Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 62 Entries. Sunday, March 30 View Page This is the beginning of my 2008 diary. This year I am planning to do things a little different. I have done a great deal more research and one of the bigest changes is to expand the size of my growing area so I decided to triple the size and reduce the number of items growing in that area. The approximate size of my new area is right around 1500 square feet. I am planning to only grow five plants. Attached is a diagram of my plans. Sunday, March 30 View Page Back in January I took a soil sample from my new patch to see exactly what I am dealing with. I learned alot and I was on a new mission to find some additives to help neutralize my soil a little. My neighbor found was having a new lawn installed and some of the organic material that was being brought in was just what I was looking for. I have 8 yards delivered and thinking about getting four more. Attached is the soil report. Sunday, March 30 View Page The amendments have been delivered. Sorry for the blurry picture, It was cold when my wife was taking to photos for me and she said she was shivering. Sunday, March 30 View Page The land scaping company spread the dirt for me. Next he will use some heavier machinery and mix it in for me. Then I will start the tilling. Sunday, March 30 View Page It is getting dark, but I was able to erect the garden fence to keep the pumpkin dogs out of the patch. Also, to keep the kids from trampling the plants too. Sunday, March 30 View Page And the seeds have been planted, watered and stored in a warm, humid area. I work out of town and hopefully when I get back I will see some growth. My next steps is to get the patch ready for planting and the building of my hot houses. This will be done next week. In my research, I learned that I could have a late season frost all the way through the end of April, so I am planning to protect my beautiful plants until the threat of frost is gone. Monday, April 7 View Page Well, a little disappointed from my return to Nashville from Philly. I was hoping to see a glimmer of life out of any one of the five seeds that I had planted. I decided that maybe they are not getting enough light. I went to Lowes and bought all of the components needed to build a grow light to hover over the bathtub. This is where the plants are starting their life. (It is a garden tub, which my wife doesn't use very often, so, I decided to use it as a nursery) Monday, April 7 View Page Sunday was beautiful here in Nashville, The weather man called for temp to be in the mid 70's. According to my weather station, I was getting a temp in the mid 80's. My planting device was tranferred to the outdoors for the day. Nothing is better than getting mother nature to help in the development of my new plants. Monday, April 7 View Page Before I new it, I saw a glimmer of life out of my 1009 Young. She is standing about 1/2 inch above the soil and I was able to see the beautiful green color of life. My hope is by this Thursday she will loose the seed carcas and start to stand on her own. I also prceeded to investigate to see how well the other are doing. With a tooth pick I dug into the soil and confirmed that three other are growing as well and it will be just a number of days before they too break the surface. I am excited now. Monday, April 7 View Page I checked the seeds this morning at 4 AM before leaving for the airport and to my surprise my 1048 Companion has begun to break the surface. This was one seed that I did not check to see if anything was growing. I was very happy to see the newest addition. I will remain to be on pins and needles until I see all of my seeds up and thriving. As I look at the other pots, I can see a great deal of soil movement from the day before. I should see something from them all on my return this week. Wednesday, April 9 View Page There Alive!! I receive these pics from my wife. I can't wait to get home this week to see the progress for my self and aid in the seed removal from the leaves. Wednesday, April 9 View Page Here is another! I am very pleased to see all five plants up. Last year I did not have this type of success with planting the seeds in the ground and adding water. I think it was a 50/50 split. I am now convinced this is the way to start a seed. Sunday, April 13 View Page I was going to use this weekend to put my young seedlings out into their new home, but.....They are calling for snow showers over night with temperatures below freezing. Next week will be the week. This just goes to tell you that the information about the last frost/freeze is just a guess or a mathematical average. According to the 2008 farmers almanac the last average frost for my area is April 5th. Not this year. Monday, April 21 View Page Well, I had a very eventful weekend; I ended up spending Saturday from 11:30 to 17:30 tilling the patch. It was very hard work, since 3/4 of the ground was never tilled before it took a while to get the dirt to behave. I added the recommended amendments and tilled everything in. Sunday was the planting day. I was a little apprehensive because of the cold temps on Saturday, but my plants were longing for their new home. Plus the wife was ready to get them out of the bathtub. Here is one set of plants in their incubators. Monday, April 21 View Page I know my Hoop Houses or hot houses are not the traditional house, but they should offer the plants the protection they need to become hardened. As you can tell, from the picture, I used what I had lying around plus some extra material to create the structure. Materials: 5 - Electric fence posts - One in each corner and one in the ceter the create the teepee look. 1 - Decorative hoop fence to create the parameter around the polls 1 - Piece of plastic. 10' X 15' 1 - Role of 100 mile per hour tape. Maybe next year I will have actual hoop houses. Monday, April 21 View Page The plants are well protected above and below the ground. I have carefully planted them in the containers I started them in. These containers will naturally break down in about 30 days. Additionally, by using this mechanism I did not have to worry about disturbing the delicate root structures that are just now starting to form. The picture that I am providing here is an overview of my entire patch. Tuesday, April 22 View Page Here is my new toy that I should get in a couple of weeks to help maintain the patch. I went to HD to rent one and I saw this on the floor for a quite a bit off the normal asking price. In looking at the machine I reallized it was missing a belt and it must had been used only once. I asked about the machine and they said they would get it fixed if I bought it. Off course, I bought it, then told the wife. She wasn't very happy, but I said I needed it to help grow giant pumpkins, right? Sunday, April 27 View Page Well my plants have been outside for a week now. Temps earlier in the week were quite pleasant and a little warm. Today is a different story, cold and drury. I am glad I have the cold boxes over the plants. They have grown extensively. This week I have begun my organic fertilizer regiment to give the plants every advantage. Sunday, April 27 View Page Plant 2, 1250 Kline! Sunday, April 27 View Page My smallest of the five, but it still looks great. 754 Fredricks Sunday, April 27 View Page Plant 4. Sunday, April 27 View Page Plant 5 and the final plant! All are looking good and very happy with there progress. Tuesday, May 6 View Page Came back to a bit more growth on each plant, but because of the cold temps in the early part of the week I expected some slow down. During my weekly examination of my plants I found that one of them suffered some wind damage. This wasn't a tattered leaf, but the entire plant was flipped in the air on to itself causing the stem to split. I have decided to let the plant go at this point. Simply because it is still my larges plant and the split seems to be repaing itself. I have put a temporary measure in place to prevent the wind from flipping the plant again. Tuesday, May 6 View Page My eldest son was in charge of the plant photos this week. The next few are some of his snapshots. The Pumpkin Guard Dog! Tuesday, May 6 View Page The Pumpkin Mom and the youngest assistant. Tuesday, May 6 View Page The Pumpkin Mom and the youngest assistant. Tuesday, May 6 View Page The Photographer! Tuesday, May 6 View Page Pumpkin Dad feeding the kids! Tuesday, May 6 View Page Second Largest plant, but growing in the wrong direction. I have also implemented some permanent hot box plant to start the hardening process of the plant. Weather forcast stated that it was going to be a pleasant week of sunshine with showers and thunderstorms at the end of the week. Tuesday, May 6 View Page Sorry incomplete thought, I have also implemented some permanent hot box ventalation to start the hardening process of the plant. Weather forcast stated that it was going to be a pleasant week of sunshine with showers and thunderstorms at the end of the week. Here is another one of the five plants. Sunday, May 11 View Page Nasty low pressure system has been moving through middle TN causing extremely high wind. Installed some erosion control to help sheild the plants from the wind. They have suffered torn leaves, broken main vines. It doesn't look really good at this point. I will have to let nature take its course. I just hope they are able to recover from some of the drama they have faced so far today and to continue into the over night hours. This just sucks! Sunday, May 11 View Page This is the 981 Zunino this morning! Sunday, May 11 View Page The 981 Zunino befor the wind. I just hope this one returns to it glory. Sunday, May 11 View Page The 1048 Companion yesterday. Sunday, May 11 View Page The 1048 Companion today! Sunday, May 11 View Page The 754 Fedricks, Yesterday, Today she is feeling a little wind blown. Sunday, May 11 View Page The 1250 Kline yesterday, she was a beautiful specimen. Today, she has received most of the damage due to the wind. Many broken leaves. Hopefully she will provail. Sunday, May 11 View Page The 1009 young, my science experiment, has suffered another split on the main approximately 18" down the vine. This is a picture of what it looked like yesterday. Sunday, May 11 View Page The 1009 Young is the plant that had the stem split at the base of the plant. This is a pic of the split a week after the injury has occurred. As of yesterday the plant was the fastest growing. I will have to see what next week will bring. Sunday, May 11 View Page On a lighter note, my boys found a lizard on my neighbors pile of chip. I thought it was pretty neat so I took a couple of photos. Sunday, May 11 View Page Here is another picture of the Lizard. Monday, May 26 View Page My plants have recovered nicely from the wind storm two weeks ago. We have had some nice temps with warmer than normal lows over night. This has promoted a growth explosion. My largest plant is pushing 9'. It has multiple secondaries developing. The call for this week is warm and humid with some nice rain fall. Pic 1048 Companion Monday, May 26 View Page It is always exciting to see the first females develop on the plant. However, for my planning purposes I am thinking that it is a little early to set a pumpkin. My goal is to set one by July 4th. I will have to wait and see. Might need to make some adjustments for next year. Monday, May 26 View Page The 981 Zunino! Monday, May 26 View Page 1250 Kline Thursday, May 29 View Page 2 males on the 981 Zunino are getting ready to open as of Monday. They have probably started to bloom already. Thursday, May 29 View Page The 754 Fredricks! I gave one these seeds to a friend because he wants to try to grow a pumpkin. His pumpkin is still in a pot. He needs to get it in the ground before it dies! I have also showed him the size of mine. We will have to wait and see. Monday, June 2 View Page It was a rainy and wet weekend, but I was really quite satisfied with the growth on all of my plants. The current forecast for the week is for a chance of some more rain today then it will dry out and will becomes hot and very humid. Temps will be close to 90 all week long. The picture is of the 1009 Young. This is my now experimental plant, due to the deformed main and wind damage. It is a little thinner than the other, but is showing some fantastic growth. Female opened on Saturday and pollinated it with a male from the 1250 Kline. Monday, June 2 View Page 981 Zunino, Is starting to come into it's own. It is a plant that has seem to be pretty slow, but the reality is that it is a very compact plant and is slowly taking off. I found some bugs on this plant, and have officially started my attach to rid the patch of any bugs that may be harmful to my plants. I will have to hit the plants again this weekend because of all the rain we have had, but if I start now I should not have a problem later. Monday, June 2 View Page 1250 Kline - This plant probably shown the most growth in the past week. Wonderfully large green leaves. Monday, June 2 View Page 754 Fredricks - Last but, not least. This plant is very compact and is a great looking plant. My friend just informed me that he has planted his 754 Fredricks. Hopefully it will do as well as mine. Sunday, June 15 View Page 1009 Young, This plant is not doing so well. The leaves are of a light green and just does not have the mass the other plants do. I am going to continue to let it grow. Sunday, June 15 View Page 1250 Kline, I really like this plant. Now I just need to get a pumpkin set. I would like to try to find additional seeds if I don't get one this year. I really would like to grow this plant again. Sunday, June 15 View Page 1048 Companion, Another very large plant. I am hoping to get a pumpkin set on this one too. As you can see I have issues with excessive grass growing. I am trying to figure out the best way to manage this without killing my plants. Sunday, June 15 View Page 981 Zunino, just like the 1048, it is big and beautiful. I wish I could get a pumpkin set on this plant. maybe in the next week or so.. Sunday, June 15 View Page 754 Fredricks, This is the plant that has surprised me the most. It is really a strong plant and does well in the heat. This is the one plant which I have a pumpkin growing. One thing I have already decided for next year is four plants and no more. This way I can spend all my time focusing on these four plants. Sunday, June 15 View Page My first Atlantic Giant is on the vine. It is small now, but I hope it will grow large in the weeks to come. Friday, July 11 View Page Hello All, It has been a while since my last update. The patch has had some transitions in the past month. Some of them were positive and the other was negative. The 1250 Kline plant is Deceased. I had been fighting dying leaves and last Sunday I was examining the main and the stump had become rotten. I have removed the plant from the patch to eliminate any risk of disease as the plant further decays. It was a sad day in the patch. :-( Now for some good news. The other 4 plants are doing really well. They continue to thrive in my lush green environment. I currently have four pumpkins set. One on each plant. My largest to date has a OTT 121LBS. I am pretty excited. This is definately the largest pumpkin I have grown to date. It is currently putting on approximately 10 pounds per day. I can only hope it continues to grow and we will see what I have come September. Friday, July 11 View Page I beleive this is growing off the 1048 companion and is a Open pollination. Friday, July 11 View Page Last pic for today! Wednesday, August 6 View Page The larger of the two pumpkins currently being measured had another slow growth week. Plenty of water was brought to the patch by Mother Nature, so, I had begun a fact finding mission to determine the reason for the slow growth. The answer became evident when inspecting the stem of the pumpkin. Stem Rot!. I am going to continue to leave the pumpkin on the vine because it is still growing. I have applied peroxide to the stem to eliminate any bacterial infections. Next, I want to apply some alcohol to dry out the rotted area. Maybe the plant can repair itself and the growth will continue. It is a long shot, but I will try anything at this point. Wednesday, August 6 View Page Looking at the bright side this has been a great season. I have learned a ton and I am starting to plan for next year. My first real year of growing these big monsters and I have one at 250 pounds. Granted my first year is small compared to most standards, but it will hopefully be easy to break that personal best next year.