Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 53 Entries. Sunday, March 15 View Page Time to start this years diary! We put a thick layer of well rotten cow manure in the tunnel back last autumn, about 5-6 tonnes per plant. We also dug out three 8ft planting holes and then back filled them with a layer of manure then dirt and so on until they were filled, the holes were about 18 inches deep. The soil has been kept damp all winter and not allowed to get dried out which i dont think is good for the soil. I sprayed the weeds last weekend and were planning to get the dung rotavated in next weekend. Good luck to all for the coming season. Wednesday, April 1 View Page This is the new member of our family. Jack Frank Baggs born on the 30th of march at 03:53am weighing 10lb 6oz. It seems growing giants has gone to my head hehe. Jack's not quite old enough to grow his own Pumpkin yet, but if he gets a keen interest like his Daddy and Grandad then im sure in years to come he will grow a Big one. Sunday, April 5 View Page We got the polytunnel rotavated the week before last and the soil is looking good! Sunday, April 5 View Page Here are the seeds we are hoping to grow this year. Thanks to Ian and Stuart for letting us grow their 1188 Paton again and also for giving us the 1207 Young. I bought the 1062 Stelts from the EGVGA seed auction. Hoping to get the seeds started on tuesday. Saturday, April 11 View Page We have been busy getting the hoop houses up ready for the pumpkins. Sunday, April 12 View Page And loosening up the soil in the planting areas, we have also added half a bucket of chicken manure pellets to each planting area to give them a good start. Sunday, April 12 View Page I dont like wasting seeds but i wanted to make sure i had three back up plants for my three main plants and didnt expect to get nine out of nine germinate. Sunday, April 12 View Page Unfortunately the 1062 Stelts is a little behind the other plants at the moment, it will have to pick up if it wants to earn its place in the patch. Overall im very happy with the plants so far :) Monday, April 20 View Page Plants are now out in the patch, these two are both 1188 Paton plants. Monday, April 20 View Page These two are 1457 Paton plants which were originally planted as back ups but they are the strongest two plants of the batch so will be taking the place of the 1062. Monday, April 20 View Page Finally we have 1207 Young at the front and 915 Young at the back as the back up. Monday, April 20 View Page I have about a 1200sq ft area lined up to grow a few plants for shepton mallet, im still undecided what im going to plant here yet but being outside im not starting the seeds for a couple of weeks. Monday, May 4 View Page The pumpkin plants are making steady progress, here is the 1188 paton plant. Monday, May 4 View Page 1457 Paton plant Monday, May 4 View Page And finally 1207 Young plant. The back up plants are gone now. We have a few yellow spots on some of the leaves but we have had that other years so it shouldnt be a problem. So far so good. Tuesday, May 12 View Page Well weve had a bit of a set back with the 1457 plant, the plant is very difficult to keep the head down and now its cracked off half way through. Im not sure wether to keep this plant going or not yet, obviously alot of potential has gone. The 1188 and the 1207 have layed down a treat and seem to be very easy to manage at this stage. Tuesday, May 12 View Page 1457 plant, the other two look much the same. Saturday, May 23 View Page Well we're down to two pumpkin plants now as i decided to pull up the 1457 plant. The two plants are doing very well, here is the 1188 plant. Saturday, May 23 View Page And here is the 1207 plant. Saturday, May 23 View Page As we lost the 1457 plant there was a space in the tunnel so i decided to put in a couple of giant marrow plants. These two are from my own 74lb marrow i grew last year. Saturday, May 23 View Page And these two were given to me by Ian Stott. Peter Glazebrook gave a marrow to Ian last year and he kindly passed a few seeds on to me so thanks Ian. Im hoping to make a cross between the two plants and hoping to get a couple of decent sized marrows! Sunday, May 31 View Page Well the plants are growing very well, very hot here at the moment and the plants are suffering with the heat a bit. Im hoping to pollenate the first female flowers this week however ive been examining the female flowers that ive taken off the main and secondaries up to now and roughly 50% of the flowers on this plant have been deformed. I dont know why because the rest of the plant seems to be perfecly normal. Sunday, May 31 View Page The above picture was the 1188 this is the 1207, again a great plant but virtually every female flower ive taken off this one has been deformed with the seeds in the blossom so im not expecting to get a pumpkin set on this one for a while. Sunday, May 31 View Page My own marrow plant, doing ok :) Sunday, May 31 View Page And finally the Glazebrook marrow, this one has been a real handfull to get to lay down because it seems to want to grow back over itself! However i think ive got the measure of him now. Both marrow plants are equally as good at this stage. Thursday, June 11 View Page All is well in our pumpkin patch, here is the 1188 plant which is looking good. I have two pumpkins pollenated on this plant so far, the first one pollenated on the 2nd june at about 14ft which is about the size of a big coconut (but without hair) and the other must be about 16ft or so. They are both open pollenated. Thursday, June 11 View Page And here is the 1207 plant, Unfortunately i lost the main vine on this one. The sun burnt it right off! strange because none of the lateral vines got their tips burnt, nevermind. Thursday, June 11 View Page This is a pumpkin i pollenated on the 3rd of june on the 1207 plant, its a bit deformed and i thought that i was going to have to go with it but then.. Thursday, June 11 View Page ..this perfect 5 lobe flower opens up this morning! If this one sets then i will cull the other one. Its about 3ft away from the end of the main vine. i will train a lateral as a new main. Thursday, June 11 View Page The stump on the 1207. Thursday, June 11 View Page My own marrow plant, nice thick vine on this one. Thursday, June 11 View Page The Glazebrook marrow plant, the laterals are longer on this one. Thursday, June 11 View Page I have a few plants going out of doors but nothing is really happening here yet. Monday, June 29 View Page Finally got round to putting some more pictures on! Here is the 1188 plant which im fairly happy with at the moment. Monday, June 29 View Page And the pumpkin on the 1188 plant. I had to cull the first pumpkin on this plant as it developed a dill ring and was not a very good shape. This one was pollenated on the 4th of june and is now 171 inches ott which is 116lbs at day 25. Not growing as fast as last years 1188 but its a great shape and looks fairly solid. Looks like its going to be a wheel shape. Monday, June 29 View Page The 1207 plant. Monday, June 29 View Page The 1207 plant seems to be a bit of a disaster! The only undeformed flower i could find to pollenate on this plant has ended up like this. Monday, June 29 View Page The marrow plants however are looking really good, both of them looking far better than last year. This is the Glazebrook marrow. Monday, June 29 View Page And my own 74 plant. Monday, July 6 View Page 1188 day 32. 233 inches ott = 275lbs est weight. 159 lbs gain for the week. Monday, July 6 View Page There is a split opening up on the 1188 and with all the back ups gone we will just have to hope it holds out. Monday, July 6 View Page the Glazebrook marrow plant Monday, July 6 View Page and the first marrow pollenated on it. pollenated on 2nd so 4 days old today. Monday, July 20 View Page Here is the 1188, now at an estimated weight of 463lbs. Its only put on around 180lbs in the last two weeks. After being spoilt last year with the 1341lb pumpkin we had ive little interest in this pumpkin. Monday, July 20 View Page I had a great marrow coming along until a couple of days ago. IT was 26 inches long at 14 days old and growing about 3 inches a day but then.. Monday, July 20 View Page The bugger split lol. No big deal plenty of time to pollenate more. Not a great season for me so far. Monday, July 27 View Page Well thats the 1188 finished. Blossum end split. Monday, July 27 View Page Ive got two giant marrows going, both are arownd two weeks old and roughly twenty inches long. Both are nice and yellow and look like they have a lot of growing left in them. This is on the 74 Baggs plant. Monday, July 27 View Page and this one on the Glazebrook plant. Im hoping these two hold together lol. Thursday, August 13 View Page Whatever i seem to get growing this season either rots or busts open. This was the glazebrook marrow which split a couple of weeks back. It weighed 76lbs on bathroom scales and was three weeks old. it split on the side which can be seen in this picture Thursday, August 13 View Page It also split on the blossum Thursday, August 13 View Page The marrow on my own plant only grew for three weeks before maturing which was disappointing. Probally around 60lbs give or take a bit. I also have one other marrow going at a similar pace as this one did on this plant. Its about two weeks old and will probally finish up around the same size. Thursday, August 13 View Page Well after losing the glazebrook marrow i managed to get this one pollenated a week ago on the end of a secondary vine its 11 inches long today which is pretty good. i also had a desperate hunt around under the leaves and found two more marrows which are about 18 inches long now.