Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 53 Entries. Monday, April 1 View Page Wanting to get back into the game I decided to get an early jump on the competition. Therefore I'm starting WAYYY early this year. I see others starting seeds. Well I'm setting pumpkins! I have 3 nice fruit so far. Monday, April 1 View Page So here they are!!! Monday, April 8 View Page Patch prep 2013 well under way. This is a step that I was not planning to take this year. The plowed banks at each end are close to 4 feet tall. There was about an inch of solid ice under the snow so it made plowing easy. We also have at least a couple feet of frost to thaw. I believe I'm still at least 2 weeks from being able to work the soil. Tuesday, April 9 View Page And only one day later we have this! I feel I just gained at least a few days. This cover crop was planted early last fall due to a poor grower effort during the season. It was a mix of winter rye, tillage radish, and winter peas. Monday, April 15 View Page This shot was taken Friday night 4-12. More white gold. 2 years ago I started my seeds on April 15th. I'm thinking I will not do that this year...lol. Forecast is for another possible whopper snow Wednesday. Friday, April 19 View Page The tundra. We got a bit lucky here being on the east side of the storm....probably only about 5" of snow. Friday, April 19 View Page Here are some fun facts on weather in New Richmond, WI March: 3 days above 40. Highest temp was 44. April: 6 days above 40. Highest temp.....42. 50 is a pipe dream. Here's the best part. Average high temp for today 4-19.... 61 Saturday, April 20 View Page Taking advantage of the endless winter.... Monday, April 22 View Page Snow's almost gone!!! Tuesday, April 23 View Page And another 10" or so of white gold. I'm afraid this late season snow is cutting into my alotted amount for next snowmobile season! Friday, April 26 View Page Today is our first day above 46 degrees. It's currently 69! LOL. However.....there is SNOW in the forecast for next week! Monday, April 29 View Page Generally I feel if I'm getting the tiller tires muddy it's too wet to till. However I probably didn't need the mud to tell me "you are pushing it." LOL. Thursday, May 2 View Page White gold Thursday, May 2 View Page Winter wonderland? Thursday, May 2 View Page The good news is the ground is very warm and melting the snow from the bottom. Had this snow fallen on frozen ground we'd have EASILY had 20" on the ground. Instead we ended up with a solid foot++ No more white gold please...until late November. Friday, May 3 View Page Still snowing.....and NOT MELTING! Saturday, May 4 View Page Saturday May 4th. Today is fishing opener. Anywhere from here north the lakes are still ice covered. Monday, May 13 View Page Little trouble in the tundra Saturday night. Tripped GFI + 27 degrees = no heat = end of the road for all my plants. Stone....cold......dead.... Monday, June 17 View Page In an effort to refrain posting the gloom and doom I haven't been updating lately. I'm still growing. As of today my smallest plant is still only 3' (yes three) of main vine...lol. Luckily due to a very generous friend I was able to secure 2 older plants after freezing out and have 2 plants that are in decent shape. No matter what happens I'm going to be behind. The weather has been too cold to really make things grow like needed for me to catch up. Due to the memories of 2009 (we are having 2009 type weather) I believe I have a pretty solid plan formulated. We'll see if we can rally here toward the latter portions of the season. It's still enjoyable to see these plants start to grow. Tuesday, July 2 View Page Funny story. Got a call from Hopkins this morning. He was in the garden trying to pollinate a plant that's playing hard to get with females. First pumpkin was going to open today at 17'++. He gets out there to do the deed and....no pumpkin...lol. Deer tracks to the vine and the deer ate the blossom right down to the main! And then for desert it took a secondary tip. In all my years growing I think I've lost 2 secondary tips to rabbits. One this year and one in 2007. That's all the critter damage I have seen. And yes I have deer tracks IN my plants from time to time. Moles, rabbits constantly, woodchucks....anything you can imagine. Tuesday, July 2 View Page On a more positive note I do believe I'm starting to rally a bit. We'll re-visit that thought in another month. Tuesday, July 9 View Page Today was my last keeper pollination (I hope). I had my first and only female open on 1770 and it was on a trained secondary due to no females on the main! I have lots of little sweet bees this year and they've been pesky while pollinating, but I've never had one land in a flower..... Until today! I was lifting the cover off the 1770 and exposed one of the most beautiful 5L flowers I've seen and I saw the bee. I tried to shoooo it away, but alas there the bee sat. Smack dab in the center of the lobes! So....July 9th....1770 x open. This was by far and away the plant I was most excited to grow this year. Darn. Wednesday, July 10 View Page Well I'm going to have a learning experience. After pollinating yesterday with the bee I tied the flower shut, covered with mesh and covered with a chair due to incoming rain. I removed the flower pedals last night and all 5 lobes were completely submerged in water....not good. So that female had about 1 hour between pollination and being submerged in water. We will see if it takes. Otherwise I'm not in good shape with this plant. I do see some tiny peas in the secondary tips. So I may have options, but they are not good options this late in the game. It's tough to give up on a plant this late in the game with many many hours invested. Friday, July 12 View Page I swear SBC eat pesticide like candy. I was out in the patch at lunch watching a beautiful female try to pile eggs on the vines I JUST SPRAYED Sunday night. She was alive and well! Obiously trying to lay eggs right next to a pumpkin. Ugh. Friday, July 12 View Page The good news is my plants look great. It's still too early to say on pumpkins, but out weather the last 3++ weeks has been almost perfect. My 1245 Midthun has a fantastic looking little pumpkin and perfect shape. And fair genetics (1674 Marsh x 1810). Monday, July 29 View Page The only good news I have to share is that I biked to La Crosse Saturday. 144 miles. It was fun and what a beautiful route to ride. 7 hours 10 minutes on the bike seat is a bit sketchy though...lol. Monday, July 29 View Page The bad news is it was about 41 degrees in my patch last night. Not sure we are supposed to be growing ice cubes in late July. John and I each have a couple "decent looking" pumpkins growing, but neither of us have been measuring and it's too cold for them to be big (low 60's the last few days). Thursday, August 1 View Page April fools. Thursday, August 22 View Page If this pumpkin makes it and you have one of similar size at the weigh-off....it's probably good news for me...lol. 1476 Hopkins growing another boulder. Thursday, August 22 View Page Here's my other 1476. This was a ribbon vine that I hacked off a little too much and cut into the stump when small. It closed most of the way up then split open again down the main. So the pumpkin is set out I think 8-9 feet on a "secondary." All that said the pumpkin has been a trooper. Wednesday, September 4 View Page Annual first day of school pics. Here's Amber with the pumpkin on the 1476 Hopkins ribbon plant. Wednesday, September 4 View Page And here's Kailey with the 1245 Midthun. Also in the picture is out mouse trap Sprinkles. Sprinkles has a nick name. We call her "Ralph." If you saw my garage floor you'd know why! Ugh. Tuesday, September 24 View Page The past 2 seasons I've had to remove "old leaves" by about mid August due to excessive heat and disease pressure. Here's a picture of my only remaining plant for 2013 that appears to be 100% disease free. The picture is taken from the oldest portion of the plant and as you can see the leaves still look FANTASTIC. I've literally cut off about 4 leaves around the crown and I removed about 10 the other day due to powdery mildew that I did not catch and properly treat with sprays. I have not had a plant last like this since 2009. Cool weather definitely keeps plants going much longer. Tuesday, October 1 View Page As the season winds down I will definitely remember this as the worst growing conditions I've had. Not the most challenging. Heat is more challenging with rot / etc, but the pumpkins like heat. Tuesday, October 1 View Page First we started late due to snow, then I planted in snow, then I froze everything on Mother's Day and had to start over! Then both my prized 1476 Hopkins plants were double / ribbons! Tuesday, October 1 View Page Then after getting the patch into decent shape in early July we had about 2 weeks at the end of the month when we barely broke 60 degrees. This SEVERELY effected fruit growth here. And in the meantime I lost 3 fantastic plants to root disease....again! Tuesday, October 1 View Page But the 1476's kept going. Tuesday, October 1 View Page And going. Tuesday, October 1 View Page And by mid August the 1476 Ribbon started to catch my 1476 double. I decided it was maybe time to start measuring. I measured one week....and thought....that can't be right. Tuesday, October 1 View Page Then another week...and thought....holy crap that was right!!! Tuesday, October 1 View Page And the little engine that could grew and grew and grew. Tuesday, October 1 View Page This is the closest and latest set I've ever had. And due to the cold the plant didn't fill the patch. The pumpkin is set out about 8-9' and has only 6 secondaries behind on each side. . Tuesday, October 1 View Page So in the end I'm VERY VERY thankful for what I have left. I'm hopeful to have 2 solid entries for the scale. Monday, October 7 View Page John and I weighed what we called "the twins" this weekend. Both were off the 1476 Hopkins. His taped 371, mine 376 (GPC site shows 386 which is an error). Both were selfed. His was +22%, mine +18%. LOL. Mine was a little nicer shape, but John's was good as well. Here's a picture of John's since I don't have a pic of mine yet. It was a fun day, but would have been more fun if I beat John instead of giving him the ammunition :) Monday, October 7 View Page So as of now we've weighed 6 pumpkins on the 1476 seed. The average % heavy including the 1476 itself is +15%. One 1476 left to weigh. John will weigh his 2009 this weekend. Monday, October 7 View Page Here's my 1357.5 off the 1476 Hopkins. Same seed, same cross. This pumpkin had a perfect shape and was probably my best plant, but was nearly lost to disease. It also experienced SEVERE glyphosate damage....somehow...LOL. Wednesday, October 9 View Page It's never over till it's over. Went out to check things this morning to find a bunch of wet holes in my sheet. As my heart rate spiked I slowly pulled the sheet to reveal a bunch of claw marks in the beautiful pumpkin! These are HUGE claw marks. It's a large critter. I think it could be a large black critter, but I'm not 100% sure! LOL. Either way my heart rate is probably going to remain elevated for the next 3 days! Thursday, October 10 View Page Well at this point it is what it is. I'm very thankful to be lucky enough to have something like this on a year like we had. Hopefully we can get it to the scale in one piece. This is by far the biggest pumpkin I've ever grown. It's quite a looker as well. Friday, October 11 View Page Hey I'm taking pictures again...lol. I haven't taken many pictures the last couple years. Here's another funny statistic. The pumkpin is 8'-0 from the crown to the stem. So probably about 8'-6" of main vine to the stem if I count the curvature in the vine. 6 secondaries each side between the fruit and crown. No plant except main vine past the fruit. The main is still growing. This pic makes it look like a balloon....I don't like that, but again...not much I can do at this point. I just need a solid entry! Monday, October 14 View Page Stillwater top 3. 1783, 1779, 1734 Never give up. Never.....EVER. Thursday, October 17 View Page I can now pretty much confirm the bear tracks on my pumpkin. I was out last night cleaning up patch tools and saw a set of bear tracks going through the freshly tilled patch. I cannot believe the bear was that gentle with my pumpkin! He climbed right over the top and didn't even remove the sheet! Wednesday, October 30 View Page 1783 yielded lots of seeds, but much like 1810 almost all the seeds were "skins." I have already sent 3 seeds for greenhouse projects so am left with 66 good auction quality seeds and 3 seeds that I'd feel are about 3/4 full. Quite disappointing, but nothing I can do about it. Wednesday, November 6 View Page WHITE GOLD today. So we went 6 months this year between days when I could ride my snowmobile. I wonder if that's ever happened? Needless to say we won't be growing cover crop here this year.