Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 91 Entries. Wednesday, April 1 View Page Looks like it will be another late start again this year. First the weather has not cooperated. We got a pile of snow last Saturday, and more is in the forecast for tonight. I also can't seem to shake the health problems. I got hit with a big kidney stone 3 weeks ago. I have never felt pain like that before. The docs put in a stent and tried to dissolve it with medicines but that didn't work. So on the 10th they are going to try to blast it to pieces with high intensity ultrasound. (7th trip to the OR in 9 years)Plus they found that I have gall stones that will likely have to come out sometime. In the meantime I am not tolerating the stent well and can't do much garden preparation. Maybe if things dry off Jacob can get started for us. Thanks to some generous growers we have our best seed lineup ever. Plus we are going all out on the long gourds this year. Look for the Anamosa growers to make a real run at the gourd record. Friday, April 10 View Page I had my lithotripsy this morning to break up the kidney stone. I hope it was successful and I can finally get into the patch in a couple of days. The weather is finally straightening out. No snow for a couple of days, lots of sunshine, highs in the 50's and lows around freezing. Typical early April for this part of Iowa. Wednesday, April 15 View Page I will start patch preparation tonight if I'm not too tired after work. It is going to be another year of tight budgets for the patch. Instead of buying a lot of the granular micorhizae products and beneficial bacteria sprays, I will be using an Espoma organic fertilizer that has all of those items already in it. Plus I have a lot of composted manure to get on the patch. I did manage to scrounge up some potash and get that applied last fall. We have more drainage ditches to dig to help with the root rot problems. At least we are starting off a lot drier than we did last spring. It is still cold, but the past 2 days have been close to 60 and sunny. Jacob and I will each have 4 pumpkin plants this year. 3 each will use Don Young's modified Christmas tree vine pattern. The others will use John Barlow's spiral flag pattern. We want to give Barlow's idea a fair test, but will keep most of our plants with a proven pattern. We will have 2 gourd patches: the new one we started last year plus the old one that got rested last year. We will also have some watermelons. We will get the melons started soon: the pumpkins and gourds should hit the germination chamber in 10 or 12 days. Sunday, April 19 View Page Jacob and I have started patch preparation. We got a lot of weeds and old vines from last year burned off. We are spreading the manure on our planting sites with a wheelbarrow and rake. Due to the limited amount of manure, we are spreading it in a Christmas tree shape to match the plant growth. None to waste on the weeds. We are turning in under with a fork and adding extra topsoil from the drainage ditch we are digging. We can definitely see the spots that need the better drainage. Weather forecast is for a couple of days in the 50's, warming to the 60's and maybe 70 by Friday. Still running a little cooler than normal so our planting dates may have to be pushed back a couple of days. Saturday, April 25 View Page April 25 is usually my seed starting day, but the weather has been colder than normal. I think I will hold off a couple of days. This April has been drier than normal, but we are getting some rain now. The first thunderstorm of the season. I did get just a little patch work done this morning before I got rained out. Jacob and I have decided how we are going to split up the patch this year. We will each have 3 plants for the Christmas tree pattern and 1 each for the Barlow spiral flag pattern. We have some manure hauled to all planting sites, as well as the long gourd beds and the giant watermelon planting sites. Jacob and I will have sweetcorn, tomatoes, peppers and other crops on last year's pumpkin patch. We are getting into a 2 year rotation to help with disease problems. My wife will be growing herbs around the house. Our daughter will be home more this summer and may try her hand at some gardening as well. Her new dog will help keep the deer, groundhogs, coons and other critters away. Sunday, April 26 View Page Jacob and I have settled on our seed lineup for the year. 547 McWilliams 08 689 McWilliams 06 841 McWilliams 08 1004 Mohr 08 756 Privitera 08 910 Young 07 665 Lovelace 08 350 Grande 07 squash. Backups are 1275.5 Carlson-Petersen 06 and 336 Grande 07 green squash. If we have germination failures we have plenty more good seeds to use. We know that some of the seeds are from pumpkins that didn't get too big, but the good genetics are there. They just didn't make the size for various reasons: herbicide drift, groundhogs, frost, hail, etc. We have confidence that they will do well for us. We will grow an assortment of Attaway, Lovelace and Timm long gourds, and Bhaskaran and Schnicker watermelons. Forecast is for a week of highs in the 60's and lows in the 40's. Hopefully it will warm up after that, so the seeds will hit the pots very soon. Wednesday, April 29 View Page It was a gloomy day in the 60's with rain in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow. I hope it warms up soon, as the soil is still fairly cold. The first seed to start to pop is the 1004 Mohr. I hope that Colorado beauty likes Iowa even better than the east slope of the Rockies. Thursday, April 30 View Page More seeds have popped up. The 547 McWilliams for orange to go along with the 1004 Mohr. Also the 689 McWilliams, and 765 Privitera. 4 up and 6 more to go. Friday, May 1 View Page 910 Young and 1275.5 Carlson-Petersen have sprouted, making 6 so far. That is enough to fill our main patch, but we need 2 more for another spot. If all 10 sprout we will have to search for a place to plant the extras. Friday, May 1 View Page 765 Lovelace has sprouted. All that is left are my 841 and the 2 green squash seeds. I have extras of each to try again if they don't sprout. Monday, May 4 View Page We started long gourd and watermelon seeds over the weekend. This evening, Jacob and i set out 7 pumpkin plants. 4 for Jacob, 3 for me. The green squash and my 841 have not sprouted yet. I started several more 841's but I am afraid they may not be too good. I am debating what else to start and may go with another of Jacob's 547's. That one was the first to sprout and fastest growing of all our plants so far, and has great genetics. We put clear plastic wind screens around our pumpkins and sprinkled garlic powder on them for the beetles. We used the Biotone starter with micorhizae and beneficial bacteria in the planting holes. We will use a little of this at leaf/root nodes and the plants grow. We also got the electric fence fired up. We still need to do a lot of Roundup spraying and tillage, as well as spreading a little more manure. We will be going very light on the chemical fertilizers this year, but will be using compost tea. Jacob and I also re-worked one of our long gourd trellises and tilled up the raised gourd bed. We still have a lot of work to do on our other gourd bed and trellis. We are way behind on our spring work. We still haven't cut any firewood for next winter and have only gotten a start on mowing. The tiller needs servicing before we use it. A late spring and being laid up 6 weeks with kidney stone trouble are the causes. But I am feeling better and getting back into shape. Hopefully this will be the year we reach our goal of 1000# pumpkin, 100# watermelon and 100" gourd. Tuesday, May 5 View Page Light rain this morning. I had a welcome visitor in the germination box this morning. One of my 841's had sprouted. I really wanted to grow this one (3/4 1068 Wallace and 1/4 998 Pukos). In a couple days it should be ready for the patch and our lineup will be complete. Thursday, May 7 View Page Several Bhaskaran and Schnicker watermelon seeds are now up, as well as Attaway and Lovelace long gourd seeds. One of the 841 seeds that I gerninated in paper towels and then placed in the pot is popping up, but the root is coming to the surface as well. I don't know what is going on with that one. Weather has been in low 70's and there is a chance of rain this afternoon. The weekend is supposed to be highs in 60's and lows in 40's. That means I will have to put buckets over my plants to keep them fom freezing in my deep valley. Maybe by Monday the weather will straighten out and stay warm for the rest of the growing season. I have been getting more areas tilled. Both gourd patches are ready, but one trellis needs some repair. I am ready to start planting sweet corn and will put in tomatoes and peppers when it is warm enough. The pumpkins are tilled just a little around the plants and their wind screens. I will spray the weeds with roundup and hold off tilling as long as possible. I want the soil to warm up and send the worms deeper so I don't chop them all up. Friday, May 8 View Page I started sweet corn planting last night. That will stretch out over a couple of weeks so it doesn't all ripen at once. More watermelon and long gourd seeds are germinating. Some are in the outdoor mini greenhouse getting acclimated to the outdoors. I heard a nasty weather report of upper 30's for the weekend, so I need to round up all of the buckets to cover the pumpkins that are in the ground. No more plants will go in the ground until things warm up more. Friday, May 8 View Page Got good news from the doctor yesterday. X-rays showed that the lithotripsy was successful and kidney stone is gone. I'm glad that is over and don't want to go through that again. It looks like I should be in good shape to grow the big ones this year. Monday, May 11 View Page I'm glad we covered the plants last night, as there was a frost this morning. The 841 McWilliams will go in the ground tonight. The long gourds and watermelons will be ready to set out in a few days. It looks like we have seen the last of the frost, but this weeks highs are still only supposed to be in high 60's to low 70's. Thursday, May 14 View Page It is time to set out long gourds before they get root bound in the peat pots. We had a good rain that lasted Tuesday evening through Wednesday night. The bigproblem is the forecast for scattered frost in the area for Sunday morning. That means a certain hard freeze in my valley. We will have to cover plants again. Monday morning also looks like it may frost. Hopefully after that we will finally get to warm weather for good. I'm having trouble with damping off in my Carolina Cross watermelon seedlings. I will have to get some more started tonight. I only have about 3 or 4 to set out and really need more for some backups. Friday, May 15 View Page 100.68" Attaway and 107" Timm long gourds went into the ground Thursday evening. We need to do just a little more patch prep on the second gourd patch before planting the Lovelace gourds. I just hope the weather allows it. It rained Tuesday evening to Wednseday evening, Sunny Thrusday, but it rained Thursday evening. Today, Friday it is supposed to rain until evening. Then we have to get ready for frost on Sunday and possibly Monday. I'm just glad I have Jacob to help with a lot of the heavy work, I don't know what I will do when he goes to college. Sunday, May 17 View Page Saturday was cold and windy. Even in my valley the wind was strong enough to mess up some of my wind shelters. There was one casualty; the 1004 Mohr was snapped off. Thankfully Longmont Pete sent me 2 seeds, so I have another one started. It will be a late start, but as cold as it has been, it won't be that far behind the others. All of the plants survived the morning frost. Jacob wasn't as lucky with his turkey hunting. They just wouldn't come in quite close enough for a shot. Tuesday, May 19 View Page The weather has settled down now. We are looking at highs in 70-'s and low 80's and lows in the 50's fro the next week. The 1004 Mohr backup seed sprouted after just 2 days in the pot. Just as soon as the first true leaf show up it will go into the ground. Wednesday, May 20 View Page We went from frost Sunday morning to near 90 on Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday is supposed to be near 90 and windy, then a week of 70's qith 20-30% chance of rain each day. More normal for late May around here. the 1004 Mohr cot leaves are fully opened, just waiting for that first true leaf to appear before it is planted. The last of the gourd and watermelon plants should hit the soil tonight. About all that is left to plant are the food plots for the deer to lure them away from the pumpkin patch. Sunday, May 24 View Page The replacment 1004 Mohr and tioe final wtermelon are in the patch. To late for any replacements, so we will have to go whti what we have. Total of 8 pumpkins, 5 watermelons and 5 long gourds are in the ground and growing. We got more tilling and work in the drainage ditch done. It is time for a shot of garlic, Aliette and Merit on the pumpkins and time to start brewing up some tea for the plants. Some of the pumpkins are showing signs of injury from the frost just over a week ago but they all should pull through OK. Maybe I can get some pictures posted in a few days. Wednesday, May 27 View Page I got a soil drench of Aliette and Merit on the pumpkins last night before the rain hit. A nice 24 hour soaker of about an inch should get the chemicals activated. Problems with the electric fence as it was not putting out a charge and something ate off 2 pepper plants. Looks like I need to do some repairs tonight. Wednesday, June 3 View Page The plants are looking helathy but small due to the cool weather. It was only 66 for a high today. I started a batch of compost tea tonight. Hopefully the patch will have dried out some when it is ready. I don't want to keep the soil too wet and stimulate the soil diseases this early. I am using a 5 gallon bucket, aquarium bubbler, moleasses, worm castings and a little Bio-tone starter plus. The Boi-tone is supposed to have beneficial bacteria and fungi so I will see if it helps the tea. I also gave the plants a dusting of permethrin for the bugs this evening. I will have Jacob sprinkle on some garlic powder tomorrow. He is out of school now so he will have more patch time, along with getting in shape for cross country and wrestling. Tuesday, June 9 View Page Weather remains fairly cool for this time of year. Wehave received adequate rains and missed the big storms that have gone by to the north and south. Jacob and I re-arranged our wind screens and hoed the pumpkins and watermelons. 6 of the 8 pumpkins have sent out main vines that are nearly on the ground. We put soil under them for support and soil on top to hold them down. The last 2 were the late germination on my 841 and the replacement 1004 Mohr. All look healthy. 2 of the vines are growing 90 degrees off from where we want them but they should be easy to turn. Our electric fence is still shorting out and needs more work. I did fix a couple problem spots, but deer have been getting in the patch. Other garden plants are doing well but we have tremendous weed pressure. Friday, June 12 View Page The weeds keep on coming, but no sign of bugs yet. Jacob gave the plants a good shot of garlic yesterday. Several plants have main vines out and running. I am going to put the first few feet of main in a shallow trench and bury it. Tonight I will put some of the Espoma orgainc starter with beneficial bacteria and fungi in the trenches and work it in the soil. It has been dry the last few days but it looks like we may get a shower this evening. Hopefully I will have some pictures to post soon. Saturday, June 13 View Page This is our main long gourd patch. Jacob helped me build the trellis using steel fence posts and 16' long cattle panels. The gourds can climb up tomato cages until they get tall enough to reach the panels. The soil is Fayette silty clay loam, and being on a flat at the bottom of a hill it has real thick, black topsoil. We then built a raised bed with 2X10's and filled it with black topsoil from the creek bottom, and bagged topsoil and compost from WalMart and Menards. It had been a strawberry patch for a couple of years until weeds took over. Last year was the first year for gourds and it had a lot of manure added. We used some 10-10-10 and some Schultz water soluable tomato food last year. Last fall we added 2 wheel barrow loads of manure and several hundred pounds of giant pumpkin. The only fertilizer this year has been Espoma Bio-Tone Starter plus (all natural). It has received a couple of shots of compost tea. The only artificial fertilizer we plan to use is a foliar feeding that another successful grower recommended. I want to keep the soil biology intact. Saturday, June 13 View Page 105 5/8 Attaway long gourd, photo taken 6/13/09. Saturday, June 13 View Page 111 7/8 Lovelace long gourd had the middle of the patch. Saturday, June 13 View Page 107 Timm long gourd finished out the main gourd patch. Saturday, June 13 View Page Another view of the new gourd patch. We have 2 more long gourds in our old patch. The soil in that patch is not as good (clay and lime) and the site does not get as much sun. Still we have grown gourds over 80" with poorer genetic seeds. That patch will likely get more artifical fertilizer so we can compare it with the new patch and organic fertilizers. The new patch still needs some work. I want to get a thin mulch of grass clippings on it to hold down weeds and preserve moisture. We did set the plants close to the middle of the raised bed so they have more room for the roots to spread out. I plan to do some pruning on the trees in the back (east) so they can get some more morning sunlight. Still they get at least half day direct sun. Last year Marty Schnicker set a new Iowa record in his first attempt at growing long gourds. Dick Stivers also set a new Jones County gourd record. Marc Petersen and Dan Carlson usually have great gourds at Pumpkinfest. We re going all out in 2009, so expect big things from Anamosa in October. Monday, June 15 View Page Jacob and I gave the plants a shot of compost tea this evening. The 910 Young has the first female flower, but it is only about 4' out from the stump. The plants are still growing slowly due to the cool weather, but after Tuesday the forecast is for a week in the 80's. Growth is behind where we want it, but it is still a little ahead of last year. I'm sure we have several plants with 1000# potential in the patch. We need to get things dried out so we can do some more weeding. It is really getting green where we don't want it. Wednesday, June 17 View Page I did some cultivation to thin out the huge crop of weeds. All plants now have main vines down and running. The 1004 Mohr has bee a problem all year. The first one brokw off in the wind. The second one started out with a double vine running 180 degrees opposite where it should have gone. But it is turning on its own and may already be reverting back to a single vine. If the weather and growth holds on we should have decent size plants for a first week of July polination. The long gourds have reached to top of the tomato cages and are ready to start climbing the cattle panel trellis. Friday, June 19 View Page We had rain Wednesday night and Thursday morning. I went to the patch Thursday evening to bury some vines, a chore I neglected on Wednesday. That is beacause of predicted storms and I want to anchor the plants down. The Privitera pumpkin had already been tipped over a bit. It grew with the main going in the wrond direction and as we are training it to go where whe want it, it keeps curling back the wrong way. Now it is Friday morning and we have a big storm headed our way. It has already produced quarter size hail and 80 mph winds. All we can do is hope and pray that the patch survives. Friday, June 19 View Page We got lucky and the big storm turned and went north of us. We just got a little rain and a little breeze. Forecast is for a week of 80+ weather,w hich should really get things growing. Monday, June 22 View Page We got lucky with the storms again on Sunday. A line of slow moving supercells with heavy rain, small hail and tornadoes set up to the west in the afternoon. But they split up with some going to the north and some going to the south. We just had off and on sprinkles during the day with no hail or wind. But we have had enough rainy days and warm weather in the past week that conditions are ripe for a pythium outbreak. The plants already had a root drench of Aliette. Starting this week they will get regular foliar treatments. It seemed to work OK last year; I just need to buy some more to get through the season. I will take care of the spraying, Jacob will do a bigger share of the weeding. Those weeds just love this weather. Tuesday, June 23 View Page The plants are surviving the heat wave so far, since the ground is still pretty moist. Pumpkins got some more vines buried with a shot of the orgainc fertilizer with miocorhizae. I need to get another bag of that as it seems to be working very well. Plants all have nice dark green color and are growing like crazy. The Privitera plant has straightened out and is growing where we want it. The 1004 Mohr is still a double vine and that even developed a kink. I will just let it grow out and see what happens. All pumpkins got a foliar shot of Aliette and some weeding close to the plants. We really need to get more weeding done and the space between plants is quite green. Tuesday, June 23 View Page We had a storm come through early this evening. I got out and made another Merit application on the pumpkins so the rain would water it in. I go with smaller applications and follow the plants out as they grow. They also need another shot of garlic to keep the cucumber beetles out. The long gourds are starting to get some leaf problems starting at the bottom. We had a little of this last year. So I gave them an Aliette root drench before the rain. They will get sprayed with Daconil when we have a couple of dry days in the forecast so it doesn't get washed right off. Thursday, June 25 View Page Last night we hoed, dug trenches for secondaries, added the BioTone starter, buried secondaries. Jacob popped off a couple of females that were way too close to the stump on the 910 Young. Jacob's 547 McWilliams is still the most aggressive growing plant in the patch, but now the 689 McWilliams is close behind. The 1275 Carlson-Peterson is looking good with a lot of secondaries but smaller leaves. The rest are looking OK considering the cold first month in the ground. The heat we are getting now along with the ample soil moisture has them growing very fast. The only thing wilting in the heat is me. The long gourd vines are approaching 6' long now, but the leaf disease has me worried. I will spray dacoil within the next 2 days. It starts at the ground level and works its way up, so it probably is smoething in the soil. Hopefully the Aliette drench will help too. Tuesday, June 30 View Page Pumpkins got a shot of tea last night. Weeds are a problem but we are ahead of them for a change. All pumpkins have female flowers that will pollinate in less than a week. The 1004 Mohr is the problem child this year. The double vine grows like a roller coaster, looping up and down. And it kinks at each loop. Iset double females at one node, one on each side. I'm not sure how to handle this one other than to just let it do what it wants. The long gourds have the first male flowers blooming. Weather has turned cool again. High today only forecast for 71 with clouds and wind. Wednesday, July 1 View Page The long gourds this morning. The first flush of male flowers bloomed 2 days ago. They still have a lot of growing to do, but they look a whole lot better than last year at this time. Wednesday, July 1 View Page View of the pumpkin patch from the hill. In the center of the picture is the 1004 Mohr on the top and the 665 Lovelace on the bottom. You can see that my sweet corn and drainage ditches need some serious weeding. Wednesday, July 1 View Page In the center top is the 547 McWilliams 08, and the bottom is the 689 McWilliams 06. These home grown seeds are doing well this year, and we hope they reach the potential of their genetics. Thursday, July 2 View Page Last night I sprayed the pumpkins with Bifenthrin and dusted the mains with Permethrin. I mowed all around the electric fence to stop the grass from shorting it out. The 689 McWilliams should be ready to pollinate this morning but there is a shortage of males for the planned cross. Thursday, July 2 View Page I pollinated the 765 Privitera this morning with the 1275.5 Carlson-Petersen. 5 lobe female about 9' out. It is not in a good position and we may not keep it if we get another set in reasonable time. Pollinated the 689 Mcwilliams with the 841 McWilliams. 4 lobe femate 14' out. Very large lobes on this one. I will have another pumpkin to pollinate tomorrow. This is 11 day earlier start than last year during the monsoon. The 841 looked a little wilted this afternoon but perked up before dark. It is in a sandy spot and it hasn't rained for over a week. I gave it 8 gallons of water and 2 tbsp of 17-19-29. It was not growing as fast as it should and looking just a tiny bit yellow. I won't water the others until they need it. I don't want to start up the pythium problem and I want them to send out long roots looking for water. The main long gourd patch may be in trouble, with a brown rust fungus. I noticed the tall weeds near by have a rust too. We had a small problem with this late last year. I gave them a spray of daconil tonight and they will soon get foliar Aliette. We may have to move them to a spot where they get better air circulation next year. Friday, July 3 View Page Pollinated the 665 Lovelae this morning with the 547 McWilliams. Beautiful 5 lobe female 15' from the stump. Male flowers are a premium this year, but we have enough to get the job done. Sunday, July 5 View Page It was cool, cloudy and rainy most of the day Saturday. The rain wasn't enough to do a lot of good, as there were dry spots under some pumpkin leaves. 2 females that I thought would be ready today were not quite ready. Maybe tomorrow. The 1004 Mohr main vine blew apart in the past 24 hours. Huge split right down the middle. It was setting 2 pumpkins at each node, one on each side. I think I will try to train one of the back secondaries as a new main to try to salvage something from this one. I hope to have pictures soon. Monday, July 6 View Page Swapped pollen between the 689 and 841 McWilliams. 689 is a nice 5 lobe about 16' out. The first one on this plant had wierd shaped lobes and may not be kept. The 841 is a 5 lobe about 10' out on the main. The 841 is struggling and a small plant. It was a late germination and the planting spot is a little sandy. It is where the creek used to pump out sand in big floods before the big pond was built upstream. I have been bucket watering it when is shows signs of wilting. I also pollinated a female on a secondary on the 547 McWilliams with the 1275.5 Carlson-Petersen. The 547 is a very nice plant with lots of secondaries. A female on the main should open tomorrow. Monday, July 6 View Page The 665 Lovelace pumpkin with one pollinated on the main. This has been a very well behaved plant. Monday, July 6 View Page A blowout on the double main of the 1004 Mohr. But it gets worse. Monday, July 6 View Page The double main on the 1004 blew wide open with a split at least a foot long. Monday, July 6 View Page Double females on the double main. I will not grow these but try to get something on a normal secondary. There are multiple cracks in the main between the flowers and the stump. It grew wavy and cracked at the top of each wave. Monday, July 6 View Page The 689 McWilliams (1200 Trumm crossed with a selfed 1446 Eaton). It has 2 females polinated so far. Monday, July 6 View Page Jacob's 547 McWilliams. One pollinated on a secondary, and one about ready to go on the main. I use the fiberglass electric fence posts to direct the mains and put in S curves at the pumpkins. They work like a charm. Monday, July 6 View Page The first female on the 1275.5 Carlson-Petersen aborted at pea size. You can barely see it in the middle. But there is another one looking good about 15 ' out from the stump. Monday, July 6 View Page The 841 McWilliams has started wilting in the heat of the day. It is in a sandy spot and it hasn't rained for a while. I have been giving it water morning and evening. I am trying to grow this in the Barlow spiral flag pattern. The main is on the right and a secondary on the left. The problem with this pattern is trying to get one set on on the outside of the spiral where the longest secondaries will be. If I had hoop houses to get a quicker start it might work, But with my tight budget and cold valley, I will likely stick with the Christmas tree pattern. Monday, July 6 View Page A female about ready to polinate on the 910 Young. A spiral flag pattern and it is on the wrong side of the vine. We will see how things go amd maybe have to keep this one . Tuesday, July 7 View Page Pollinations on July 7: 547 McWilliams, 5 lobe 15' out X 765 Privitera 765 Privitera, 4 lobe 15' out X 1275.5 Carlson-Petersen 1275.5 C-P, 5 lobe, 12' out on secondary, X 547 McWilliams 910 Young 5 lobe 15' out, X 547 McWilliams 841 McWilliams, 5 lobe 6' out on secondary X 689 McWilliams Wednesday, July 8 View Page 2 pollinations on secondaries for backups in a light rain this morning. I feel good that 6 of 8 plants are decent size and 7 are already pollinated. Last year plants were tiny and we didn't start pollination until July 13. We need a lot more rain: it is still powder dry 1/2 inch below the ground surface. Wednesday, July 15 View Page I finally got a controlled pollination on the 1275.5 Carlson-Petersen this morning. A 5 lobe 21' out crossed with the 547 McWilliams. We got another big shot of rain overnight. The patch soil is now totally saturated. so I will have to move up the next Aliette application a couple of days. We have 2 basketball size pumpkins going on the 665 Lovelace and the 689 McWilliams. But the 689 is starting to develop a split lengthwise on the stem. I may have to take a later pollination if it gets worse. Thursday, July 23 View Page Measurements on 665 Lovelace X 547 McWilliams: Cir 60 ss 44 ee 45 total = 149" est. 80 pounds. Day 17 Measurements on 689 McWilliams X 841 McWilliams: Cir 69 ss 45 ee 45 total 149" est. 95 pounds. Day 17 Not as far along as I would like, but considering cold wet weather it is OK. Most of the others have pumpkins set on the main. It is too early to tell on the 1275.5 Carlson-Petersen but it does have one going on a back secondary. The 1004 Mohr has one set about 5' out on a secondary off the messed up main vine. Weather has not geen good: 3" of rain Tuesday. Clouds and mist most of the day on Wednesday, Thursday was sunny and high 70's. Cooler than normal but we will take it. Forecast for Friday is low 80's severe storms and them back to the low 70's for the weekend. Hopefully it will warm up soon so these pumpkins can grow like they should. Jacob is enjoying the heat in New Orleans with the church youth group at the Lutheran Youth gathering. He has done patch chores for me when I have had to be gone so now I pay him back. But he will get put to work next week. Sunday, July 26 View Page 689 McWilliams measurements cir 81, ss 53 ee 52 total 186" est 146#. 17# per day gain. This is the best start we have ever had, and I hope it keeps on like this. 665 Lovelace cir 69 ss 50 ee 49 total 168" est 111#. 10# per day gain. 910 Young cir 54 ss 40 ee 40 total 134" est. 61#. It has been very rainy the last 2 weeks and some plants are looking a little yellow. They got a light foliar feeding: 2 scooms of Miracle Gro Rose food 18-24-16 in 2 gallons of water for 7 plants. I went very light on the 689, as it has already blown up 1 small pumpkin on a secondary and another small one is splitting. On plants like this I like to keep at least 1 shock absorber to keep the main fruit from blowing up. I started culling pumpkins on the 665 Lovelace. I took one off today, with 2 more to go. All of them are around 40# and are holding back the main fruit. Jacob will be back from the youth gathering in New Orleans tomorrow, so he will get some weeding chores. We had them under control until the rain, now the entire garden is over-run with weeds. Tuesday, July 28 View Page I applied fungicides, herbicide and foliar fertilizer last evening, then the sky broke open and dumped 3/4" in just a few minutes. I let Jacob have the night off after his long bus ride and no sleep. Some plants are looking light green from all the rain and weed competition, so they got some more 24-8-16 and molasses foilar applied tonight. Jacob has inherited the foliar feeding job: just a little bit every night to keep the plants going. If it ever dries out we will brew more tea and give them some root drenches to supercharge the soil. New measurements: 689 McWilliams is 204" ott, 189# at day 22. 21.5 # per day average. Leaves are a little sparse near the first part of the main, but the secondaries have filled out nicely. 655 Lovelace is 187" ott, 149# at day 22. 19# per day average. We removed a 40# from a secondary tonight, one more to remove in a couple of days. This is the best looking plant we have. 910 Young is 153" ott, 86# at day 21. 12.5 # per day average gain. This plant is a little small, but if we get decent weather I expect it to take off quickly. Jacob has to make some decisions soon on his 547. It has a nice pumpkin on a secondary, and a smaller one on the main. We are not sure which one to go with. The 1275.5 Carlson-Petersen is aonther one with a good pumpkin on a secondary and a small football on the main. The 755 Privitera and 841 McWilliams are smaller plants that have sets on the main. The 1004 Mohr is the craziest looking plant ever. The ribbon main tries to set 2 to 5 pumpkins at every other leaf node. It has the biggest tallest leaves of any plant but only one long secondary. That one has a small open pollination on the secondary and a couple on the main. The rest of the secondaries are very short. Becasue of the bright orange trait, I will let this one go for big jack-o-lanterns. Thursday, July 30 View Page Rain during the night and again this afternoon. Weather is still cool: so far the coldest July on record in Iowa. 689 McWilliams is still gaining 21# a day, now at 231#. 655 Lovelace is gaining 17.5 per day, now 184#. 910 Toung is gaining 14# per day, now at 114#. Took measurements on the 1275,5 Carlson-Petersen fruit on the secondary, now at est. 97#. We are having trouble with the fruits on the main on this one, so we may end up keeping the secondary pumpkin. I can't wait to see what these babies can do if we get somewhat normal temperatures. Saturday, August 1 View Page August started cool with high in upper 70's. 689 McWilliams is picking up speed, gain 58# in past 2 days. Now 289# at day 26. 655 Lovelace has slowed to 15 per day, now 214# at day 26. 910 Young is up to 15# per day, now 144# at day 25. Secondary pumpkin on 1275.5 Carlson-Petersen added 11# per day, noiw 118# at day 24. We were debating on which pumpkin to keep on the 547 McWilliams: the one on the main or the bigger one on a secondary. The main pumpkin decided for us with a blossom end split. IOt was growing deformed and the one on the sceondary has better shape. It is now 118# at day 26. Wednesday, August 5 View Page 689 McWilliams is still slightly ahead of the 1200# benchmark, gaining in the low 20's for the past 9 days and picking up steam. I hope we can keep this up for the rest of August without a blowout, as this is our best start ever. 655 Lovelace and 910 Young are gaining weight almost as fast, but with much better shape and color. The 755 Privitera pumpkin on the main split the stem, so we will go with one on a secondary. 1257.5 Carlson-Petersen main fruit is small and misshappen, going with secondary on that one. 841 McWilliams is definitely not doing well. Jacob and I are continuing with the foliar feedings, adding a little garlic powder to the spray. You sure can smell it and I have only found 1 cucumber beetle all season. Watermelons are very weedy but getting a few youhg fruits going. Some long gourds have set, but the fungus problem on the leaves is spreading rapidly. We have a couple more nice days ahead, then we are due for hot weather over the weekend. I started another batch of compost tea last night. The weather is finally dry enough that we can apply tea without drowning the plants. Tuesday, August 11 View Page Rain for past several days. Temps are almost up to normal but growth is still lagging behind. Mopst average 13 to 16 pounds per day. Estimated weights today" 689 McWilliams = 448#, 655 Lovelace = 407#. 910 Young = 322#. 1275.5 Carlson-Petersen = 279#. 547 McWilliams = 216#. A little over 7 weeks to go, so I think I will pick up on the fertilizer, adding a little more K. Hopefully a couple still have 1000# potential. Something started chewing on my 689, so I need to head right out to the patch with more fox urine to scare the critter away. Today is Jacob's 18th birthday, and we registered him for his last day of high school. He will have one more summer of growing before heading off to college, leaving me with all of the garden chores after that. They grow up too fast. Saturday, August 15 View Page Pumpkin growth has slowed down despite the best growing weather of the season. Our best plants are growing just 15 to 16 pounds per day and the leaves are not dark green. I think that all the rain has leached the nitrogen out of the soil and the other nutrients are running low as well. I changed my foliar feedings to add a little more potash. Plus with heavy rains forecast I spread some granular 10-10-10 around the plants. Hopefully the rain will work it in and give the plants a boost without blowing anything up. Our long gourds keep losing leaves,and the new leaves aren't growing very well. The fungus us spreading to the fruits themselves. Our longest gourd broke off about a foot below the stem, around 66" long. We have a couple more growing, but they are getting fat instead of long. Weeds are taking over the watermelon patch. Just too much rain in July. Sunday, August 16 View Page At day 40 my best pumpkin has slowed down and matches my previous personal best 40 day weight of 507#. At least it got an 8 day earlier start this year so I can hopefully pass 841# amd maybe even break 1000# if growth somehow speeds up or stays constant through September Pumpkin leaves were showing white residue from the foliar feedings, so I stopped that. Hopefully the overnight rain washed them off and got some of the granular fertilizer in the soil. If it ever dries off I will do some soil drenches. At least I am pleased that the root rot problem has not shown up this year. Regular Aliette applications did the job despite the rains. The cucumber beetles finally showed up on the 1275.5 Carlson-Petersen. With heavy rain forecast within hours I didn't waste any contact insecticide. I will rely on the Merit to kill the little buggers and spray bifenthrin after the rain passes. No pictures of the patch: I'm embarassed over all the weeds, but what can you do when it rains every third day for 6 weeks? Saturday, August 22 View Page Saturday was the first sunny day in the past 5. The rain just won't quit and the garden soil is soaked. It ended up with my dreaded root rot disease finally showing up. I found one secondary on the 910 Young looking sick, and the roots were all rotted off. So I amputated that vine and gave it a good shot of Aliette. Our other good plants also got a shot of Ailette. It has a great orange pumpkin growing close to 14#a day. The 689 McWilliams is still gaining around 15# a day. I will soon cut off the shock absorber pumpkin, which is around 100# now so everything can go to the main fruit. The vines are all terminated. The 655 Lovelace seems to have stopped growing. I won't give up on the 655, as it has a great shape and bright orange color. It will get another shot of fertilizer soon. We are letting 2 pumpkins grow on the 1275.5 Carlson-Petersen, as they are on secondaries on opposite sides of a huge plant. Never could get one set on the main. Saturday, August 22 View Page Saturday was the first sunny day in the past 5. The rain just won't quit and the garden soil is soaked. It ended up with my dreaded root rot disease finally showing up. I found one secondary on the 910 Young looking sick, and the roots were all rotted off. So I amputated that vine and gave it a good shot of Aliette. Our other good plants also got a shot of Ailette. It has a great orange pumpkin growing close to 14#a day. The 689 McWilliams is still gaining around 15# a day. I will soon cut off the shock absorber pumpkin, which is around 100# now so everything can go to the main fruit. The vines are all terminated. The 655 Lovelace seems to have stopped growing. I won't give up on the 655, as it has a great shape and bright orange color. It will get another shot of fertilizer soon. We are letting 2 pumpkins grow on the 1275.5 Carlson-Petersen, as they are on secondaries on opposite sides of a huge plant. Never could get one set on the main. Thursday, August 27 View Page It looks like the rest of the season might be a washout. The rain just won't quit. The gourds are half dead from all of the fungal diseases. The watermelons have been taken over by weeds: it has been too muddy to get in to pull them. The 655 Lovelace stopped completely and now the leaves on the main are all turning yellow. The 689 McWilliams is growing slowly and liiely won't make 800. I am hoping we don't lose more of the vines on the 910 Young, as it was a small plant to begin with. I hope it will make 700. Our best hope might be the 1275.5 Carlson-Petersen. It is still growing on a fairly healthy plant. But if the rain doesn't stop there will be no way we can get them out of the patch. It is just too muddy. Thursday, August 27 View Page The season is over. The torrential rains wouldn't quit today and Jones County, Iowa is a flooded mess. The town of Monticello is nearly cut off from the rest of civilization. The creek past our weighoff site in Anamosa blew out the remaining historic stone retaining walls and undermined a street. Emergency workers are preparing for a very fast, high flood on the Wapsipinicon River throughout the county. Creeks have washed out gravel roads all over the county. A large dam upstream from our patch overtopped and blew out the emergency spillway. I suspect management problems with the dam, but I can't comment any further at this time. The deluge flooded our patch. When I got home all of our pumpkins were floating. It will take at least 3 totally dry weeks before we could hope to get any out of the patch. It is doubtful if anything will survive to the weighoff. Anyway, our tomatoes are lost. At least we got around 60 quarts canned before the flood. We can't sell any of the jack-o-lantern pumpkins that were in the flood water (some of the water ran off a dairy feedlot, yuck!) The electric fence is down and shorted out: hopefully it didn't blow out the charger. At least it should have drowned any mice in the patch (you have to look on the bright side) I will post a picture of the carnage as soon as I find my download cable. That will be my final diary of the season, unless a miracle occurrs and we get something to the weighoff. I will try to post some photo gallery pictures of the weighoff, as I am expecting some big things in October. Best of luck to the rest of the growers. Hopefully we took all of the bad luck and everyone else gets a personal best!! Thursday, September 3 View Page This is my 655 Lovelace after the flood, estimated 450#. It had stopped growing before the flood, probably because of all the rain and wet soil. It had such great shape and color that I had to remove the seeds yesterday. It was pollinated with Jacob's 547 from last year. That one was the best orange color ever, and it grew orange pumpkins this year. Thursday, September 3 View Page This is what is left of the pumpkin on Jacob's 547 after a log in the flood water knocked a hole in it. It wasn't going to make great size but it had great color. He just couldn't get anything set on the main vine on this one. Thursday, September 3 View Page This is my 689 after the flood. I think it has stopped growing just shy of 600#. Maybe it will recover, but I have my doubts. The leaves are all bent over and covered with silt and the soil is extremely saturated. I doubt if it will last until the weighoff. Thursday, September 3 View Page This is the 910 Young after the flood. It is still growing slowly. It was on a slightly higher spot in the patch, but it had already contracted the root rot problem before the flood. Thursday, September 3 View Page This is the 1275.5 Carlson-Petersen after the flood. Despite being on about the lowest spot in the patch, it was still growing around 8# per day at last measurement. Maybe it will have a chance to make something presentable. It at least had the biggest plant of any in the patch. Thursday, September 3 View Page I don't know if my first flood picture got through as it just got a blank screen after posting. Just in case it didn't here is a closer picture of the patch on August 27. The bright orange pumpkins in the foreground are from the 655 Lovelace; one on the main and one that grew on a severed secondary for the genetics. Under the tarp is the 689 McWilliams. In the background on the high spot is the 910 Young. Maybe next year will be better. Friday, September 11 View Page We might not be totally without something to show at Pumpkinfest. After the deluge we have had 15 straight dry days without rain. The 910 Young seems to have stopped growing, but the 1275.5 Carlson-Petersen and the 689 McWilliams showed slight gains over the past 6 dyas. They are now at estimated 523# and 611#. Not a personal best for either of us, but after knee-deep raging flood water it isn't too bad. I have already started patch prep for next year. One spot that was in sweetcorn and higher ground has been mowed off, covered with 6 wheel barrow loads of grass clippings and tilled. I am widening and deepening the drainage ditches so I can keep them mowed, make more capacity to pass flood water, and to raise the patches. I prefer drought to floods any day. I can always pump water to the plants but can't stop a flood. Wednesday, September 16 View Page I learned some hard lessons this year. The pumpkins have to stay on the highest part of the patch, and that is getting raised up. And the drainage ditches are being enlarged. Hopefully we won't get flooded out again. Since money is tight, the work is getting done with shovel, wheelbarrow and tiller. I sure wish I could afford to hire a skid loader or back hoe for a few hours! I also learned that I need to keep the fertility up better. My plants were on a 1200+ growth rate for 25 days, but then the rains hit. The nitrogen must have leached out, and the growth slowed way down. So far on one spot for 2 plants I have tilled in 11 wheelbarrow loads of grass clippings along with the sweet corn stalks and weeds that grew on it. Around 20 wheelbarrow loads of good black topsoil have been added along with the soil that is coming out of the ditches. I should have a very thick layer of black soil. It will get some fertilizer added and a whole bunch of cow manure. Hopefully there will be enough nutrients to finish the season next year. I did learn that my insect control program is working. No vine borer damage and I only saw 6 or 8 cucumber beetles all season. My disease control efforts are working, with only slight signs of the root rot problem after 6 weeks of rain. We are just keeping our fingers crossed that we have something to show on October 3. Jacob has a chance at beating his personal best if his 1275.5 heeps growing and adding weight. I know mine will be at least 200# less than less year, if it survives. Good luck to everyone at the upcoming weighoffs. I plan to post a few photos from the Anamosa Pumpkinfest. Hopefully we will get that world record that our growers have worked so hard for. Wednesday, September 23 View Page Next year's patch preparation is progressing, and I need to speed it up. Yesterday I found out I need knee surgery. Nothing too serious, just bone spurs and maybe some cartilage damage. Doctor said it is best to fix it now so it doesn't get worse. Maybe I can get Jacob to repay some of the patch chores I did for him last year when he had his knee surgeries. Anyway, we will be growing on a higher part of the patch and have that raised up some with some flood channels cut deeper. So maybe we won't get flooded out again. My pumpkin is still hanging in there with no signs of rot yet. It won't win anything but I still want something to enter so I can support the other growers with my entry fee. Jacob's pumpkin is still growing slowly and getting some color to it. He might even make a new personal best. But just wait until next year; we expect to have something huge growing right here in Anamosa. Thursday, October 1 View Page With 2 days of rain forecast, a big hill to get out of the pumpkin patch, and just a 2 wheel drive truck, we decided to load up on Wednesday evening. My pumpkin was the first to be lifted and was probmtly set back down. As expected a chunk of the bottom fell off and slime leaked out. With no growth since the August 27 flood I anticipated this. My next biggest pumpkin was less than 200# so no entry for me this year. Jacob's big pumpkin on the 1275.5 Carlson-Petersen was in great shape, as it gained over 100# after the flood. If it goes heavy it will be a new personal best for him. He debated on what one to take for an exhibition pumpkin and settled on his 910 Young. It is nice shaped and right orange. Jacob has one small watermelon and one short gourd to show this year. We are eagerly anticipating the arrival of Don Young's ibg pumpkin. The last time I didn't have anything to show, Don grew the 1662 so I hope that charm works for him again. And I have a feeling that several other growers have some monsters hiding out in their patches. Good luck to everyone! Saturday, October 3 View Page My son Jacob with his exhibition pumpkin 511.5#. He did triple duty for Pumpkinfest this year: growing for the weighoff, weighoff helper with the rest of the wrestling team and marching in the Anamosa High School band in the parade. Saturday, October 3 View Page Jacob with his personal best 568.5 grown from a 1275.5 Carlson-Petersen seed. At least it is his best one that made it to the scales. A few years agh he had one nearly twice as big go down 1 week before the weighoff. Next summer may be his last for a while as he enters college. But I bet he will go all out and try for a ride on the parade float. Tuesday, October 6 View Page Some unsung heroes of our weighoff in Anamosa. Maquoketa Valley REC donates the use of a forklift, John Dirks is the very skilled lift operator, and the Anamosa HBigh School wrestling team supply the muscle power to get our pumpkins to the scales. Tuesday, October 6 View Page Event organizer Greg Norlin supervising the wrestlers as they prepare to wiegh the first pumpkin of the day. This one is the 700.5# grown by first time grower Obie Wagner of rural Anamosa. Tuesday, October 6 View Page Don Young and the wrestlers carefully guiding the 1622 to the scales while a huge crowd watches. They switched to a bigger scale after Don's 1662# almost didn't fit 2 years ago. Tuesday, October 27 View Page Fall patch work is done for now. I had my left knee scoped and am on crutches for a while. Jacob is on deer population control until mid January, when he isn't busy with wrestling. We still might a load or two of manure. I can drive to get it but Jacob will have to shovel it off the truck. Here is wishing everyone a personal best for next season! Sunday, November 15 View Page I thought that my fall patch prep was over with my knee surgery. But I am recovering faster than I expected and the weather is holding out a little better than normal for November in eastern Iowa. I got a whole truckload of well compacted leaves for the patch this afternood. I got them shoved off the truck and covered up for the night. Hopefully I will have enough light after work tomorrow so I can spread them and chop them up with the mower. They are all going on 2 planting sites for my 2 best prospects for next year. I hope to get one or two loads of manure to add as well in the next week or so. Monday, December 7 View Page Winter is finally here. Jacob's final high school wrestling season has started. There is a couple inches of frost in the ground and the ponds are frozen. We got a little over an inch of snow last night, just a taste of what is to come. Forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday is a blizzard watch, up to 15" of snow, possible thundersnow, below zero windchils, sustained winds of 40 with gusts to 50 or 60, whiteout conditions, deep drifts, trees going down from combination of snow and wind, possible power outages. Winter in Iowa: some people like it but I could do without it.