Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 73 Entries. Wednesday, January 2 View Page Hi everyone. This is my second year in the patch. All the best to everyone, old and new Have a great season. Pete. Saturday, January 26 View Page Finally ! A day which is dry enough to get some work done. Prep is underway but lots more to get through. Not nearly dry enough to till yet so it will have to wait. Sunday, February 3 View Page Bored, The weather is crap and I cannot do much outside at the moment. I holed myself up in the shed this morning and started to make up some pots for sowing time. I`m gonna steer clear from peat pots this year. Sunday, March 16 View Page Good weather = jobs getting done. Managed to get my second greenhouse frame completed this morning. It still needs covered but I think it looks ok. This will be home for the 1093 Hunt for a couple of weeks. Also managed to get some ammendments on the patch but I still need to till when it is dry enough (I had to work them in by hand) Really looking forward to getting something in the ground !! Tuesday, March 25 View Page After much tinkering, finally got the tiller fired up. Patch is now tilled and ready to go. Thursday, March 27 View Page One mini greenhouse is now covered. It`s pretty hot in there ! Getting pretty close to planting time. Only a few weeks. Friday, March 28 View Page Patch is done. Both greenhouses are covered and in place. Now I can do some thumb twiddling !! Wednesday, April 9 View Page Managed today to get some more land for next year. Needs a shed load of work but I figure I have all year to get it ready. It is approx 1800 sq feet Excited ? You bet ! Saturday, April 12 View Page It begins ! 963 Paton and 1093 Hunt have been filed and are in the propagator. Thursday, April 17 View Page A day off work and some regular gardening. Decided to do an alpine trough Much easier than growing pumpkins ! Back in the patch tomorrow. Monday, April 21 View Page 1093 Hunt has sprouted (finally) after 9 days. Seem to have been looking at it constantly all last week. Pleased it is on it`s way. The first 963 Paton did not sprout so I am on the back up. Saturday, April 26 View Page 1097 Pitura is going well. It was planted after the 1093 Hunt and is beating it hands down at the minute. 10 days after it emerged, the cots are about 6" across and we have a first true leaf. Saturday, April 26 View Page 1093 Hunt on the right and the back up 963 Paton on the left. The 963 was a bit sickly when it came up but seems to be doing ok now. Tuesday, May 6 View Page Just got back from a weekend in London. Tuesday, May 6 View Page All plants are now in the patch as of Monday. Just in time for the weather to warm up. It`s been 72 degrees here today. Perfect weather unless you have just planted pumpkin plants in a greenhouse !! Covers were removed at 5.30am, which equals an early start for me. Tuesday, May 13 View Page 963 Paton. Doing well after a dodgy start. It`s benefited from being outside in the ground. Been outside for 8 days and going well Saturday, May 17 View Page 963 Paton. Day 12 after planting in the patch and doing well. Saturday, May 17 View Page 1093 Hunt. Day 12 after planting in the patch and doing well. Monday, May 19 View Page All plants continue to do well with the good weather we have been having. Long may it continue. Had a pretty devastating week. My dad passed away last Friday aged 80. He was a great influence on me and we will all miss him greatly. Monday, May 26 View Page 1093 Hunt beginning to lay down after 21 days. Plants looking really well. Foliar and drench this morning with seaweed. Monday, May 26 View Page 963 Paton at 21 days since planting. Healthy looking plant and quite aggresive. Seaweed foliar and soil drench this morning. Wednesday, May 28 View Page 1093 Hunt getting it`s first taste of real rain. Weather is dull but pretty warm right now. Should get better for the weekend Wednesday, May 28 View Page 963 Paton. Still doing well. Hopefully the wind fence will be up this week and the plants will come out of their houses. Saturday, May 31 View Page 1093 Hunt. Greenhouse is removed and the main is starting to move. It must be about 3 feet now and moving (slowly) towards the ground. Great weather today ! Sunday, June 1 View Page Finally got the main on the 1093 Hunt down on the ground. 963 Paton is down and vining. Both plants looking good. Saturday, June 7 View Page 1093 Hunt. Vining well. Secondarys are beginning to run. Saturday, June 7 View Page 963 Paton. Looking strong. Really impressed with the way this one has taken off after a slow start. Wednesday, June 11 View Page 1093. Still looking good. The main is not growing as quickly as I would like (maybe I`m being impatient !!) Gave it some liquid comfrey this morning and did some training of secondarys Friday, June 13 View Page Went fishing on Derwentwater which is in the lake district. Caught a few pike and had a relaxing day on the boat. Great fun ! Friday, June 13 View Page 1093 Hunt. started to bury vines with homemade compost. Wednesday, June 18 View Page What a difference a day makes ! We had some heavy rain last night. The first real rain in almost 6 weeks. The main on the 1093 Hunt has grown over a foot since yesterday morning (about 36 hours) First female has appeared at about 10-11 feet. This is great cos I was beginning to fret a little. The 963 Paton has also got it`s first female. No picture cos the camera on my phone was playin up Friday, June 20 View Page 1093. Looking good. Hope to start pollinating in 2 or 3 days. The main could do with being a little longer but I`ll have to go with what I have ! Friday, June 20 View Page 963. Vine burying today plus additions of myco. Sunday, June 22 View Page Weather has been awful this weekend. We had solid rain for 24 hours over Friday night and Saturday. We have rain again today and wind gusting to 70 mph. Wind fence is holding up at the moment but I`m flapping big time ! Thursday, June 26 View Page Plants chugging along slowly. The weather has been crap for a couple of weeks now. Lots of rain and temps in the low 60`s I hope we get some good weather soon. I could do with pollinating these guys ! Saturday, June 28 View Page 1093 Hunt. Pollinated first female at 12 feet this morning Monday, June 30 View Page Pollinated female flower from a couple of days ago on the 1093 Hunt. Pollinated with the 963 Paton. Monday, June 30 View Page First female on the 963 Paton. Will probably open in the next few days. Female is approx 12 feet out. Hopefully this will be a keeper. Monday, June 30 View Page More fishing pics. Managed to catch a bigger one this time ! Wednesday, July 2 View Page Male flowers from the 1093 Hunt. Gonna pollinate the 963 Paton in the morning. Sunday, July 6 View Page Second female on the 1093.This one is at 13 feet and a keeper hopefully. Sunday, July 6 View Page I have started to (carefully) bend the main away from the socond fruit. Not sure how long it will take but I need to take it slow. Sunday, July 6 View Page 963 Paton. Going really well. Further secondary burying plus additions of myco this morning. Monday, July 7 View Page Managed to bend the main round on the 1093 to a fairly right angled position to the fruit. Thanks Jos for the advice. Tuesday, July 8 View Page Second female on the 1093. You can see the first pollination in the background. I terminated and buried the first set of secondarys tonight at about 12 feet. Thursday, July 10 View Page Put the cover under the keeper on the 963 Paton. Also constructed a shade. All it`s doing at the moment is keeping the rain off Sunday, July 13 View Page I decided this morning to gear up for keeping the 1st pollination on the 1093 Hunt. I really wanted to keep the second one at about 13 feet but it does not seem to be moving at all. The weather has been bad for a couple of weeks now but we should do better this week. I will leave the 2 pollinations on this week and then make a final choice before next weekend. Membrane and sand plus a shade constructed this morning. Wednesday, July 16 View Page Uncovered a female on the 963 Paton today which I was gonna pollinate. I found this ! Deformed and seeds in the blossom. Wednesday, July 16 View Page 1093 Hunt. Slowly, slowl, slow, slo, sl s......... !!!! You get the picture ? Wednesday, July 16 View Page 1093 Hunt. Arty, under the canopy type shot !! Monday, July 28 View Page 1093 Hunt. Finally starting to put some pounds on. Weather has been good for a while and this plant is loving it ! OTT of 95" On a more sombre note, my keeper on the 963 Paton has begun to rot. I have pollinated one on a secondary but am way behind with it now. Sunday, August 3 View Page 1093 doing ok. Daily gains are starting to pick up now the pumpkin has got to a decent weight. Measuring 141 OTT for a weight of about 70 pounds. Gain was 13 pounds in the last 24 hours. Humic acid, seaweed and comfrey foliar feed added today Sunday, August 10 View Page The weather here is pretty bad at the moment.We have had so much rain in the last couple of weeks. The 1093 Hunt is chugging along (slowly) Might not be big but a looker non the less !! I`m looking for a tunnel for next year. I can`t go on like this ! i want to be competetive and growing outside just will not give me a fair chance to compete. Moan over !! Anyone got a tunnel for sale ???? Thursday, August 14 View Page 1093. Going sloooow. I`m happy with the way things are going with this one though. The rain hasn`t blown it up yet and I am getting modest gains every day. I guess I should be happy with that considering the stuff that`s been happening to some European growers this year ! Raining again today by the way ! Monday, August 18 View Page Slow and steady progress on the 1093. It`s starting to orange up around the blossom end even though it is constantly covered due to the rubbish weather. Wednesday, August 20 View Page 72 degrees and sunny. WOW !!!!! Thursday, August 21 View Page 1093. Starting to get some ribs. It`s a bit lumpy in places (arent we all) but is lookin good ! Thursday, August 21 View Page Another angle. Saturday, August 23 View Page Have begun to work on next seasons patch. Fence posts have started to go in. Wednesday, August 27 View Page 1093 up to 9 pounds a day. WooHoo !!! Sunday, September 7 View Page UK law states that all pumpkins must wear a seat belt when riding in the car !! My sons 80 pounder. Sunday, September 7 View Page Multiple blossom end splits on the 1093 Hunt. There is aslo a small split developing which is going away from the blossom. Hope it holds together Sunday, September 7 View Page Shot of the new patch. I will work all winter on this to get it ready. Sunday, September 7 View Page We got parsnips! Just right for eating. Sunday, September 14 View Page Better pic of the blossom end splits on the 1093. I have put some copper fungicide on them (made into a paste) Still putting on weight. 3 weeks till weigh off time. Monday, September 22 View Page Me and my 1093. It has stopped growing so I will be cutting it this weekend. Gonna go to the UK weigh off with Phil D and meet some other growers. It will be nice to speak to other growers as there are none in my area. Tuesday, September 23 View Page Just pulled the stump on the 963 Paton Tuesday, September 23 View Page Some of the leaf node roots on the 963 were really big Tuesday, September 23 View Page Patch clearing started, This will be a regular veg plot next year Friday, September 26 View Page 1093 is being lifted tomorrow. Plant has been removed. I did a thorough inspection of the stem end which was not possible while the plant was there. I found a small split coming off the stem but it has not gone through. (what a relief) Friday, September 26 View Page Decided to get ahead for next year. The new patch has been ploughed and then tilled. It has came up looking really good. I need an initial soil teast done before I start adding. The test I had done last year was not detailed enough so I need to get someone else to do it this time. Tuesday, October 21 View Page Back home after a dose of pleuracy which developed into a really nasty pneumonia. I still feel like I have a pumpkin sitting on my chest (but not a Paton thank goodness) Gutted I didn`t make the weigh off, especially since we have a new European record in the uk. Way ta go guys. Amazing stuff Wednesday, November 12 View Page Finally got the 1093 Hunt home after a pretty eventful trip from the patch. My patch is on a slope and if it had started to roll I swear it wouldn`t have stopped until it killed someone !! Seeing as I didn`t get to the weighoff, this is now the 498 Bragg 08 UOW (1093 Hunt x 963 Paton) It would have gone over 500 but was stuck on the plot for a few weeks. I wouldn`t say I,m proud of my season but I put in lots of work and it`s still a PB for me. I guess it`s an improvement on last year when I ended up with nothing. What have I learned this year ? To grow big in the UK you need to grow under cover. I will be growing in a polytunnel next season. Prep has already started on the new (2000sq foot) patch with around 1.5 tons of good quality manure already added.Seaweed is next on the agenda. Roll on next year !!