Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 187 Entries. Wednesday, February 13 View Page I decided to take a few pictures of some midwinter practice grafts. The watermelon is on the left and the bottle gourd (Lagenaria sp.) is on the left. They were both seeded on the same day into 4" peat pots. They are ready to graft at this stage. I have done bigger and I have done smaller with good results though. Wednesday, February 13 View Page Here I am cutting out the first true leaf and the growing tip from the Lagenaria rootstock.(apical meristem if I remember my terminology) I am using a sharp box cutter. If by accident you cut off one of the cotyledon leaves the plant is still usable for grafting. Last year I got gummy stem blight on my grafted plant, this year I am trying to sterilize my seeds with a 5 minute soak in 10% bleach before planting. I am thinking that this preventative measure should help, as the disease is held on the seed coat. Wednesday, February 13 View Page In this picture you can see my drill bit going through the lagenaria rootstock in preparation to recieve the melon scion. This was the smallest drill bit in my drill index. The bit you use should be slightly smaller than the melon stem's width. You want it to be a snug fit. You can see it is done at a pretty good angle so as not to bust through into the hollow part of the stem. If you do bust through there is a chance that your watermelon scion may grow a root down through and you don't want that. You want only gourd roots supporting the plant. Wednesday, February 13 View Page This is the watermelon scion after it has been cut. The melon stem is an oval in shape. My first cut is done on the wide or longer part of the oval. This is the more difficult cut because you have less depth to work with. Then rotate the melon one quarter turn and make another cut. This will give your scion a nice point to insert into your hole that you have made. The wounded bleeding tissue is what is going to graft to the rootstock. If you have good contact and little movement between the rootstock and the scion, the graft should take. Think of it as you would a stitch for suturing cut skin. Wednesday, February 13 View Page Here is the finished product, notice the tip of scion is sticking through. The cut or bleeding part of the scion is inserted facing down. Wednesday, February 13 View Page Mist and place under clear plastic dome or clear plastic sheeting. I have the room about 75 degrees or so. Wednesday, February 13 View Page Here they are all done. I put them under a shop light, or just off to the side a little bit. I have not seen that they need darkness to heal. I just try to keep them from any stress. A shop light doesn't really put out a very intense light. I mist them once or twice a day. Thursday, February 28 View Page I was at a restaurant today and framed on the wall they had the ending part of Patrick Henry's famous "give me liberty or give me death speech". It read: " Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" hearing this must have hit a chord with me as I feel that these words written by Patrick Henry all those years ago are as relevant today as they were then. Friday, May 10 View Page Well now that the season is over and winter will soon be here, I have decided to do a diary.... better late than never I guess. I will try to be as accurate as I can with the dates and information, but things may be off a day or two, maybe a week. I will be going off my memory which is pretty darn good when it comes to plants, when it comes to groceries it just goes in one ear and out the other. (just ask my wife) Anyways what you are seeing in this picture is what it looked like in my patch before the AG's went in. I sowed winter rye on April 1st and treated the seed with Hollands soluble mycorrhizae. I tilled up the centers and let the rest of the rye remain until the end of May. Wednesday, May 15 View Page I did five plants this year and my son Ethan did three. I wanted to split the season up into two seasons so I started two seeds on April 5th and the other 3 on May 5th. What you are seeing in this picture is one of my early started ones in it's hoophouse. I did plastic over the top with row cover on the two gable ends. A no vent, no worry type house. My two early plants were; 1364 Haist 2012 (1556.5 Werner x 1544.5 Revier) 1339.5 Adams 2012 (1161 Rodonis x 1421 Stelts) Sunday, May 19 View Page Time to put in my 3 late plants, which are; ---2 plants from the 891 Cantrell 12 (743 Cantrell x 1486* Jarvis) The 743 Cantrell mother of the 891 is a half breed also (1445 Werner x 1177 Haist*) I am hoping for a big and orange or a big and green. Either way I will be happy and I look forward to the surprise. I call the 891 my grab bag seed. You just don't know what you will get from it! I love the genetics work Brother Dave is doing down in Tennessee. My last plant is the 956 Marsh 08 (987 Zunino x 772 Poirier) In my opinion the 956 was one of the nicest looking pumpkins ever grown. It has solid genetics to produce big and orange. My hopes are high for a Howard Dill award for this one. Sunday, May 19 View Page This is my 1364 Haist starting to run a little bit. It has been such a cool spring and wet too! I am glad that I have a hoophouse over it still. Mostly because it keeps all the rain away from the soil. Cold wet roots are a recipe for disaster! Sunday, May 19 View Page This is a 144 Cantrell melon it is growing on a 'Shintosa Camelforce' rootstock. It was grafted at the end of March and set in the garden in early May. It has been growing vigorously, easily outgrowing everything else. My goal is to grow one to 200 pounds this year. I will not be using fabric to prevent the weeds, as I did this last year, the voles had a field day under it. Instead I dug an 8" deep trench around the patch and installed a roll of 1/4" hardware cloth all around to prevent the voles from burrowing in. I hope it works. Sunday, May 19 View Page This is a 238.5 Holloway melon on a 177 Westfall bushel gourd rootstock. Also very vigorous, but not quite in pace with the 144. Sunday, May 19 View Page These seedlings are off of a Cliff Knight seed. They are a 'Black Diamond' type. I call this seed the 'Dark Knight' They were started at the end of April and are on their own roots. I am hoping to get 150 with these. I will make a vow to keep the weeds out and keep them free of disease and insects/mites. In the past I have coasted from August on into September. I have let the patch get over-run with weeds and mites. Not this year! Sunday, May 19 View Page Two 177 Westfall bushel gourds. These were leftover from my grafting in late March. They are in a good spot that received a good dose of chicken manure last fall. Unfortunately there is still lots of unfinished organic matter, that may rob Nitrogen from them. It's my first year growing these. I really like the sturdiness of the plants and they are just pretty to look at. I have a feeling that these 177 Westfall seeds are the best there is. Sunday, May 19 View Page Peppers are in the foreground and a row of Mt. Hoosiers from Jake Holloway. These are being grown for fun and breeding purposes. I really think the dark black rind melons are neat and would love to get some genetics into these so they can go over 200 pounds. ( These plants are under some busted up old cold frames. These frames did not have any plastic on the gable ends and were placed over the plants mainly to keep the rain off and to keep the environment a little warmer. It has been wet and cool I have lost many muskmelon and pepper transplants to damping off. I have never had this occur before. The soil is cold and wet. In hindsight Much of the transplanting could have waited. Friday, May 31 View Page The 1339 Adams is starting to outgrow it's cold frame. This house demonstrates my older cold frame design. Friday, June 14 View Page The 1339 Adams is growing nicely. This plant is going to have a lot of space to fill. Nearly 1,000 square feet. I plan on curling the secondaries around to go parallel with the main. I guess you would call it a spider pattern. I have noticed that when you don't dead end the secondaries you get fewer of the "pop-up" tertiaries. Which is good because I won't be pinching any tertiaries. Another benefit is that I have yet to see one of these spider patterned plants get foaming stumps. One last thing (about the spider Pattern) and I am not quite sure if this is a good thing is that the pumpkins don't seem to get quite the huge gains in growth. I have seen far less splits with the spider pattern and more slow and steady growth of the pumpkin. I am not sure it is the best pattern to used but it does have it's advantages. Friday, June 14 View Page 1364 Haist. Looking good. Weeds are a big problem every year. Becuase of all the rain, I am having a hard time trying to keep a layer of dust mulch on the surface to keep the weeds from germinating. The old saying is; One year of (a weed) seeding, seven years weeding" Well.... if that's true I must have enough weed seeds in my garden to last for several lifetimes. Friday, June 14 View Page 177 Westfall bushel gourd. Wow, I love these things. The leaves are soft and velvety to the touch. Nothing like any cucurbit I have grown before. The soil here, is starting to round into shape a little bit. Tilling will cause organic matter to break down fast! Friday, June 14 View Page Dark Knight melons from Cliff Knight. Friday, June 14 View Page 238.5 Holloway on bushel gourd rootstock. Starting to take off. Friday, June 14 View Page 144 Cantrell on 'Shintosa camelforce' rootstock. This plant is going to be the one to beat! Friday, June 14 View Page This is a shot of my late set plants. My spring sown rye is now gone and has been worked into the soil. I really like the spring sown rye. It creates more of a low growing ground cover that never really gets as fibrous as the fall sown winter rye, So it breaks down quickly. The only thing I don't like about it is that you don't have anything to hold the soil in place over the winter. This year I will just leave the old weeds and vines until spring. That will give the soil some protection. I am not convinced that removing the plant debris makes any difference. At least I have not seen any difference. I know many books would say differently. If I always did what the books told me to I don't think I would have learned anything over the years. It is our experiences, that give us wisdom. Friday, June 14 View Page 891 Cantrell plant A, Friday, June 14 View Page 956 Marsh. These plants are ready to take off. Friday, June 14 View Page 891 Cantrell plant b. Friday, June 14 View Page These are the Holloway mt Hoosiers. I am growing them on a piece of 4x4 black fabric, surrounded by mulch hay. Friday, June 14 View Page Potatoes, I like to see a few blossoms by this date. These were put in on the April 22nd. Friday, June 14 View Page These tomatoes were put in, in early May under row covers. They have made it through some cold wet weather and are poised to take off once summer gets here. Everything moves at a manageable pace at this time of the season. All it takes are a couple hot days and things go full throttle in the garden. You have to be ready to get out there and sweat a little, otherwise you will be left in the dust saying, "I can't wait till next year". Friday, June 14 View Page Some of the vegetable garden, stuff is really starting to grow now. Friday, June 14 View Page Just put these sweet potatoes in. I have five types White Triumph, Beauregard, Carolina Ruby, Vardaman and Hayman. I bought all my plants from a place in TN called George's Plant Farm. He has the best prices and is a really nice guy. The 'Hayman's' I sprouted and grew myself. Hayman's are the preferred variety on the Delmarva Peninsula where they ask for it by name. It is a white potato that is drier than the typical orange fleshed ones. Still plenty sweet and has a unique flavor. It is hard to describe but very delicious. It is becoming increasingly rare as it does not produce any where near the yield of the newer types like Beauregard. Monday, July 1 View Page Dang it. The 144 Cantrell is done. I noticed that when I nicked the main vine on this one a couple days ago, it leaked brown sap. I had a feeling that something bad was brewing. Thanks Dave for the seed. That cross sure had some vigor. I can only imagine what kind of melon it would have grown for me. Monday, July 1 View Page Another shot of the 144. Too late to start another melon. Monday, July 1 View Page The stump on the 144. Monday, July 1 View Page Never give up. This spot has super good soil and it has the hardware cloth fence to keep the voles out. I will throw in some sweet potato slips that I didn't think I would need. Notice I didn't ridge these. I have grown without ridges before and the yield is just about the same with half the effort. You need to have a soil that is a sandy loam. I am not sure it would work on a clay or clay loam. Monday, July 1 View Page I have got a nice set on the 1339 Adams. Plenty of plant behind it. Things are ready to roll! Monday, July 1 View Page 1364 Haist. Monday, July 1 View Page 1339 Adams Monday, July 1 View Page 1364 Haist Monday, July 1 View Page Pumpkin number two on the 1364 Haist. Yeah I know one pumpkin per plant... But these plants will be covering 1,000 square feet! After YVD took out all but one of my plants last year, I am feeling very pumpkin deprived and I really would like some giant pumpkins to sell,and bring to the fair this year. So I am thinking I will leave two pumpkins on both the 1364 Haist and 1339 Adams. Maybe just maybe I will hook onto a really fast growing monster. Fingers are crossed. Monday, July 1 View Page My son's patch. From left to right 1432 Northrup, 1107 Sweet, and 1499.5 Adams. I had a 1107 Sweet seed too, Pete gave it to me at the Durham Fair last year. I planted it and hoped to grow one this year. Unfortunately, the seedling had issues and it never made it to the patch. I planned on kicking some butt with that seed. Monday, July 1 View Page This shot shows my Dark Knight melon and 238.5 Holloway in the foreground. On the left of the melons you will see some Giant Castor beans that I planted on May 14. Behind the melons are my late Ag's. Two 891 Cantrells and a 956 Marsh and a 81 wolf field pumpkin. Friday, July 12 View Page Look at this pretty little melon on the Dark Knight melon plant. Friday, July 12 View Page 238.5 Holloway Friday, July 12 View Page Dark Knight melon. So far I have kept the weeds out! Friday, July 12 View Page 956 Marsh Coming along in the late planting. Friday, July 12 View Page 891 Cantrell plant b. Unfortunately I lost my other 891 around the fourth of July to YVD. Let's hope that will be my only YVD casualty this year. YVD means game over! If you have not seen it in your patch, count your blessings. Now I see it everywhere. Any yellow or wilting leaf that I see, I immediately think "Oh NO it's YVD!" I will try to stay calm and I will see how it looks tomorrow. Friday, July 12 View Page 81 Wolf plant, I have it in a spot that doesn't see the sun until 11:00. It seems to like it. I won't mind it coming in nice and late. I don't want a ripe one the first week of August. I am psyched to be able to grow the best field pumpkin seed of all time. Thanks Andy. Friday, July 12 View Page 177 Westfall bushel gourd seed. I have seen male and female blossoms but no sign of any fruit yet. Whatever pollinates these things must not be around yet. Friday, July 12 View Page Sweet potatoes coming on now. Friday, July 12 View Page Sweet corn. I stagger the plantings every two weeks from around the 20th of April through the 15th of July. Basically every time you see your most recently planted corn is up about an inch or two. Plant some more. Varieties include 'Stellar', 'Vision' and a bunch of different 'Mirai' types. You can't go wrong with the 'Mirai' Sweet corn. Thanks to Brother Dave Cantrell for letting me know about them. I like to choose the varieties with really good husk protection. The deeper down the ear is in the husk the fewer worms you will see. No spray here. Friday, July 12 View Page Holloway Mt. Hoosiers are doing great! They are no trouble either as they are mulched. No weeds! Friday, July 12 View Page Giant onions from Marty Schnicker courtesy of Shannon's Giant veggie exchange. Friday, July 12 View Page A row of 'Jubilee' and 'Peddler' watermelons on the left and muskmelon to the right. These plants really suffered with the wet cold rainy weather we had in May. Many damped off and I had to use replacement transplants to fill in the holes. They are doing well now. Friday, July 12 View Page 'Snow fairy' tomatoes starting to ripen already. This is an early bush type, no staking needed. Plants grow to about the size of bush bean plants. It is an open pollinated strain so you don't have to buy seed ever, just save your own. Thursday, July 25 View Page What a nice crop of onions. This year we grew three varieties. 'Ailsae Craig', 'White Sweet Spanish' and 'Candy' The onions in this picture are 'Candy'. Thursday, July 25 View Page The 'Jubilee' and 'Peddler' watermelon row is on the left, The muskmelon row is on the right. They are now growing together. I am surprised that the muskmelons seem more aggressive than the watermelons. Thursday, July 25 View Page Sweet potatoes starting to cover all the open ground. I can just sit back and watch them grow from here on out. Monday, July 29 View Page 1339 Adams, pumpkin number 2 on a side vine. Monday, July 29 View Page 1339 Adams, this one is on the main. Monday, July 29 View Page 1364 Haist. This one is already starting to look pretty. I love it when you get a pretty one, when you don't expect to. Monday, July 29 View Page 'Sensation 95' sweet corn. This corn grows about 9 feet tall and you get two nice yellow ears from each stalk. It is a 90 day se type sweet corn. Monday, July 29 View Page 1364 Haist fruit number two on a side vine. Note to new growers, Notice how I have carefully trained the vine away from the pumpkin. LOL Monday, July 29 View Page 238.5 Holloway melon and Dark Knight melon (from Cliff Knight) a Black Diamond type. Monday, July 29 View Page A little melon set on my 'Dark Knight' plant. Monday, July 29 View Page 138.5 Holloway Monday, July 29 View Page 238.5 Holloway fruit number 2. Excuse the prior post I said 138.5 Holloway, I meant to say 238.5 Holloway. Monday, July 29 View Page Cull season has begun. I have decided to allow each plant to grow two melons per plant. Monday, July 29 View Page 956 Marsh. Monday, July 29 View Page 1107 Sweet. One of my son's plants. Monday, July 29 View Page 1432 Northrup, On another one of my son's plant's. A nice long shape. Monday, July 29 View Page Look at this little beauty on the 956 Marsh. Monday, July 29 View Page Another little set on the 956 Marsh. I have always liked pumpkins that start out with this shape. I think that it is mostly for sentimental reasons. The 617 Horton I grew back in '07 had this same type of shape. Monday, July 29 View Page 891 Cantrell, it looks like I may have a squash in the patch this year. I love surprises. Monday, July 29 View Page An 891 Cantrell set. I believe I made a mistake in the prior post. The pumpkin was the 956 Marsh not the 891 . (they started out on the green side then turned yellow after they started to grow.) Monday, July 29 View Page Here is a shot of the 177 Westfall bushel gourd. I still don't see many sets yet, but the plant is huge. Monday, July 29 View Page Another 891 Cantrell set. I am having a problem with this plant. The fruit all seem to keep aborting on me. Looks like this one is showing signs it may abort too. Monday, July 29 View Page 81 Wolf plant. Monday, August 5 View Page 1339 Adams Starting to look like it has some size to it. Nothing is really growing super fast this year. I haven't measured anything yet. I really don't like to measure, especially this year. If I had one doing 50 a night then maybe I would have some incentive to wrap a tape around these pumpkins. Monday, August 5 View Page 1339 Adams fruit number two on a secondary. Monday, August 5 View Page 1364 Haist, This pumpkin is on the main. Monday, August 5 View Page 1364 Haist, this fruit is on a secondary. Monday, August 5 View Page I have been gardening for many years and I continue to make mistakes. At first, I didn't have a clue what was going on with this 1364 Haist plant. I watched this plant thinking it had some deadly disease and that it would surely take the whole plant down. Monday, August 5 View Page Well it wasn't a disease at all. I caused this when I spread Holland's Calcium and Amino acid as a granular all around and in the plant. (They were meant to be applied as liquids.) The dose the plant received was toxic and hence the leaves wilted and looked awful whenever the sun shone. It was a salt overload! I am lucky that I didn't lose this plant! Monday, August 5 View Page 1364 Haist in the foreground and 1339 Adams in the background. The patch is just about filled in except for the stunted end of the 1364 Haist plant. Monday, August 5 View Page The melon patch with some castor beans planted on the north side. Beyond the melons are my 956 Marsh,891 Cantrell and 81 Wolf. So far so good with the weeds. Let's see if I can finish well. Monday, August 5 View Page My Son Ethan's 1499.5 Adams. Blossom end is ready to blow! Monday, August 5 View Page Ethan's 1107 Sweet. Monday, August 5 View Page Ethan's 1432 Northrup. Still nice and long with square ends. Monday, August 5 View Page 956 Marsh. It is still looking pretty. I am hoping for a perfect pumpkin off this plant Monday, August 5 View Page I am starting to see some young pumpkins on the 81 Wolf field pumpkin. Monday, August 5 View Page What a year for peaches! The trees are all loaded up this year. This a 'Reliance' peach. They will be ready to eat soon. Monday, August 5 View Page Castor beans are starting to get some height to them. The variety is 'Giant Zanzibariensis' I purchased the seed from Baker Creek seeds. They have about 4 different varieties of castor bean! Monday, August 5 View Page A Holloway Mt. Hoosier. In this patch I have not done any fruit thinning. I am seeing lots of melons. Many are quite large. Monday, August 5 View Page A nice looking 'Solstice' melon. With in a week or two this will be ready. Many of these are quite large. Monday, August 5 View Page The eating melon patch looks like it will yield a good harvest. This is a 'Jubilee' melon. They are all going to be nice sized. The weather has been cooler than normal especially at night. I hope that doesn't ruin things. Monday, August 5 View Page A shot of the whole eating melon patch. It is just about all filled in. Vines are growing on top of each other now. Monday, August 12 View Page A Nice 'Solstice melon' These have some decent size and remind me of the old Harris variety, 'Superstar'. Definitely not the best eating in the patch though. Monday, August 19 View Page At last I have some nice bushel gourds on my huge plants. Monday, August 19 View Page 1339 Adams pumpkin b, on a secondary. Monday, August 19 View Page 1339 Adams pumpkin "a", this pumpkin is on the main vine. Monday, August 19 View Page 1364 Haist pumpkin on the main vine. I love the color on this one. I had no idea this would be such an orange one. Monday, August 19 View Page 1364 Haist pumpkin b on a secondary. A real dark orange. Monday, August 19 View Page 'Red Haven' peach tree. These were superior to the 'Reliance' in size and taste. The trees in the orchard were planted in November of 09. Fall is a good time to get deals at your local nursery. I got these for half price, as the nurseryman did not make much if anything on the deal, but he didn't have to overwinter them and risk losing them. I have had really good results planting trees and shrubs in the fall. I think it is easier on the plants than doing it in the summer or other times where the plants will be stressed for water. Monday, August 19 View Page Now I don't know about you, but this picture just makes me happy. (1364 Haist in the foreground and 1339 Adams in the background.) Each plant has 1,000 square feet to grow in. That is by far the most space I have ever given to my Atlantic Giants. Monday, August 19 View Page My two competition melon plants. A Cliff Knight 'Black Diamond' A.K.A Dark Knight. and my 238.5 Holloway CC. Monday, August 19 View Page Dark Knight melon plant. These are gorgeous looking melons. Thanks for the seed Cliff. Monday, August 19 View Page This big fat melon is on my 238.5 Holloway. Monday, August 19 View Page This long skinny one is also on my 238.5 Holloway. I have big aspirations for this one. Growth has been slow, thanks to a cooler than normal August. Monday, August 19 View Page 1107 Sweet (my Son's plant) Monday, August 19 View Page My Son's 1432 Northrup. Coming along nicely. Monday, August 19 View Page This melon is interesting to me. It is off of a seed from Jake Holloway. I believe it is off his 101 Mt Hoosier, obviously it crossed with one of his CC's. I would love to see a melon this color go over 200. This one was a very late set in my eating patch and did not get very big. Maybe 40 pounds or so. I did save the seeds from it. I really like the beauty of the dark melons. Monday, August 19 View Page 956 Marsh Still looking pretty. Monday, August 19 View Page 81 wolf. We have some set now. Monday, August 19 View Page 891 Cantrell, I am still trying to get a squash set. They have all aborted so far. Monday, August 19 View Page 891 Cantrell. Like all squash, these have really long stems. Monday, August 19 View Page 177 Westfall bushel gourd is starting to take over the yard. These things really grow. Which is surprising because I have heard that they really need the heat. We really have not had a very hot summer. (Except for early to mid July) Monday, August 19 View Page A nice 6 pound bass. When I caught this fish I happened to look down it's throat while removing the hook. It had the tail fin of another fish sticking out. I am sure this fish was probably closer to 5.75 pounds if you subtract the fish it had just eaten. Friday, August 30 View Page 1339 Adams is loaded and ready to go to the Goshen Fair! Friday, August 30 View Page 1339 Adams, looking beefy. Friday, August 30 View Page This wheelbarrow is full of melons that are from a breeding project that I have been working on. These are the f2 and f3 generation from the now discontinued 'Saticoy' Hybrid. I am hoping to develop an open pollinated strain that has the taste and physical characteristics of the original hybrid. Friday, August 30 View Page Here is what they look like cut open. Dark orange flesh,small seed cavity with a green rind that contrasts nicely with the bright orange flesh. This variety is tops for sweetness and flavor. They are late, but well worth the wait! This one was delicious. Friday, August 30 View Page These are a few of the shapes I was getting. The one in the middle most resembles the original variety. The netting is sparse, quite different than what most people expect to see. Some of the melons were heavily netted, with a bigger seed cavity. I did not save any seed from those. Friday, August 30 View Page This is a 1027 Lombardi that I planted on a manure pile. I set it out late, around the middle of June. I wanted a stem on top beauty just for fun. Friday, August 30 View Page A little trivia, Does anyone know what type of plant this flower is from? Friday, August 30 View Page Another picture of the same species. Any guesses? Friday, August 30 View Page O.K here are a couple of hints to my prior post about the flower. Hint #1 It is in the mallow family (malvacae) Hint #2 It is an annual plant not usually grown in the north. Saturday, August 31 View Page The answer to the trivia question is. The flower is from a cotton plant! They are quite beautiful. The variety is 'Egyptian green'.. I bought the seed from Sandhill preservation center in Iowa. They have the largest selection of non hybrid seed I have ever seen. If you look closely you can see a bunch of mite damage on the leaves. Saturday, August 31 View Page Goshen Fair 2013. Pictured is my 738 Ciesielski off of the 1339 Adams.(this was the pumpkin on the main) The watermelon or is that a green field pumpkin? LOL The melon is off the 110 Holloway Mt Hoosier. It weighed 78 Pounds. Not bad considering it grew on a plant that was just left to grow. The plant has probably 5 more in the 50 pound range. Saturday, August 31 View Page This was the only other entry. A nice looking pumpkin. Saturday, August 31 View Page A 'Moon and Stars' and a couple nice 'Jubilee' watermelons. Out of the open pollinated melons we really like the 'Jubilee' best for taste. They are a bit too large for market sales. We eat their sugary sweet hearts and give the cows the rest. Ahhh.... the priveledges of farming. It is like taking the prime rib out of a cow and feeding the rest to the dogs. LOL Saturday, August 31 View Page 1364 Haist fruit "A" on the main vine. Saturday, August 31 View Page 1364 Haist fruit "a", stem end. I plan on bringing this one to the Bethlehem fair next week. My hometown fair! Saturday, August 31 View Page 1364 Haist fruit "b" on a secondary. Taping in the 600 range. Saturday, August 31 View Page A Cliff Knight, "Dark knight" black diamond type. The key on the top is for size reference. I am hoping to go 100 pounds or more with these. Monday, September 2 View Page 1339 Adams fruit number 2 on a secondary. Monday, September 2 View Page Every year around this time, I see a few praying mantis'. I don't know why I don't notice them earlier in the summer. It is kind of creepy the way they turn their heads to look at you. This guy was lucky, he almost got sheared in half with the hedge trimmer. Monday, September 2 View Page I found another one a few feet away on a dead spot in the hedge. Look at how it blends right in. I am surprised these two didn't mind being so close to one another. Monday, September 2 View Page 1364 Haist, loaded and ready to go to the Bethlehem Fair. Monday, September 2 View Page I also brought a 81 Wolf field pumpkin, 238 Holloway melon, and a Cliff Knight dark rind melon. Monday, September 2 View Page Look at the half yellow and half red zinnia, I have never seen one like that before. I think I got seeds off of it, I wonder if they will grow any more half and halfs. Monday, September 2 View Page How cool are these longhorns I saw at the fair! The man was pulling with them. He told me these will get last place and that he brings them just for the fun of it. Their horns are so long that they interfere with each other when pulling. Monday, September 2 View Page Another team. Oxen are huge. The Holsteins and Brown Swiss were the biggest I saw there. Monday, September 2 View Page 121 Ciesielski melon grown on the 238.5 Holloway. On a bushel gourd rootstock. This one was nice and fat Monday, September 2 View Page 85 pound black diamond from Cliff Knight's seed line. The plant was grown on it's own roots. Monday, September 2 View Page 83.2 Ciesielski field pumpkin, this was off the 81 Wolf. The first picked with many more coming off this plant. Too bad the blossom end was misshapen. I bet this one would have been closer to 100 pounds if it was shaped properly. I wish I knew what causes this, hopefully my other ones don't have the same shape. Monday, September 2 View Page This is Pete Sweet's 1,048 Pound first place entry. Monday, September 2 View Page My Second place 837 pounder off the 1364 Haist. Monday, September 2 View Page 956 Marsh is done for. I noticed a soft spot and sure enough she is rotting. Pretty soon the whole patch will smell like a stink bomb went off in it! Monday, September 2 View Page 956 Marsh stem end. I really liked the looks of this pumpkin, I thought she was going to be really pretty. Too bad. Monday, September 2 View Page Ethan's 1432 Northrup. A really nice shape, but it doesn't have much color. This one would be a show stopper if it were dark orange. Monday, September 2 View Page 1432 Northrup blossom end. Monday, September 2 View Page 891 Cantrell. I finally got one to set, but it sure isn't a pretty one. Monday, September 2 View Page Another set on the 891 Cantrell, unfortunately this one aborted soon after this photo. I have had a tough time growing squash over the years. Sunday, September 15 View Page 1364 Haist Pumpkin number 2 off of a secondary vine. This one is taping in the 600 pound range. Sunday, September 15 View Page 1364 Haist fruit number two side view. Sunday, September 15 View Page Giant Castor beans, these are still growing like crazy. They don't seem to mind the cooler weather at all. I am seeing a few seed heads, I hope to get some viable seed. It takes a long season to get seed from these, so we will just have to wait and see. Sunday, September 15 View Page I did pretty good keeping the weeds out this year, but as melon growth waned at the end of August you can see I decided to let things go a bit. Maybe I will revisit the landscape fabric idea. My vole fencing worked well. I did not see any damage from voles on my melons or my sweet potatoes. Without the fence the voles typically get most of my sweet potato crop. Not this year! The fence is 1/4" hardware cloth that is buried about 8" deep and rises about 10" out of the ground. It completely surrounds my patch. Total cost about $75.00 for my 30x50 patch. If you have had problems with voles this may be an idea worth trying. Sunday, September 15 View Page The inside of 120.8 Ciesielski, this melon was grown on a bushel gourd rootstock with the 238.5 Holloway melon. Sunday, September 15 View Page A pile of Mt Hoosier melons, most of these were off the 110 Holloway seed. Sunday, September 15 View Page Some Carolina Cross melons grown off my 125 Ciesielski seed on a 'Shintosa Camelforce' rootstock. The plants looked healthy all year but I believe they had a simmering GSB infection. Evident when the vines were cut. A brown colored sap would flow from the wound. Sunday, September 15 View Page A dark 'Carolina cross' that has some 'Mountain Hoosier' blood in it. This is off a Jake Holloway 'Mt Hoosier' seed. Sunday, September 15 View Page I planted some spinach a week ago and it is up and growing. This is the time of year to plant spinach. I will be eating fresh spinach by the end of April, probably a month earlier than if I had sown it in the spring. The best part is that the spinach comes so early that it beats the leaf miners! Spinach is plenty hardy it overwinters very well here without protection. I have done fall sown spinach in New Hampshire with no problems too. Sunday, September 15 View Page Cows love to eat melons too. Sunday, September 15 View Page Some late sweet corn. The dang birds have been having a field day with this corn. Wednesday, September 25 View Page All loaded up and ready to go to the Durham Fair tonight. I have got two field pumpkins, a black diamond melon, a Carolina Cross melon, a bushel gourd and a pumpkin that my son grew on the 1432 Northrup. Wednesday, September 25 View Page I harvested the rest of the bushel gourds, The one I brought to Durham weighed 187 pounds. Surprisingly I had 3 others of near equal size! These gourds were grown off two plants that were grown on the 177 Westfall seeds. The same seed that I used as a rootstock on my 238.5 Holloway melon Wednesday, September 25 View Page 1339 Adams fruit number 2. Taping in the 600 pound range. Wednesday, September 25 View Page 1027 Lombardi, not bad for a plant that got very little care. Saturday, October 5 View Page 133 Ciesielski off the 238.5 Holloway. Saturday, October 5 View Page 133 Ciesielski cross section. Full of air. It looks like someone took a core sample from it! lol Saturday, October 5 View Page 95 Ciesielski Black Diamond, solid as a rock. Saturday, October 5 View Page A close up of the 95 Black diamond rind shows a few yellow spots. Cliff told me that his dark rind melons had a little moon and stars blood in them. Saturday, October 5 View Page The castor beans are still growing! Some of them are now around 17-18' tall. I didn't think they were supposed to get this tall. It looks like I will get a few cords of firewood off these! LOL Saturday, October 5 View Page A late set on the 1339 Adams. One of the nice things about going to an early fair is that you have time to get some nice late set fruit. I let my plants load right up with them, Sometimes they come out really nice like this one. Monday, November 4 View Page This is the same photo as in the prior post. Notice that I have planted a row of 'Sugar Ann' Dwarf snow peas around the perimeter of the peppers. These will be done by the middle to end of June and will not interfere with the peppers or the melons. Tuesday, November 5 View Page This is a pretty little display with a bushel gourd and a late set pumpkin on the 1339 Adams. I like the green color next to the orange. It makes for a nice color contrast. Tuesday, November 5 View Page Spinach ready to be wintered over Wednesday, November 6 View Page This is my son Ethan's 1432 Northrup. He is growing on a no till spot covered with mulch hay. He also is growing an 1107 Sweet and a 1499 Adams. Wednesday, November 6 View Page Potatoes, I like to see a few blossoms by this date. These were put in around the April 22nd. We are getting lot's of rain with cool weather. I am hopeful that I will have a good crop. Sunday, November 10 View Page I planted some tillage radish in this section of garden, they went in after some early corn was finished. They did really well. Sunday, November 10 View Page Here are a few of the different shapes and sizes that I got. The long one was 17"! That is a lot deeper than my tiller will ever go. Maybe 3 or 4 inches of the radish sticks out above the ground. So you can safely guess that it penetrated the soil for 12" plus. I am going to plant a giant pumpkin in this spot next year. Maybe I will do it no till so as not to disturb what is going to be really soft friable soil. Sunday, November 17 View Page The 1364 Haist is in the foreground 1339 Adams is in the background. I still have room to grow plant into in this massive patch. Tuesday, November 19 View Page Another melon on the 'Dark Knight' plant. Saturday, December 14 View Page Black Diamond type from Cliff Knight. Now the 95# Ciesielski. Aint she purty.