Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 38 Entries. Sunday, March 30 View Page End of March almost no rain for this month, around 70 today. Going to start a 1066 Starr, and a 780 Vezzolo. Want to have 1 in the ground by this time next week.Which ever one comes up and looks the best will hit the ground.I want to get 1 in early this year. Trying to get 1 set before the heat crunch here in the end of June and early July. Going to plant just 3 total this year. I have learned what my limitations are the hard way. Best was 367 in 07.Made some more stupid mistakes in 07 . I want to break 500 or more. I know i can do this.This will be my 5th year at this and Im not going to quit. This is fun even when it doesn,t come out the way i want it to.This is a real challenge for me and I like it. Going to try and keep this diary going and not fade out this year. Sunday, March 30 View Page I have 52 tomato,s started right now too. 13 different types.They are do to come up in about 4 or 5 days. I can grow these no problem. Going to plant about 20 of them give the rest away. Going to do some melons too.Im planning for 09 already.I have 2 great BP seeds set aside for next year. Getting ground ready for about 5 for 09. I have 2 more I wanted to plant this year but can,t find them. So going to use next year if i find them.I have 3 great seeds for this year. Have about 50 great seeds trying to pick just 3 is crazy. Going to go to Canby this year and Paso Robles. May be Half moon bay. Going to do just 3 plants total. Going to keep it simple. Sunday, March 30 View Page It started raining this morning, what a surprise. First in about a month.It,s about 65 (F)right now.Now if it would just go all day would be a big help. 1066 Starr, and 780 Vezzlo are started.We will see long they take to germinate Tuesday, April 1 View Page My German giant, and Belgian pink Tomatoes are coming up.Only been 4 days since I started them. Some of the 12 types are showing signs of life too.In about 4 or 5 days all 52 should be up and going. Was about 40 this morning.Warmed up to about 70 maybe some rain Wedsday Wednesday, April 2 View Page Came home from work notice my plant light wasn,t on. Check switch, nothing worked. Dug old plant light out of shed. Pulled bulbs out of brand new light , put in old they lit up. I decided new was awas a piece of junk. In the trash it goes. About 70 today, getting cloudy looks like maybe some rain, hope , hope. Most of the Maters are coming up now. Zucs, and crook neck squash, are coming up , no signs of 1064 or 780 yet. It should be in a day or 2. Wednesday, April 2 View Page Recieved a bubble from Mike Frantz today. He sent me another 1010-06 to try again. Also some other goodies WoW thanks Mike. 1010 will hit the ground this time I will get it right. I will germinate the way he sugested. I plan on putting it in around May 5th. Thursday, April 3 View Page Just took a second look at the 780 Vezzolo,1066 Starr have both come up. The tap root is about 1/4 long already put them both in a bigger home bulit peat pot. 3 days to come up not bad. They will go in the ground Sat. I,m working on 2 hoop houses right now. Have to be finish by Sat. Thursday, April 3 View Page I have found my White,s 225 and 202 Watermelon seeds. Going to start them tonight. Hope to get at least 4 plants in the ground.After 9 PM here no rain yet. Sunday, April 6 View Page No rain last week. Storm past by us. Has been a kind of warm but dry spring. in the 70,s today. Pumpkin and other plants are going good. About 90 percent of my maters are up Sunday, April 6 View Page No pumpkins in ground yet. Maybe monday or tuesday. I need to let them harden off a little Friday, April 11 View Page Today is warm.At 8:15 pm it is 73 here. Going to be warmer Sat and Sunday in the 90,s. Been a busy week for me. 2 pumpkin plants will go in in the morning.I wanted to have them in sooner but just wasn,t able to. Going to double plant them as Frantz suggested. I have some maters ready for the ground too. 48 of 52 are up, I harden off 6 also 6 squash are ready for the ground too. Going to harden off the others , repot some and give them away.I,ll list the types Im planting a little later. I have 14 diffrent types going. Saturday, May 10 View Page It,s been awhile since ive been here.Been very busy with work, family. My son-n law is in the CO. Academy has about 3 weeks left. I have have been spending time with my 3 grandsons helping my daughter while he is gone all week. With 3 boys 1,2 and 4 she has her hands full. I started 842 polka,1010 frantz and a 1147 ceja on May 4. They were coming up May 7. Hope to have all in ground by May 12. The first 2 plants I planted about 2 weeks ago are stating to take off. Weather has been weird, warm days cold nites no rain. Saturday, May 10 View Page I,m having trouble getting melon seeds to germinate. Only 2 in 10 have come up. Just have to work at those a little more I guess My pumpkin seeds have been 100 per cent germination rate. I planted the 1066 Starr and the 780 Vezzlo next to each other. Both look good trying to decide which one to thin out. Going to be around 80 here today, maybe in the 90,s by monday. Friday, May 16 View Page Was 99 today. 73 right now at 10:30 PM. Going to see 100 for the next 3 days. Pumpkins and tomatoes holding up well so far. Sunday, May 18 View Page was a 102 here friday, 101 today. Fist 100 marks of the year. Should cool down to 89 by tuesday Sunday, May 18 View Page was a 102 here friday, 101 today. First 100 marks of the year. Should cool down to 89 by tuesday Monday, May 26 View Page Rained here all day Sunday.That was the first real rain in almost 3 months. Overcast today but kind of nice. The heat will be coming soon again and staying. Monday, May 26 View Page I have 4 plants in the ground. I thinned out 1. It turned out to be a Zucchini. I took pics of it. I have more of the same seed. I am going to gerinate them to see if they are Zucchini also. My Starr 1066 is sick. Don,t know if it is worth trying to save.Ive treated it to see if it will come out of it. Going to give it a week. The 842 Polka is doing great, also the 1010 frantz and the 1147 Ceja look good too. Was about 65 Sunday, going to be around 75 today Saturday, June 7 View Page Weather is nice right now.Next week will be in the 90,s Expext it to be around 100 by July 1. It was 85 here today.. Night time temps about 55 to 60 now. I lost my 1066 Starr. It was sick. I tried to save it no luck. I will replace it with a 1388 Larue. I just lost about 1 month growth here.This one will set late but that is ok. There is 1 weigh off here at Paso Robles it could be ready for. Well there goes my going early to get a jump on the heat. Will try this again next year. My Tomatoes are going good I have 16 in the ground. About 6 or 7 differnt types. I gave away about 30 plants. Hope to have some eggplants and peppers going in the ground soon. I waited to make sure the cool nites are done before I put them in. I did bty a Mr. Stripey plant at Walmart yesterday in a gallon pot.Now i just have to find a place to plant him. I must be crazy another tomatoe!! Saturday, June 7 View Page The 842 Polka, 1010 Frantz and the 1147 Ceja are going good. Going to get some pic in the morning of them. I have a 1388 Larue up to replace my lost 1066 Starr with. Monday, June 9 View Page Was getting warm today almost 100, it settled for 98. Tuesday should break 100 again. Pumpkin plants handled it reall good. The 842 polka is doing really good. Takes the heat very good. The others have done good too. Just got the 1388 Larue in the ground tonight. He is behind the other 3 but looks strong. I made some shade for him see how it does the next 3 days will be a scourcher. Friday, June 13 View Page Today is Hot. 100 as of 4:45PM Here is a pic of the 842 Polka. Its taking the heat real good. Right now this is my best plant. The others are hanging in there,but not growing as fast. Friday, June 13 View Page I figured out what killed my 1066 Starr. It was me. I drowned it. My asumed my water timer was correct. Itwas coming on more than it should have. I notice that my 1010 frantz and 1197 Ceja was looking kind of sad. I then notice that they were too wet. I caught them in time i belive they will be ok. The 842 Polka is doing great. I have that one in another spot on different timer. The 1388 Larue is doing ok too. Friday, June 13 View Page My last 2 diary entries some how was put in front of my diary. I don,t know how that happened. It is a little confusing. Saturday, June 14 View Page I like the way the diary reads now. I understand how it works. I just need to edit better and spell better. Need to get outside and get some work done in the garden before temp. gets to high I have to pay better attention to my watering system. Almost ruined my season.Im really mad at myself. Going to be somewhere over a 100 today.Almost 70 now at 8AM Saturday, June 14 View Page This is the Polka 842 on 6-7-08 Saturday, June 14 View Page This the Polka on 6-13-08. I decided to enter this in order of time growing. Im going to take pics 1 week apart the rest the season so i can compare how growth is going. Im going to do this with the other plants too. Saturday, June 28 View Page Almost the end of June.Alot of fires going on around the state. Smoke haze is very bad here. Looks like there won,t be anything setting for about 2 weeks. Just didn,t work out to set something early. The 842 Polka is going good. It has handled the heat very well. The temps have been around 95 to 105 the last 2 weeks. It is right at 100 now. just hope it cools down some when I have something to set.I get up at 5AM Sat and Sun. to work on garden area till 10AM. Then have to go in because of the heat and smoke. Then back out again about 7PM. During the week days I can go out at about 5AM for 1 hr. before I go to work.Going to be off next week for 5 days I can go out every morning for about 4 hrs. Saturday, June 28 View Page The 1010 Frantz is gone . It didn,t recover from my stupid mistake. I have other Frantz seed but will wait and plant those next year. The 1388 Larue is starting to take off. The 1147 Ceja has recovered nicely but is about 1 week behind the 842 Polka. My goal now is to break my PB this year anything past that is a bonus. My Tomatoes are going great , may have some to pick in about 2 weeks. I am getting some squash now to eat. I have a good Apricot crop this year. Egg plants and peppers are in the ground. I have a Blue Berry plant that just won,t green up for me. It just stays a dull yellow hope I don,t lose it. Wednesday, July 2 View Page Well im off for 5 days. I had alot of things I wanted to do in my garden and house. But that will have to wait for another day.. My ex wifes Father just passed away this morning. I will be headed for Sutherland Oregon in the morning.This is a really sad day for me. I have known that man for 42 years. He was my second Father . I loved him dearly. I have called him Dad for the last 30 yrs. Before that other names because he didn,t want me around his daughter. He has told me that he loved me as much as his own sons. He was there for me when I lost my Dad 6 yrs ago. He was there for me when his daughter decided she wanted a different life from me 8 yrs ago.I.ll miss him very much. The second greatest man I have have evered known. He loved me no matter what.Just like my Father. Wednesday, July 2 View Page Puimpkins are growing doing well.June 26 first male blossom on 842Polka. First female showing up today 4ft from base. I will discard it to close.There will be others. Well off I go I have a important man to say good bye too. Tuesday, July 8 View Page I am back from Oregon. Wow what a differance in heat.Smoke from fires is really bad. Being outside right now is really bad.Today it is around 106 plus or minus a few degrees right now.It will be like this for a week. Plants are doing ok . Taking heat ok, but have slowed down in growth. I expected that. Nothing to set yet. Wouldn,t take even if there was. Tomatoes are doing good . Have spotted a big green worm on 1 plant. Going to go out tonight with flash light ane see how many I can find to dispose of. I do have some thing to spray for them that won,t hurt anything else. Sunday, July 13 View Page Well nothing set yet. There is some females showing up but I guess a week away.Going to be a wait till next year again i guess. Sunday, July 13 View Page Looks like heat wave has broken today going to be around 98. Was up to 110 thursday. What a week. There is some damage to the 842 Polka was really going good. The tip on the main was damaged from the heat while I was gone. Has stopped growing. Looks like a blow torch has hit it. The main had grown past my shade I had up. Well we will see what happens. The Larue 1388 is getting some females also the Ceja has some too. Thursday, July 17 View Page My 842 Polka is history. I thought it was sick. Turned out to be a gopher ate all of the tap root off. Im left with 2 plants now.the 1388 Larue, and the 1147 Ceja. Both growing good. I should have something to set this weekend. They are also a long way off from where that gopher was. But Im out hunting him down now, going to give him a very bad head ache. Saturday, July 19 View Page I have some females ready to go this morning. I crossed the 1388 Larue with the 1147 Ceja. The 1388 Larue with the 1147 Ceja. They are the only 2 plants I have left. They are both about 10 ft. out. The Larue was planted a month later than the Ceja but has caught up with it in as far as growth goes. Now just have to get them to hold in this heat. Going to be around 102 today. Going to use the Ice chest method. Saturday, July 19 View Page The 842 Polka was really doing great. I am really disappointed that I lost it to a Gopher. It was really handling the heat. I think I have 1 more seed. I,ll keep it for next year Thursday, July 24 View Page Both plants have set the fruit. Now just hope they stay on.It,s going to be around 105 this Saturday.There is other females showing up so i should have others to set on Sat. The 1388 Larue is growing faster that the 1147 Ceja. I,ll take my first measerment Sat.