gone to hell in a handbasket. Over the weekend - stem splits galore - applied sulpher powder. Now today while vine pruning noticed vine borer grub infestation. Clearly my systemic ageant isn't doing the trick, or the frequent massive amount of rain has reduced it to a subtherapeutic level. Going to hit it with some liquid sevin and apply more Merit after work. Wednesday, July 14 View Page however the good news is it's still growing steadily. Wednesday, July 14 View Page And for the moment I still need a size perspective item, so instead of a soda or beer can, I'll use Zanfel! If you get poison ivy or poison oak - get Zanfel, it's the only thing that works. Friday, July 16 View Page Well look who's stopped by the patch for a visit - it's Jimmy Houston and his girlfriend Barbie! What are you fishing for Jimmy? There's nothing but giant pumpkins and vine borer grubs around these parts . . . Friday, July 16 View Page in fact, here's a couple borers which I extracted earlier today. Saturday, July 17 View Page You're right Barbie, they are gross! Thursday, July 22 View Page Day 30. Circ 82"; OTT 196" Thursday, July 29 View Page Check out Don Young's interview on our local CBS affiliate - the story also details the challenges we've had with the weather this year. Great job Don! http://www.kcci.com/video/24420368/index.html http://www.kcci.com/slideshow/news/24422906/detail.html Saturday, August 7 View Page A shot of Ashley with the pumpkin. Day 45 - 237" OTT. Growth has slowed to a crawl since losing the stump a couple of weeks ago, and due to trying to grow some extra vines to make up for what I lost to the borers. Have continued to have biblical amounts of rain. Monday, August 9 View Page Had another 4 inches of rain overnight. Looking forward to the Iowa State Fair this week - the Big Pumpkin contest is on Friday. Thinking about bringing one of my corn stalks to the Tall Corn contest. Wednesday, August 11 View Page Have had 10 1/2 inches of rain during the past three days. My day of vacation I was going to use to go to the fair was spent cleaning water out of our basement yesterday. Good news is all of the rain and heat seems to have jumpstarted growth of the pumpkin. Friday, August 13 View Page Iowa State Fair - Big Pumpkin Contest Today Friday, August 13 View Page Iowa State Fair - Big Pumpkin Contest - Don Young Friday, August 13 View Page Iowa State Fair - Big Pumpkin Contest - Carlson/Peterson's New Iowa State Fair Record - 1,323 pounds! Friday, August 27 View Page My very orange friend just keeps on keep'n on. This picture is from Aug 19th. Will try to get more pics loaded this weekend. Tuesday, August 31 View Page A wide shot of the patch Friday, October 1 View Page Thank you Timber Ridge pals for helping me extract the pumpkin from the patch. Pumpkin Man Dan - Seth - Phil - Matt - Blake - Damon - Ashley Friday, October 1 View Page Let's get this baby loaded! Saturday, October 2 View Page . . . and thank you to Harry Hatgers for the lift truck, Gary for operating it, Darrin for support, and thank you to Mary for watching the girls. Sunday, October 3 View Page Here it is . . . the 2010 Boelman 447. Oooohhhhh Yeah! Had a great time at Anamosa Pumpkinfest! I'll be back next year with some heavier artillery. Sunday, October 3 View Page Love the orange color. Tuesday, October 19 View Page After we picked the pumpkin to take to Anamosa on Oct 1st, two more grew. The two yellow pumpkins were 92 pounds (L) and 112 pounds (R). Not bad for two weeks on a frost damaged plant! Tuesday, October 19 View Page As I'm removing the plant from the patch I noticed just how much of a difference vine burying with Plant Healthcare's Flower Saver Plus made. I'm definitely going to use it again next year. Friday, October 29 View Page We had a lot of fun carving the giant pumpkin this week. Friday, October 29 View Page Here's the finished product, all ready for Halloween! Wednesday, November 3 View Page Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated - [email protected] Ph 6.8 Buffer Ph 6.84 Phosphorus 165ppm Potassium 230 ppm Calcium 4565 ppm Magnesium 662 ppm Sulfur 43 ppm Boron 1.3 ppm Copper 2.5 ppm Iron 504 ppm Manganese 87 ppm Zinc 7.7 ppm Organic Matter 8% ENR 150 Cation Exchange Capacity 29.8 Cation Saturation %K = 2.0 %Ca = 76.6 %Mg = 18.5 %H = 0.9 After this soil sample was sent off, I added 5 yards of horse manure and a generous amount of chopped up maple leaves to this 20 X 30 foot patch. K:Mg Ratio 0.11 Sunday, November 28 View Page The compost pile has been restocked - thank you Jackie for the maple leaves from Grimes! Sunday, November 28 View Page The mission to expand the patch continues - the clay gets a sled ride down the hill to the ravine and is replaced with black dirt. Wednesday, December 22 View Page Santa came early!