Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 108 Entries. Tuesday, January 1 View Page Brooks can't find a 1068 Wallace lol, kidding Brooks Wednesday, January 16 View Page This aggressive little plant was put in dirt on December 23 and popped up five days later. After that it has been under light 24/7. I read Don Young's article in the december SNGPG newsletterand I wanted to see how the constant light would affect the growth rate. The medium is just dirt, the pot used to hold an old umbrella plant that I got rid of. I think if the soil was good the growth rate would have been even better. Wednesday, January 16 View Page Just another view of the plant, I hate to pull it. Sunday, February 17 View Page A distant relative Sunday, February 17 View Page A close cousin Sunday, February 17 View Page Yeesh Sunday, February 17 View Page My mother in law Sunday, February 17 View Page Mrs. Rumsfeld Sunday, March 9 View Page I typed "Brooks" in google and this popped up. I think it's a pic of Brooks losing it and attacking Eddy for a 1068. The creature in the background is Glenn Andrews I think. Thursday, March 20 View Page My cat has been scratching the heck out of this weeping cherry tree. Since wacking him isn't an option, I had to cover it with shade cloth. I know this isn't pumpkin related, will the lack of sunlight cause the tree any harm. I like the tree more than the cat. Monday, March 31 View Page It was nice of Brooks to send over a couple of his buddies to help me out with patch preparation. Tuesday, April 1 View Page Brook's buddies from the previous image sold me these hunting dogs, only $10 for all three, I wonder why? Sunday, April 20 View Page This is one mini greenhouse that I made. The lid can be opened or left closed depending on the outside temperature. Today it was in the upper eighties with the lid closed. Pretty basic but it works. Sunday, April 20 View Page This is a shot of the smaller of two patches. It is 600 square feet and pretty easy to navigate. I am debating whether or not to take the trees down to the left. The fence will stay up because it acts as a good windbreak. Everything is in place. I am thinking of starting a little early this year. Thursday, April 24 View Page This is the 849 Reid ( 1139 Sherwood x 998.6 Pukos ) it came up two days ago and appears healthy. Thursday, April 24 View Page This pic was taken 12 hours later. The cots are quite large, I like the looks of this plant. Saturday, April 26 View Page I have lost half of my patch. My neighbor, who is a great guy, is selling his house. He accepted a teaching position in Newfoundland and he is trying to sell quick. Last fall he let me till on his property and gave me about 1200 square feet to grow pumpkins. Now the fence is going back up and all that space will probably be used to grow grass. The space left on my side isn't good for anything, except maybe grass. This is before.... Saturday, April 26 View Page This is the after... that area was going to be used to grow two plants. I feel like someone punched me in the stomach. Sunday, April 27 View Page This is the 893 Privitera. Somewhat of a slow grower, but the genes are certainly there. I'm going to be patient with this one. Sunday, April 27 View Page This is the 849 Reid ( 1139 Sherwood x 998.6 Pukos ). It was germinated at the same time as the previous plant! I had to transplant it because it was getting too big for the 4 inch pot. It is in a rather small patch and I hope the agressive growth continues. Sunday, April 27 View Page Outside it is a seasonal 15 C ( @ 60 degrees F). Inside a comfortable 82 F. Monday, April 28 View Page Well, my wife was after me to put a new lawn in. I used the amended soil from the patch I lost so the grass should grow pretty good! I wonder how grass grows with gypsum, alfalfa pellets, calcium nitrate and humic acid mixed in... #!#*! Sunday, May 4 View Page That 849 Reid is quite an agressive plant. Monday, May 5 View Page I guess the cat didn't kill the tree. A good sign of spring. Monday, May 5 View Page The 849 Reid plant. Growth has slowed down quite a bit. Monday, May 5 View Page Another pic of the 849. I have a 649 Spada as a backup plant should the 849 have any troubles. I originally planned to grow the 649 as a starter but fate chose otherwise. Monday, May 5 View Page This is the 893 and 1096 Privitera plants. The 893 is the slightly larger plant on the left. Monday, May 5 View Page The 893 Privitera- 998 Pukos x 1068 Wallace Monday, May 5 View Page The 1096 Privitera- 1068 Wallace x 998 Pukos Monday, May 5 View Page These are Russian Mammoth sunflowers. All of them came up. I have 10 pots with two seedlings in each. Monday, May 5 View Page This is Binx, a good patch cat. He just hangs out and waits for an unfortunate bird or rodent to wander by. Monday, May 5 View Page These are Craven variety sunflowers that I got from the veggie exchange. After 5 days, most are pushing up from the dirt. Monday, May 5 View Page First Craven up. Monday, May 12 View Page This is the 893 Privitera. It got out to a quick start but now it's growth has slowed quite a bit. Monday, May 12 View Page This is a shot of the 1096 Privitera. It has caught up to the 893 and I like the look of it as well. I'll probably wait at least a week before I decide which one to pull. Monday, May 12 View Page Sunflowers doing OK. Monday, May 12 View Page It's a bit of a pain bringing this in each night, but what are you gonna do. I have some others in the hoop houses with the pumpkin plants. Monday, May 12 View Page Here is my first attempt at long gourds. All three came up, I germed them along with the AG's and it seemed to work fine. I placed them in larger pots today. 105 Timm/07- 107.5 Timm/05 x 104 Eaton/05. They are going to stay under light with the geraniums until it gets much warmer. Wednesday, May 14 View Page I had to place 50% shadecloth on the top and later on the back. Even with the door open, I couldn't get the inside temperature to go down. The two plants suffered a bit, but I think they will be fine. Wednesday, May 14 View Page The 1096 Privitera, slight heat damage. Wednesday, May 14 View Page The 893 Privitera Wednesday, May 14 View Page Another shot of the house containing two plants. Wednesday, May 14 View Page Another angle Wednesday, May 14 View Page The 849 Reid, back from the brink. I'm not sure what to think of this plant. Initial explosive growth, then nothing and just when I was going to pull it, another growth spurt, but upward. We'll see..... Thursday, May 22 View Page This is the 849 Reid. A difficult plant to say the least. It seems to be growing fine now, but in the wrong direction. I still have a 1378 Pitura waiting to take it's place if the 849 doesn't get with the program. Thursday, May 22 View Page This is the 1096 Privitera, banished to a pot, possibly to be used as a pollinator, definitely not a primary plant. I had high hopes for this one but as you can see it isn't a robust plant, and quite pale. Thursday, May 22 View Page This is the sister, 893 Privitera. It was looking like the 1096, but I nursed it back to health. I believe both the 1096 and 893 were nitrogen deficient, probably due to the high OM in this patch. The 893 responded well to a good dose of blood meal, the 1096 did not. Survival of the fittest I guess. Thursday, May 22 View Page This is the 649 Spada. A consistent plant, doesn't seem to mind direct sunlight or cold nights. The diva plant 849 Reid wilted like steamed spinach when I exposed it to direct sunlight so I shaded it again and it bounced back. the 893 and 649 are in the same patch so I will pull the weakest. Friday, May 23 View Page This is a close up of one of my sunflower plants. It was fine before today. I looked outside and it was slumped over and that's when I saw the split. Being new to sunflowers, can anyone tell me if this is normal, should I throw it out or what. I have lots of others but I am curious. I ramped up the soil almost to the first leaves. Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks. Friday, May 23 View Page Similar question, is this normal for long gourds? It looks leggy to me, but it is getting at least 12 hours of artificial per day. Saturday, May 31 View Page Well you do what you gotta do. I only had two heaters going and I still have four plants growing. We had a frost warning so I used some candles to raise the temperature a little. I was surprised that the candles burned all night and kept the inside temperature at around 50 degrees. Sunday, June 1 View Page This is my nemesis, the 849 Reid. It is going to give me another challenge, to get it to lay down without snapping. Sunday, June 1 View Page Another view. The plant is actuall quite healthy, it just knows how to push my buttons lol. Thursday, June 5 View Page Is this a double vine? Thursday, June 5 View Page Another view, double or flat vine ? Wednesday, June 18 View Page Does anyone know what kind of bug this is and will it harm my sunflowers? Wednesday, June 18 View Page Another bug. Wednesday, June 18 View Page This is the damage caused by an unknown bug. The funny thing is that 4 of the 20 sunflowers I planted have this damage, the others are untouched. Friday, June 20 View Page I don't know what this is. He seems interested in the leaves. Friday, June 20 View Page Anyone know what this is? Saturday, June 28 View Page Here are some of the sunflowers. The fence is just over five feet tall. Saturday, June 28 View Page A few more. Saturday, June 28 View Page The sumac tree in the background is only four years old. I dug it up behind the Tim Hortons nearby. It's amazing what a little fertilizer and good soil will do. Saturday, June 28 View Page These babies don't look like much, but I'm hoping for good things. The box is 2x3x2 and the soil is from the patch. I am folowing a very rigid fertilizing program compliments of the knowledgeable growers on BP. Saturday, June 28 View Page More sunflowers. These won't get very tall because of the shade. Saturday, June 28 View Page This is the first female to be pollinated. It should be ready by tomorrow and the plant is the 649 Spada ( 1420 Larue x 1502 Wallace). It's only eight feet out but another female at ten feet should be ready in a week or so. Sunday, June 29 View Page The first female on the 649 Spada pollinated with three flowers from an 893 Privitera. There is another female about two feet further out that should be open in a week or less. If this one takes, it will be my earliest ever. Saturday, July 5 View Page Polinated the 849 Reid this morning with two males from the 893 Privitera. Hope this one takes. My last polination attempt on the 649 Spada failed, probably due to the wet weather at the time. Today is warm and sunny. Wednesday, July 9 View Page This is the 1st pollination attempt on the 849 Reid plant. It looked promising, however, the size hasn't changed since Saturday. The male was a 893 Privitera. I don't know why it didn't take and if it did why it isn't growing. I think the cross would be a good one- 1139 Sherwood x 998.6 Pukos x 998.6 Pukos x 1068 Wallace. Another female should be ready in a couple of days. Wednesday, July 9 View Page This is the second pollination attempt on the 649 Spada. The first attempt was a text book 5 lober but it didn't take. This one is an unremarkable, somewhat mutated 4 lober that looks successful. The male was a 975 Kline. Thursday, July 10 View Page The 649 Spada was a successful pollination and growing rapidly. I still have another female about 3 feet further out but I think this one will be the keeper. At two days it has doubled in size. Sunday, July 13 View Page Here is a picture of one of the taller sunflowers. My daughter Melissa is 5'6". This is my first year growing sunflowers, no world record here although I will definitely grow them again. Very little work compared to pumpkins. In all I have 18 sunflower plants, 9 Craven variety and 9 Russian Mammoth. Monday, July 14 View Page I was getting very frustrated at the slow growth of the 849 Reid and now I know the problem. The surface layer of soil looked good enough but there was some compaction issues so I carefully used a turning fork to break up the soil. To my surprise there was still lots of organic matter approximately 4 inches down that did not break down and is no doubt causing nitrogen defiency in this patch only. The result of 60 bags of leaves. Soooooo....after some careful consideration I added 3 lbs of blood meal watered in with humic acid. This will certainly alter the soil composition. I will keep the plant growing but the results will no doubt be disappointing. The soil, however, should be good next year! Live and learn. Saturday, July 19 View Page I checked my jar where I have been saving my Canadian Tire money and I have enough for a new sprayer. Any Canadians reading this will completely understand, lol. Monday, July 21 View Page 849 Reid, slow growing to say the least. Monday, July 21 View Page 849 two days later, notice any difference? I don't. Monday, July 21 View Page Got . 8 inches of rain which translates to about 20 mm which isn't too bad. No need to water today. The forecast for the next couple of days is rain. Wednesday, July 23 View Page Enough is enough, this one had to go. No growth in over ten days. 849 Reid. Wednesday, July 23 View Page I expected it to be rotten inside but it's solid as a rock. The next female won't be ready for 4-5 days. Saturday, September 6 View Page This is a pic of Jeff Reid's Larue, 1388 I believe taping at 351 inches. Saturday, September 6 View Page This is Jeff's 1081 Larue taping at 380 inches. That is my daughter Melissa alongside. Saturday, September 6 View Page This is the stem on the 1081 Larue. Saturday, September 6 View Page Jeff's long gourds, four on one plant, the longest is 94 inches. Sunday, September 14 View Page This is my first grandchild Caiden Andrew, 6 weeks old. 7 lbs 2 oz at birth and now 12 lbs. Thursday, October 2 View Page Well this is the 227 Hamilton 08. 649 Spada( 1420 Larue x 1502 Wallace)x 893 Privitera ( 998 Pukos x 1068 Wallace ). Not the results I had hoped for but no complaints here. I learned a lot again this year. The plant was fine, no trouble at all, the location proved problematic. The soil was near perfect but inadequate sunlight and invading roots from nearby poplars affected growth. Good cross though- earlier in my diary I incorrectly wrote that a 975 Kline was the pollinator. I checked my records and the 893 was indeed the father. Thursday, October 2 View Page Another view. There is a single soft spot which caused me to cut this one now. the rest was solid and seed count was @ 200. Thursday, October 2 View Page This is my cat Binx, more like a dog than a cat. He immediately started eating the pumpkin guts when I cut it open. Thursday, October 2 View Page Binx chowing down. Thursday, October 2 View Page Maybe over did it on the calcium. For a small pumpkin this seems pretty thick to me. My Ca levels were @ 5000 ppm and I also did weekly foliar with Ca/Fulvic acid. Thursday, October 2 View Page This was a very late pollination, August 20 I think, on the 849 Reid plant. It was never intended to be anything but a Hallow'een pumpkin. The pollinator was Jeff's 1202. Maybe I'll give him some seeds for sentimental reasons lol. No idea how much it weighs, never taped it, maybe I'll weigh it in a few weeks. I put the house around it to protect it from frost. Thursday, October 2 View Page Seeds from the 227 drying. Saturday, October 4 View Page Jeff Reid's pumpkin at the Windsor Weigh off. Saturday, October 4 View Page This is Carl Graham's pumpkin ( Donkin on BP ) Saturday, October 4 View Page This is a shot of all the pumpkins. Good turn out this year. Saturday, October 4 View Page Carl's pumpkin went 1144 lbs. Saturday, October 4 View Page Jeff's weighed in at 1211 lbs. Saturday, October 4 View Page The winner was a fella from Prince Edward Island with a weight of 1315 lbs. I can't believe I didn't get a pic. Wednesday, November 5 View Page That wasn't as fun as I had hoped, can you imagine Quinn Werner's kitchen table? Anyway, off to GVGO and NYSGPGA. 19 seeds left for me. Saturday, November 22 View Page On Wednesday I left Halifax at 5:00 pm to drive home and arrived at 7:45, the trip usually takes under an hour. Today I wake up to this!! Saturday, November 22 View Page I'm not ready for this! It's going to be a long winter.... Saturday, November 22 View Page This is my grandson at three months. As you can see, he doesn't miss too many meals. His tight shirt which fit him a month ago reminded me of a Seinfeld episode when Gerry's father wore a very tight T-shirt with the words # 1 DAD on the front. Sunday, November 23 View Page We got 20 cm more snow last night. What month is this? Tuesday, December 9 View Page This is a pic of my wife holding our four month old grandson. He's an eating machine and now over 20 lbs. Thursday, December 25 View Page This is my daughter and my grandson Caiden. Thursday, December 25 View Page This is the little bugger in a Santa suit. Thursday, December 25 View Page This is my wife, daughter and my little buddy. Sunday, December 28 View Page Last October I was picking up my grandson who lives near the Dill homestead, it reminded me of the GVGO print so I took a few pics and did some retouching. Sunday, December 28 View Page The property was landscaped so nicely, I had to get a shot from the lawn, hope no one minded!