Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 13 Entries. Saturday, July 26 View Page Hi to all fellow growers. Wishing you well in this growing season. A big Thank-you to the growers that sent me seeds namely the Paton brothers, Dutch Brad,the Hume family (Porrum) and the Cornish giant(David). Now apologises to those benefactors. I had a terrible start with failed germinations. I think I overloaded a small propogator and rotted seed that I was very grateful to recieve. I started a second set of seeds of these only the 963 Paton 07 made a good seedling. One other didn`t germinate and one was stunted double then ribbon vining. So my season now depends on one plant, stopped at 32ft wide and the fruit pollunated on the 11th July at 11 ft from the root. I also have two very nice giant marrow plants with fruits set. Hope to post photo`s soon. Best regards John Wednesday, August 13 View Page Hi. A quick update from North Wales. Not much happening on the pumpkins here. I lost the chance of growing a good sized pumpkin when the fruit pollinated July 11th aborted on about 20 days. I have a late set on 18ft-pictured below- but it is too late now. I am watching other people grow big pumpkins this year- good fortune to all still in the game. Wednesday, August 13 View Page The good news is the giant marrow plants. I am not sure how many days these fruits grow for. I have 2 first fruits and am trying to manage back-ups and have a second fruit on each plant. I would appreciate any tips and advice. 1st plant below and 2nd plant pictured next page. Wednesday, August 13 View Page Fruit on 2nd marrow plant Wednesday, August 13 View Page Picture of my tobacco plants. Thursday, August 21 View Page Hi to everyone. Not much news to post on my pumpkin- still struggling. I am very pleased with the marrows. I weighed the biggest today- 51 lbs on the bathroom scales plus a smaller one at 40lbs. Many thanks to a Cornish gentleman for the seeds. Regards John Thursday, August 21 View Page Picture of both marrows. I hopefully have one with more potential still growing - we`ll see. PS. My wife Pat posing in the previous picture Saturday, September 13 View Page Hi to fellow growers and all who visit this site. Hope everybody is still enjoying the season. I`m getting a lot of pleasure reading 1st time grower diaries and watching them up their targets of what weight they might achieve as their pumpkins grow beyond their expectations. I won`t reach my own pre season target but thats how it goes- so just hanging on to see if I can make 300lbs - only 65lbs to go LOL. Saturday, September 13 View Page The good news is I planted marrows on ground I had prepared for pumpkins and they appreciated it. One plant gave me a 51 pounder (photo in previous entry). On the 11th September I weighed the best on the second plant and was more than pleased at 78lbs which is way beyond my pre season target. It had a small soft spot and is deteriorating fast so sorry no photo. Hope to post a photo of the pumpkin in a few days. Happy growing. Regards John Saturday, September 20 View Page Hi. Picture of my only pumpkin this year. It is grown from the 963 Paton 07- now taping to 286lbs. The plant is still healthy and the pumpkin still growing, I might make 300lbs yet and Id be pleased with that for a late pumpkin grown outside. Hope everybody`s pumpkin hold`s together till the weigh offs. Good luck John Thursday, October 16 View Page Last photo of pumpkin before harvesting for Merebrow Pumkin weigh in. Rolled over, all checked out sound. Pumpkin bagged and lifted over the fence Thursday, October 16 View Page Photo of Matbro lifter carrying pumpkin away. Only about 300lbs but looking forward to the day out. Wednesday, October 22 View Page Hi to everyone. This is a photo of my 385lbs pumpkin weighed at Merebrow last weekend. A big thanks to the ladies and gentlemen of Merebrow for organising this event and giving us all the chance to weigh, display and view pumpkins. Full results are now on the link section on the home page of BP.com I would also like to thank Ian and Stuart Paton for giving me the opportunity to grow their seed in 2008. Regards John