Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 91 Entries. Tuesday, January 1 View Page Happy new yr everyone. I hope all your wishes come true this yr. I cant wait to figure out what it is I'm growing and with 15 yards of compost now sitting pretty in the patch and of course our elephant poop mix I'm really hoping we both go big this yr. We had a great holiday but I am so ready to plant and grow again. We can only go bigger now that we have the right stuff in the garden so watch out 08 the sisters are going big. Grow em big everyone and again happy new yrs to you and yours from me and mine LOL. Thursday, May 1 View Page Hi all its been so long since I have last wrote in this thing but I will do better this yr. With Shawn in cubscouts now and Me as pack 380's official cubmaster I have been just so busy. Shawn is in soccer now too so things are busy busy.We go to Disneyworld every yr now so I am always planning our trips.This yr we will be going in Sept as I got a deal on free dining so we will be eating for free all around Disneyworld.I have come to be very smart with planning and vacations and such so if anyone has any questions about The world just email me anytime. Thursday, May 1 View Page I am changing my screen name so everyone knows curvy1 will now be Disneycrazy. Thursday, May 1 View Page Ok this yr I have started in there pots 4 plants I have backups ready but hopefully this yr will be better then last yr and we won't need the backups and below are what I am growing 1023 Marchand 06 692 Pukos 05 725 Holland 842 Mitchell Thanks to Becky giving me watermelon seeds I will also be trying my hand and growing one plant and the seed is from the 72.2 Privitera thanks for the seeds everyone. I will be posting pics soon but good luck growing everyone. We need to till still but the compost has been sitting all winter in the garden. The seeds where all put in there pots today and hopefully they will be popping up soon. I cannot wait for this season to finally begin and see if that 15 yards we hauled by hand will make a diff in the size of our babies. We bought merit and will be laying that down soon so hopefully I wont be as obssessed with the SVB's as I was last yr. I am also going to grow cucumbers and tomatoes yummm. Have a good season all and grow em big Monday, May 5 View Page Shawn got his first holy communion on Sat and as you can see he was very proud Monday, May 5 View Page Saying a prayer for mom to grow em big this yr Monday, May 5 View Page The pumpkins all lined up in the germination chamber. Sadly the Puko's and the Holland failed to germinate for me. I have now planted a 920.5 Tanner 05 and a 781.5 Frantz 05 the color on this pumpkin is the best so hopefully I get that same color for the pumpkin I grow. I checked the Marchand and the Mitchell and there pushing up so they should be popping out of there soil any time now. Becky burned up our tiller but she will tell you all about it in her diary funny story behind it too. Now we are looking to rent a tiller to finish the job she started. Pumpkins go in the ground May 15 as we must be certain the weather holds before we put our babies out. Good luck to everyone and I will be writing back as soon as I see some green. Saturday, May 10 View Page Hi all my plants have come up and 3/4 are now in the greenhouse waiting till the 15th to plant them in the garden.The tanner sadly never germinated for me so I am now growing the 874 Leland 05 and it has signs of pushing up the dirt so maybe a day or two more and I will have all 4 of my plants ready for the 15th. We rented a tiller and tilled but the thing gave up on us and died and would not work again so we had to take it back. With gas prices being so high we did not want another one as thats more driving just to return the thing. A quarter of my patch is not tilled but nothing a little work and big pitchfork cant handle.I am growing tomatos,cucumbers and watermelons this yr so we will see how well they do with the compost we added.We have to add clear plastic as we have some weeds feeding on our patch and I have heard clear plastic will burn them up so they wont come back.I cannot wait to see how big these plants get but right now I have to go have a good week all and hope everyone is doing well. Wednesday, May 21 View Page I will be taking pics soon but heres the latest news. Three out of four plants are in the ground and doing well. We had a small frost scare but nothing buckets could not protect.Everything looks great and now I am just waiting for this last seed to sprout which it has not yet after 5 days so it looks like I will be looking for a new seed to plant. The Marchand,Frantz and Mitchell are doing Awesome already they already have 4-5 leaves each. Well its time for bed but I will be taking pics soon to show everyone the plants I have in the garden. Good luck everyone and again Grow em Big Tuesday, June 3 View Page Been taking care of the plants but with this weather we are having its slow growing. I have 3 plants growing in the garden . I have one plant up in the germination chamber as all other seedlings I planted failed on me. I am now growing once again the 1000.4 Lishness. This plant did good for me as it grew the 262 Michaels with no compost I would love to see what it does not with all that black gold it the patch. Ok so the biggest plant in the garden right now is The Marhand and its a beauty. Last yr it was my favorite plant and it was Beckys back up plant she gave to me. I love this plant and its going strong. If the weather warms up we might just be racing to the 10 foot mark. Will see what happens in the weeks to come but I wanted to tell everyone how I am doing and to wish everyone a great season. Tuesday, June 3 View Page This is the 842 Mitchell.Hardy plant catching up to the Marchand in every way. This plant was planted on May 15 so it about 3 weeks old. Tuesday, June 3 View Page The Marchand the biggest plant I have growing. This plant might just get me the giant I have always wanted. Its a perfect strong plant with no problems. It was the first to germinate and I cannot wait to get a pumpkin set on this baby. Tuesday, June 3 View Page Last but not least the 781 Frantz the runt of the litter but a healthy looking plant this plant was my backup plant and its doing really well. Hopefully it grows like its Parent as that was one nice looking picture. Tuesday, June 3 View Page Last but not least the Lishness I will have to take a pic of it but right now I am respecting its privacy. It has asked me not to take any photos of it until it has its first true leaf. I listen to all my plants. Have a good season everyone hopefully the weather gets warmer ad the plants begin vining soon. GROW EM BIG!! Tuesday, June 10 View Page Well the weather has gone from cold to hot and humid with alot of rain. I had planted green beans but the bunnies ate the heads off my plants so now there just bean stalks with no leaves. I am still growing cucumbers and there doing really well.The pumpkins are doing good The Lishness is picking up steam and has been growing faster then any other plant at its age. My biggest plant is the Marchand followed by the Mitchell but the Frantz is the first plant I have that is laying down getting ready to run. All 4 of my plants are in the ground and now its just wait and see. I will be applying merit as soon as they get a little older and hopefully that stops the buggies from ruining my season. I will be taking pics as soon as the plants get a little bigger. In other news my lovely sister decided to play monster truck madness with her truck. She did not check behind her to see if my car was behind her truck and backed up right over my hood of my car. The only thing that stopped her from driving right over my little car was the noise her truck made when it was crunching my cars hood.All is well here in pumpkin growing land and now we just have to find away to de weed our patch as weeds are coming up faster then we can count. I might lay black plastic again to kill the weeds or maybe buy one of those torches to burn the weeds. I hope you all grow em big and I will write back soon have a good one and enjoy this wacky weather we are having Tuesday, June 17 View Page The Mitchell laying down its vine and getting ready to take off. The blue stuff is one of those easy set pools the big ones with the inflatable ring for a top. It got turned into mickey chow over the winter in our shed so we cut it up. We are using the huge pieces as weed killers. NO LIGHT,NO WEEDS it works. We move the pieces around after the grass under it is dead. Tuesday, June 17 View Page The Marchand in all its glory growing just fine also looking to vine out soon. Tuesday, June 17 View Page The Lishness sadly I might have to pull this plant as it grew just fine but then the main stump area just twisted and split on me. I think all this rain did it in but I will see if it can recover at all as I would hate to pull one of my favorite plants. I can't tell you what the marks on it are from. We had rabbits that chewed all my bush bean plants to stubs. The bunnies have not touched my cucumbers yet or my pumpkins. As for pests I totally and utterly give up on that. We spent the money and got the merit only to put it in our garage and when I went to go find it to get it on the plants guess what? Its not there the Merit our 65 dollars worth of SVB killing magic is gone!!! I could not fathom it and I have searched everywhere for it as its a bad chemical just to lose. Now I am out of money,out of time,out of luck and worse yet going out of mind. I will get some kind of buggy protection on my plants but it wont be merit as unless the blue fairy comes up and hands me a bottle its not likely to be thrown in our patch. Next yr I know to buy it and put it in a lockbox and bury that in the garden it would be so much safer then leaving it in my garage. Tuesday, June 17 View Page Last but a runt no more the headliner now is the Frantz this plant is taking off. Its the leading plant now among my four plants. Its really vining out alot and is healthy.I cant weed alot as well bad things happen to good peaple. I was in a car accident on my way to work and the lady rear ended my car while I was at a dead stop and she was going 30MPH. She admitted to driving to fast to brake geeez I felt the full force of that hit lucky for seatbelts. My left arm is hurt and my back is really messed up. I have to take muscle relaxers just to sleep and am going to therapy for my back injury. It hurts to move around to much let alone weed so we are using the plastic bits as a way to keep down the weeds until I get back to full strength.Other then the merit and my back things are going well the plants are enjoying the fair weather and good rain and everything is looking good. Have a great season everyone and grow em big just don't call me to come help you lift them hahahah Tuesday, June 17 View Page The Frantz is about one neopolitan mastiff long hmmm thats gonna be a big plant and of course thats its guardian LOL. Thursday, June 19 View Page HI all its me again. I was out in the patch today around 4:30 pm and was checking out my plants. Biggest vine circ is the Marchand but longest vine is still the Frantz. So as I am looking at the Frantz I see my enemy just sitting on a leaf looking all nice. For the first time ever I was so filled with rage I took that SVB female and crushed her between my fingers just grinding her to a mushy pulp. I gave all my plants once overs but Cant tell eggs from dirt spots so I am not to good at that. Lucky for me and my sissy our pops offered to buy us more merit as long as we protect his veggies too. So we have another bottle of Merit75wp on the way and as soon as we get it,prob on Monday its going down on the plants. If that female laid eggs they will be no more come next week. My plants are gonna be huge this yr and nothing is gonna stop them. My bush bean plants are coming back to life after the thumpers ate the leaves of of them. Its time for me to go but Have a good night all and as always grow em big. Thursday, June 26 View Page Yesterday I was checking plants and saw a couple of svbs not sure if they where female or male. Upon checking my Mitchell I found my very first set of svb eggs and man there small. It was a good feeling to take that whole leaf off and let it roast far away from the garden.We Ordered new merit it got here today and we just got done applying it. We did a foliar application to each plant covering all side vines,main vine and the tops and underside of each leafs except the very tips.Becky was in charge of the soil drench and she made sure each of our plants got there fair share of that good svb killing juice.I put on layers of old clothes in this heat and so it was a hot time but at least the plants might be safe from any svb eggs that might be hatching. The plants are all looking healthy and The best news ever the Frantz has reached the 10 foot mark making it the first plant that will be pollinated as soon as it produces a female. The runner up is the Mitchell at 6 1/2 feet followed by the Marchand at 6 foot. The Lishness has a one foot vine on it but tons of leaves. Who knows I never give up on my plants and I will let them all grow at there own pace. Next week we will be giving them some tea that we made up and its a secret to whats in it but hopefully the plants love it. I am hoping to pollinate by July 4th and will take pics again as soon as I get some females set. Wish us luck that we have no more pest problems. We bought some triazcide that we will be using to spray every so often just to keep adding on to what the merit will be doing for us. I will continue to check for SVB grub holes just in case we applied the Merit the wrong way. I will continue to hunt females and males as they do not deserve to be alive in and around our patch. Have a good month everyone and grow em big. Thursday, July 3 View Page The plants are loving this weather and the merit. Dead buggies everywhere I am still killing females when I see them.Now for the stats. The Lishness and the Mitchell are Dead even now at both 8 feet out. The Marchand is sitting pretty at 10 feet and the biggest plant with the most growth is the Frantz at 12 feet out. This plant is huge with big leafs and its being pruned in a careful flag pattern.Theres a small female on its tip. The female will be the first one to be pollinated on this plant. I have decided I am going to self it as I really like the color on its parent. The plants are all super healthy and growing really well now its just waiting on females. The big problem we are having now in the patch is these weeds they look like little plants but if you let them grow out they can get very very tall. The thing is if you pick them and throw the plants aside within a week that area will be over run with these things and the area you just pulled will have tons of baby plants sprouting up. We cannot keep on top of these things so we laid plastic over the whole patch in sections and will remove the dark plastic as the plants vine out more and of course once the weeds are dead. I will take a pic of the weeds so you all might be able to tell us what we are dealing with. I cannot wait to pollinate I know pollination time is now but without females ready I will just have to wait. I have a feeling this will be the yr I break my PB with compost,our secret tea, Major pest control and of course alot of love I am on the track to a monster. I will take pics very soon to show you all the females and the plants there on. Have a very happy and safe fourth of July. Friday, July 11 View Page Found her and killed her with my bare hands. I found a pair of Svbs doing the hokey pokey under a leaf and lets just say the way i hit them the male wont be making baby's anymore I think he left a peremanant part of him with the female.I hope the Merit works because i have been killing these things left and right and I am finding eggs and killing those too. The plants are all doing well and it is hot outside. I am still going to rehab but my back is feeling better so hopefully all gets well by Weigh off time or we wont be going as without strength we will not be able to move the pumpkins. Sorry the pic is fuzzy I could not get the camera to focus on her close up. Friday, July 11 View Page This is My pride and joy the biggest plant I have in my patch and the most aggresive grower I have ever had. The Frantz and I am keeping up on pruning this baby so hopefully it grows me a big one. Friday, July 11 View Page My very first pollination and yes i am late in the season but I am hoping this one lives up to its parent and gets me a big one. Introducing The very first female on the Frantz and its selfed so will see what she can do within her own gene pool.Pollinated early this morning and I will be keeping up to date on her growth hope she takes Friday, July 11 View Page I have another female starting on the Frantz so when its big enough I will pollinate it and keep it as a backup until the first one gets big. This is the largest leaf on the frantz and the biggest leaf in all my plants its like standing next to an elephant. If the leaves are this big I cannot wait to see what the pumpkins like. Friday, July 11 View Page This is the Mitchell and as you may see the Frantz is trying to choke it out but no worries I am pruning in a flag pattern so everyone has enough room to grow. This plant also is doing well not as big but healthy. This is the plant that I always find SVB on the other day there where 3 on this one plant but they all got killed by me so all is well. Friday, July 11 View Page Back view of the Mitchell as you see we laid the plastic down and its working to kill the weeds. We move it when there dead or our secondaries begin to form tap roots. Friday, July 11 View Page Female on the Mitchell Hoping she opens soon so I can cross her with the Frantz. Friday, July 11 View Page The Marchand a great plant with no probs so far if this plant does what last yrs did I am in the running for sure Friday, July 11 View Page Female on the Marchand. When this girl opens she will be crossed with the Mitchell to see what I get. Friday, July 11 View Page Last but not least the Lishness This plant is the same size as the Marchand but with less side vines I have no clue why there not growing out but its not causing any probs so will see. There is a small pea sized female on her end at 10 feet out that I will self with herself or maybe cross with the Marchand. This is my fun plant and I trust it to grow big. I will post more pics of Females getting pollinated as soon as I have them pollinated. Wish me luck in the race to 200 pds and Have fun everyone, grow em big. Thursday, July 17 View Page I now have a pumpkin fully set and growing on the Frantz and another one I pollinated today about 10 feet from the first. We will see which one grows better and faster. I have all pumpkins set and growing on my plants except the Lishness the female I did have aborted before it even flowered so I will be pollinating the next one that comes up. SVBs are still flying but now I have no fear and just wack them with my hands. I keep checking the vines and such for eggs but have not seen anything.I can tell you there a lot easier to catch before sunset so thats when most of there killing gets done. All the plants are doing well and my cucumbers are getting huge I pulled a monster off the vine yesterday and lets just say that if my pumpkins grow as big as my cukes I am gonna go big.I will take more pics as soon as they grow some more but in the mean time everyone I hope you grow em big. Thursday, July 17 View Page BAD NEWS TODAY!! Went out to check on the plants and found a couple svb eggs so I took care of them and as I was looking around I noticed the tell tale svb holes they make. I dug around one hole and pulled out the tiniest svb you will ever see but it was alive and wiggling.That got me going so I looked over my Marchand and low and behold every time I found a hole I also found a baby svb. The merit I applied has not worked or they would not be alive would they? I followed the application directions on this site and applied it about 2 weeks or so ago so any hatching eggs should of bitten the plant and died.We still see tons of alive svbs and bees everywhere. I do not know what to do. Maybe I should go ahead and mix up more merit and give it another go but I am just so mad to think of spending that money and still finding alive and happy little S.O.B's makes me furious beyond belief. I guess this will be another season of slaughter in my patch. The plants seem healthy and all the babies I have found where pin head sized so there still young. I will try my very best to dig out the buggers one by one but it might be a losing battle. One leaf stalk had one baby in it and the outside had 10 eggs spread out all over it. I hope everyone else is not having the same probs. Have a good season all and grow em big. Tuesday, July 22 View Page UPDATE::: All plants have been dosed with merit again and applied a top coat of triazide until we get enough money to get some malathon or talstar. I checked my plants out before I sprayed and was upset to find 5 baby svb grubs in the main vine of my Frantz right where the vine comes out of the ground . I dug them out and the wound has hardened off already I dosed it with merit and did a a soil soak at all the important tap root areas and took the spray wand and went under the main vine with a steady stream of merit. Never ask me to use triazicde again I accidently sprayed Becky when I was turning around with the hose and when I went to take it off the hose it squirted out and sprayed everywhere.Despite the SVB which hopefully are dead now there is good news and bad news. The Mitchell has the biggest set pumpkin right now at a little above softball size. The Marchand is comming in number two with two baseball sized females set. The Lishness has yet to spit a female but it will in its own good time. The bad news is the Frantz self stopped growing at softball size and I gave it a week and half but sadly no growth so it was cut today. I did self another female further down that has taken and is at baseball size after only two days so it looks good. I will be taking pics soon but as for now my plants are growing well and have no problems.I hope the merit/Triazicide works for now and will just keep on top of this problem as best I can. We will be adding some fert sometime this week or next to give the plants an extra boost and I might do some pruning. After I have a confirmed set on the plants I will trim the main vines as they are getting long the Frantz main vine is now at 22 feet out and very thick. The Mitchell sits at 18 feet. The Marchand is at 15 and I am curving the vine to get it back on the compost and dirt area. The Lishness is at 15 feet but appears healthy. Have a good day everyone and enjoy this growing season. Grow em Big Sunday, July 27 View Page I will be taking pics soon but I can tell you we fertilized today with compost tea. We sprayed merit and triazide the other day and I am still finding eggs and svb grubs so I am just gonna keep up the spray progam. The have killed 5 of my cucumber plants already but those where organic so they sacrificied themselves for the love of being natural.All plants look good no insect bites and knock on wood no cucumbe beetles at all. Watemelon have taken off and we have 5 on there vines all a little bigger then softballs this might be a good melon season and my first time ever whoo hoo. All four plants have pumpkins set on them. The frantz has two on the main and one that will open a the side vine soon. The pumpkin that is set on this plant is ribbed and long and a slow grower for sure. The pumpkin on the Mitchell is the same size just not growing well. The tlish has a pumpkin set and its growing nicely but the winner for the biggest gains is the Marchand This pumpkin is growing bigger then any of my other plants sets and no ribbing nice and round. I will be taking pics soon but first I have too see if the compost tea will make a dent in the growth race. I hope everyones season is doing well and may you all grow em big. Tuesday, July 29 View Page mom I think we need some more pest control Tuesday, July 29 View Page mom needs to weed in hear LOL Tuesday, July 29 View Page Last but not least He is the man to take care of the critters Tuesday, July 29 View Page Ok my very first time getting the watermelons past softball stage. I am so very excited even if there not giant melons there watermelons that are growing. We found a lady bug in the plant so that must mean goodness. We have about 5 set and growing watemelons so that compost/water plan really works.Here is a pic of our watemelon patch and there growing out past the dirt. Tuesday, July 29 View Page Baby melon and I am so proud Tuesday, July 29 View Page Becky built this shade cover for our biggest melon and its working out great she is also the one who figured out that these past yrs I have not watered enough so we changed the water level and now look yeah!!! Tuesday, July 29 View Page Melon vs Becky's hand knock on wood everyone we might just have a yummy first time melon season this yr. Tuesday, July 29 View Page Back to pumpkins this is the 781 Frantz all spread out I had to cut the main back as its close to 35 feet out. Tuesday, July 29 View Page One of 3 sets on the Frantz. This is the one I was asking you all about. Never in all my seasons have I seen early ribbing like this on a pumpkin to me this signify's its done growing but to my suprise and awe I checked it out this morning and its starting to grow more long and smooth out the ripples so will see. Tuesday, July 29 View Page Close up of the Frantz this one was the second set I did as the first one aborted or stopped growing on me. This pumpkin is slow and steady but is heavy when I went to straighten out the vine. Notice the ripples and tell me if this is ok? I have a feeling this one will grow slow but go big :) Tuesday, July 29 View Page The Mitchell set the other pumpkin that I had set on this plant stopped growing and turned to mush when I checked it. This plant is the smallest of the group and was infested with SVB eggs which I took care of. Hopefully this set will take the cross is MitchellxFrantz Tuesday, July 29 View Page This is the marchand plant notice the dirt LOL weeks of plastic killing grass does that. I had to turn the main back onto the dirt/compost as it was gonna run on grass and weeds.The pumpkin set on this plant is the biggest of all my sets and the plant is super healthy. I did find a couple of SVB eggs but took them off and disposed of them in a very cruel way LOL. Tuesday, July 29 View Page The Marchand set and the biggest in my patch will see what she does but this plant is healthy and the pumpkin keeps growing. I have to get a shade cover on it soon but as for now the leaves are still keeping it shaded. Tuesday, July 29 View Page Last but not least the Lishness. Full strong plant no signs of stress or SVB's this has a huge thick green main vine with deep strong tap roots. I cannot turn it and it is at about 20 feet out or so so its running on grass now. Tuesday, July 29 View Page The Lishness set and growing I selfed this one so will see what she does. If this plant grows me another big one I will be pleased as I love this plant and Have had no problems with it. It was a slow growing plant and this is a very late set as it refused to spit out females. This is the very first girl it gave me so I jumped at the chance to get her pollinated and growing. Tuesday, July 29 View Page Thats all the pics for now But I hope everyones season is doing well and there at least having fun. I am having fun hunting SVB and killing them. I did manage to find a big hole in one of the Frantz sidevines. It was short twisted side vine so I cut it off. I took a look and luckily nothing ate into the main vine. I took the vine apart and pulled out a big fat SVB grubs old enough to get ready to go into the soil again. They eat the Merit and spit it out and Laugh so beware all you who trust merit. I have applied it two times already both as a above spray and as a ground soak and there still alive and kicking. I have used triazide and the seem to drink it up like its koolaid. I am now in the process of just finding there holes and killing them on site. In the fall I am going to till and light the patch on fire then till while its still burning muhahaha any grubs in the ground I will kill thats how much I hate SVB's. I am going mad with this problem and it drives me nuts to see live healthy grubs in one of My all time best plants.I will keep applying the pesticides and hoping they go away and I wish everyone the greatest season ever and may you all forgive me for my ramblings and grow em big. Sunday, August 3 View Page I really am having a weird season so far. First off there are no more svbs but thats only because I think there in my plants lol. The plants main vines have all been terminated as I have most of my plants now out 30 feet and feel I must terminate in order to have the plant focus on the pumpkins size. The Frantz with the weird shape failed to grow and once again turned to mush I have another one set on a side vine that is smooth and about football size and one set on the main that is softball size. I will keep an eye on it. The Mitchells set failed so there is a new set growing now and its at baseball size. The Lishness has a pumpkin set and thats at almost basketball size catching up to the Marchand in size. The Marchand pumpkin appears to have stopped growing its the biggest pumpkin I have but I have not seen any growth. Last yr with no compost or chemicals my plants where crappy but in the long run I got 200pdrs off them. This yr we spend hard earned money and backbreaking time to put in maple leaves and buy compost only to have the pumpkins get to basketball size and stop growing I am pissed off and about ready to give up on growing giants. I will keep an eye out till the end of the season then next yr try doing better some seasons you do good some you do not. I want to try growing giant melons next yr as me and Beckys melons are doing awesome. Hope everyones season is better then mine but again I cant say its over till its over will just wait and see. Grow em big everyone. Monday, August 4 View Page Ok so I was out in the garden the other day and decided to pollinate a lone female on the Frantz's main vine not thinking much as I was concentrating on getting a pumpkin on the main to take. Last Thursday the female was baseball sized and I went out today after totally forgetting I pollinated this female and low and behold under the leaves is a pumpkin that is bigger then a basketball and its catching up to the Marchand in size. We might just have a winner. Knock on wood this one does not stop growing but right now there is no weird ribbing and its a perfect round shape with a pale smooth yellow look to it.Its on a side vine so I will keep an eye on it but hopefully this is the one for that plant will wait and see. Pics will come soon and I think me and Becky are gonna add some fertz to the patch to give our pumpkins a growing boost. Grow em big everyone and I have not given up LOL at least not until the first frost comes. Monday, August 4 View Page Sorry the first sentence is wrong its a lone female on the Frantz's side vine ooops Tuesday, August 5 View Page For the first time ever we had a tornado here. We where watching the storm on the news and its said it was in Streamwood so we thought nothing of it and then all of a sudden the tv's go dark and there is a warning on the screen saying a tornado is going to be heading into addison and to take cover.Becky head outside and when she came in she said for sure the sirens are going off. I grab Shawn and our dogs and head to the closet after Becky the savior yells to me what to do. The closet is between my room and Shawn's room. Becky goes in by my handicapped mom and helps her take cover and Wendy goes in her room. We are still listening to the tv while huddled down when the tv's go static. Me watching the movie twister remembers static on a tv means twister. Theres me and Shawn holding onto each other saying the lords prayer over and over again it was scary scary stuff. The noise outside sounded like just solid thunder. 10 min's later we get the all clear from the tv going on normal again and the warning saying further east of us. We are all ok and went outside to see the damage if any... Continued next post Tuesday, August 5 View Page The Lighting was so bad outside we did not stay long but we did see the power was out all over town and the gas stations and street lights where all out. We lost power for about 2 mins then it kicked back on and we thank god that we are ok and that our house is ok. Went out to the patch this afternoon and everything looked ok except the big tree by our back shed was uprooted and is leaning over a metal fence a couple more wind storms and its coming down for sure.The biggest tree in our yard had a huge side branch that snapped then got caught up in the rest of the tree but if it ever does fall its big enough to crush our huge shed like a pop can.The news reports stated a F1 tornado touched down in Bloomingdale IL which is about a block from our house so we where very lucky. We got tons of rain so maybe the pumpkins will benefit from this. I hope everyone is doing well and I will say a prayer tonight for all those in Indiana that got hit by the storm. I hope everyone continues to grow em big. Tuesday, August 12 View Page This pumpkin is on the Frantz main vine its the last one on the main to live and is still growing. It is selfed Tuesday, August 12 View Page This is the biggest set on the Frantz and its on a side vine. Its growing well but after adding some ferts to the tap root areas some of the pellets got on the leaves and on the vines and almost melted them so I had to hurry up and brush the ferts off. This pumpkin is putting on pds each day and is well covered we will see what it does for the rest of the month. Tuesday, August 12 View Page The last set on the Mitchell as I by accident cut the main with the lawn mower. Its growing slowly but surely and will just keep an eye on it for now. Tuesday, August 12 View Page The set thats on the Marchand it has not grown as of yet so I think its done I will let it sit on the plant for now as there is no other pumpkins or females on this plant. Tuesday, August 12 View Page Last but not least the suprise of the summer and still putting on weight the Lishness. This plant and pumpkin is taking its time but the set is adding weight each day and growing just like my first giant did. Whats even almost funny is it looks exactly like my first giant did. If it keeps growing this could be the patch winner will see only time will tell. I had to take up the tap roots near the pumpkins set as it was pulling the stump area down. Tuesday, August 12 View Page We added ferts in order to see if maybe our plants did not have enough food but so far no results.I will be keeping an eye on my sets to see there progress but this season has been a odd weather one for sure.All the pumpkins are well and The watermelons we have set are still putting on weight. I will take more pics in about a week or so to see if the pumpkins put on any weight. All the plants are heatlhy and full with no signs of SVB or wilting so knock on wood for me lol. HAVE FUN everyone and grow em big I am trying to here for sure. Tuesday, August 12 View Page Our scout pack went to the globe factory. There are only two company's is the USA that make globes and they offer free tours. At the end of the tour they give the kids mini world globes and a Big poster map so it was so cool and Shawn loved seeing a how its made edition live LOL. Tuesday, August 12 View Page Yes thats my child in a mini plane I took the scouts to a young eagles outing where they got to go up in a cesna plane and fly with the pilots about town at our local airport. Tuesday, August 12 View Page A picture one of the boys took while up in the plane it shows the Chicago skyline and I thought it was a awesome photo to show you all. Maybe next time I will tell Shawn to tell the pilot to fly over our patch so I can get a shot of it from the air. The program event is free for kids and they hold it once a month so I can always bring him back for another flight and he had so much fun doing this. Have a good day everyone and grow em so big we can see them from the sky. Tuesday, August 12 View Page Today is the day I hope I figure out what is up with my plant. I will take pic's soon but the stump area seems to be ooozing and turning to a baby food mush on the Frantz its a white foamy ooozy stuff and its eating the stump away. I checked it today and wiped off as much as I could but have never seen anything like this. Maybe its fert burn or maybe a fungus but whatever it is if it kills off my plant I will be mad. I will take pics soon if it does not go away but good luck all and of course grow em big. Thursday, August 14 View Page I cut away the leaves giving the Frantz stump (vine meets dirt) part shade so now its sitting in full sun. The mush is still there and had to scrape it away till I felt hard stump. The main stem area is still solid but this mush is annoying me. The other plants are doing well with good looking main vine stumps. Pumpkins are all doing well the Marchand I feel has stopped growing. The two pumpkins set on the Frantz are growing slow and steady and the main vine set is now catching up with the side vine set so will see who gets bigger faster. The Mitchell set is moving along slow but sure. The Lishness just keeps putting on weight its getting big enough now to earn a spot under a shade structure. I have been using a 5 gallon bucket of water to measure how much water the plants get and today I gave the plants 15 gallons each so I hope thats enough water. I will see if this new method of watering makes a difference on size and weight gain. I will take pics soon but hopefully I can first nip this stump prob in its but. Have a good day all and grow em big. Tuesday, August 19 View Page Yeah the stump goo is gone I nipped it in the vine LOL. All the plants are doing well the Marchand has decided to stop growing so now I will let it just sit till harvest time as the plant is still super healthy. The Mitchell still has its pumpkin set and its sitting at basketball size with very slow growth. The Frantz is doing great the stem goo is gone and the two sets on it are big and still growing slow but sure. The Lishness set was covered with a hoop shade structure Becky helped me build and so now it will just sit and gain weight.Becky says the prettiest pumpkin in the patch is the Frantz that is set on a side vine because its a deep orange rippled beauty and if I stand it up on its blossum end it will be like a perfect jack'o'lantern. I will take pics again soon to show you all but for now have a good week and grow em big Tuesday, August 19 View Page The set I have on the Frantz main vine growing nicely Tuesday, August 19 View Page The stump goo I nipped in the vine LOL> Tuesday, August 19 View Page The set on the Frantz side vine Tuesday, August 19 View Page The side vine set stem view on the Frantz Tuesday, August 19 View Page The Mitchell new set growing slow but sure Tuesday, August 19 View Page This is the Lishness set and whats amazing is its very much like my very first giant and my PB. It is a nice growing beast and is my biggest set growing. Tuesday, August 19 View Page And here is the Shade cover Becky made for my set. She is a good sister and a good sport and is very good with Patch stuff so I trust her to build the shade structures. This pumpkin is putting on weight and growing nicely. I cannot tell which is bigger now. This set is above the leaves and is big but so is the Frantz set. The set on the Frantz is long and solid so maybe if it was more stubby it would look like the lishness. We will see when the weights come in at the end of the season. Friday, August 29 View Page Hey everyone My pumpkins are all great but I fear powdery mildew has affected all the plants but the Frantz. The pumpkins are still putting on weight slowly but all are well and I am happy with the season so far. I have a pumpkin that is on the Frantz that will be going up for a contest to support my cub scout pack 380. We are going to have a guess the weight contest with it and the winner will get the pumpkin so I am sure it will go to a very loving home and earn My scout group a nice amount to use for our blue and gold celebration and of course give Shawn much pride as his mommy grew it. Friday, August 29 View Page The Frantz side vine and my OTT mesurments are putting it at 180 pds but it looks bigger then that LOL. Friday, August 29 View Page The Frantz stem side the color on this pumpkin is awesome and tis a very heavy wide low beast. I love this pumpkin and thank mike for giving me the seeds to grow.I will be growing a Frantz seed next yr too if I can get one HINT HINT LOL. This plant is awesome and has no problems growing and No SVB probs.The stump goo cleared and the pumpkins on this plant appeear to be chugging along nicely. Friday, August 29 View Page sorry heres the pic of the Frantz side vine set stem end side Friday, August 29 View Page blossum end of the Frantz side vine set Friday, August 29 View Page Frantz main vine set and this one is going up for the contest and I am very proud to be able to show it off to my scouts.This is a blossum end pic and its a perfect pumpkin. Friday, August 29 View Page Frantz main vine stem end. The leaves perked back up after a quick watering so no worries. I find that the newer the leaf is the less heat it can take but I have it under control. This pumpkin is gonna make some kid very happy and give some kids dad a hernia lifting it. Thanks Mike for giving me the chance to grow such a beauty. Friday, August 29 View Page The biggest in the patch at the moment is the Lishness and from my ot mesurments its beating my personal best YEAH!! I will not be getting it officially weighed sadly because of my back injury I am lucky if I even get this beast out front to display it. I am very proud of this pumpkin and as you see it might be the end of its growth as I have a nasty case of powdery mildew. Friday, August 29 View Page the Lishness under its shade tent its blowing out on the sides not keeping the round shape at all LOL.If you are wondering why this one is covered and not the Frantz its becuase the two set on the Frantz plant are still shaded by the leaves for some odd reason the leaves on that plant grew way tall and so there still providing shade for the pumpkins. The Lishness leaves are small and so the pumpkin was not shaded for long so Becky built me a shade cover for it. Friday, August 29 View Page My son Shawn is selling cub scout popcorn and if anyone wants some and wants to support Shawn in scouts you can contact me at [email protected] and know that you will be helping him earn his popcorn selling patch and of course helping all scouts have some great fun.The prices range from $15.00 for a box of 15 microwave popcorn pouches to $9.00 for a tin of yummy carmel corn. He is also selling trail mix and of course Chocolate covered popcorn so this will be a busy Sept of selling for us. Have a good season everyone and grow em big. Wednesday, September 3 View Page Ok I did some measurments today and here they are Frantz main vine, Side to side is 55 inches ,circ is 93 and front to back is 57 giving it a total of 205. The Frantz side vine is measuring side to side 56, circ 96 and front to back 60 giving it a total of 212. The Lishness measures side to side 65 circ 87 and front to back 62 which added to 214. All in all my pumpkins are all beating last yrs weight but behind my 262 personal best. As for looks there the best looking beasts I have ever grown and I am happy. Sunday, September 28 View Page harvested all the pumpkins and there all in great health. I do not have the unofficial weight as of yet but I can tell you by feel the Lishness is the largetst followed by the two Frantz. The Marchand is the smallest but I still love the seed and plant and the Mitchell failed to produce a pumpkin that was bigger then a basketball. All and all a great season with many good looking pumpkins. One of the pumpkins is going to be used for our cub scout packs guess the weight contest so will see who gets the weight right LOL and gets to take the beast home. No worries about genetics as its twin which is the bigger one will be staying home with me to be carved and displayed. As soon as I get the chance I will post the pics of them and then the pics of them carved when It gets to be nearer to the time of carving. I cant wait to grow next yr and besides the SVB's it was a good season maybe next yr it wont be so crazy weather wise. Saturday, October 18 View Page Final weights unofficial as they where weighed on a scrap metal places scale. 282 Michaels 08 off the Frantz 268 Michaels 08 off the Frantz and last but not least 398 Michaels 08 off the Lishness I did it I broke my PB and am very proud. It was a great season not the best weather wise but still great. The squirles are doing a number on the pumpkins. I used the 268 in a guess the weight contest for our cub scout pack and it was a success. The guy that one the thing was very very happy and everyone there said the pumpkin was the prettiest and biggest they have ever seen LOL. Maybe I should tell them to come to Didiers the first week of Oct then they can see some huge huge pumpkins.The patch is all cleared and the pumpkins are on display. As soon as I carve them I will post some pics. I am happy and hope everyone else has had a great season and see you all next yr for a chance to break my PB again. Wednesday, November 26 View Page HEAVEN'S DOGGY-DOOR My best friend closed his eyes last night, As his head was in my hand. The Doctors said he was in pain, And it was hard for him to stand. The thoughts that scurried through my head, As I cradled him in my arms. Were of his younger, puppy years, And OH...his many charms. Today, there was no gentle nudge With an intense "I love you gaze", Only a heart thats filled with tears Remembering our joy filled days. But an Angel just appeared to me, And he said, "You should cry no more, GOD also loves our canine friends, HE's installed a 'doggy-door"! R.I.P Ricky I love Lucy Michaels Our Beloved Patch guardian We will miss you come planting time