Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 26 Entries. Friday, March 20 View Page Started seeds for the Iowa State fair today . I decided to go with the 1200 Trum and my own 303 not my personal best but for some reason I have a feeling about these two seeds! I hope I'm right , when I started growing these giants I never would have guessed how addicting it could be ! Tuesday, March 24 View Page soil cables are in and the patch is almost ready for the 09 season, just waiting on the seeds to see which ones will make the cut! Thursday, March 26 View Page My mother goose wacthed over the patch all winter ! The seeds are coming up , so far it looks like it will be the 1200 Trumm, 1163 Mcmullen & 1370 C&P.looks like it could be tough to decide. Sunday, March 29 View Page Only a few more days before I put the plants in, I got the cold frame built just before we got one last blast from Mother nature.I hope the rest of the year goes better! Wednesday, April 1 View Page April Fools day the day I finally got my pumpkins in the ground , it seems to fit though, only a fool with a crazy adiction to growing these giants would subject himself to all the sleepless nights wondering if i did the right thing at the right time to get the full potential out of a seed ! With the cold nights I can only hope at least one will make it to the State fair.The seeds that made the cut were the 1200 Trumm 1370 C&P 1163 Mcmullen & the 851 Kochanny Tuesday, April 7 View Page April 5th we were blessed with yet another blast of snow and cold nights needless to say I'll be starting over I lost everything! This is the first time I've tried to grow this early so I guess you can caulk one up for mother nature but I'm not going to the fair without a pumpkin I put six more seeds in the pots and I'm starting over! Sunday, April 12 View Page I recently replanted the C&P 1370, 700 C&P and my own 787 for the fair. As long as the weather is good I should be good to go ! Tuesday, April 14 View Page Here's the latest pics the new plants are in and doing great! the patch is tilled up I added 50# of Cal Sulfate, I have a electrical outlets in the patch so I can run fans,soil cables,heaters and maybe A/C If the summer gets too hot! LOL I even managed to get the right date on my camera! Sunday, May 3 View Page Had some trouble with our new pc, but were back online , the 1370 C&P seems to be growing the best of all looks like the plant I'll be using for the fair this year! Sunday, May 3 View Page Here's the latest pic of the 1370 it's doing good and looking at the pics from a couple weeks ago it's growing faster than I thouht. It's time to put some seeds in for the fall weight in! I'll be putting in the 1180 Krug 1119 McMullen & the 1238 C&P. Monday, May 4 View Page here's the 1119 Mcmullen & the 1238 C&P looking good so far! still waiting on the the 1180 Krug & a 1200 Trumm to come up! I feel good about my picks this year I hope to get another personal best this year! Thursday, May 14 View Page Here's the latest pics of my 1370 C&P to the right & 700 est both plants are doing great! It's going to be tough to get rid of one. I also have the 1180 Krug , 1200 Trumm , 1119 Mcmullen , 1238 C&P & my own 787 Shepherd /606est. Saturday, May 16 View Page The 1200 Trumm is up and went straight to the patch ! my 1180 Krug is not doing as well! I hope after their in the ground they will come out of it. Long gourds up I have a mixture of seeds from Sam Lovelace from the last two years i'll be putting in ten plants around an old corn crib , hoping for some neat pics when they take over the crib! Sunday, May 24 View Page 1370 C&P is Offically my State Fair plant ! I got rid of the 700est yesterday so I could start buring vines , now the fun begins the first male opened up today and the first female sould open in the next day or so! the plant looks great and should really start to take off now. Wednesday, May 27 View Page Today was the day the 1370 C&P was ready to pollenate so I got up a little earlier to make sure the job got done now it's just a matter of time to see if it took ?The blossum is a little to close to the stump so I'm hoping to see another female soon! No pics this time but the plant is looking great and growing fast! Wednesday, June 3 View Page 1370 C&P is looking great I pollenated the second female this morning . Wednesday, June 3 View Page 1119 McMullen is looking good for Annamosia in the fall! Wednesday, June 3 View Page 1200 Trumm planted a little later than I wanted but is coming along good also! Wednesday, June 3 View Page 1180 Krug Wednesday, June 3 View Page 1086 C&P Saturday, June 6 View Page I just wanted to make a note of things I've done different this season ! I added 150# cal , I'm using the neptunes seeweed & fish , and mycorrhiza hopefully this will make the difference and get me over the 800# goal for my P.B. Tuesday, June 9 View Page pollenated the 3rd blossum on the 6/7/09 plants look good still , the 1119 has adouble main one side of the main had a split so I got rid of it , still wondering if I should try to move a plant to replace it ? Sunday, June 21 View Page computer has been messed up so I may not be able to get any pics put in , but I pollenated the 1119 1st on 6/18/09 and 2nd on 6/21/09 I still need a little more plant behind it so I hope to keep the next one . My 1370 state fair plant is looking great if things keep going good I should have a decent kin to take out to the fair! The other two plants are a little behind but are very healthy I have two 1086 C&P and the 1200 Trumm. both 1180 Krugs had double mane vines and one had a split ! I still would like to try this seed again. Friday, July 10 View Page we'll I finally got my computer back ! way behind on entrys to the diary . Things still look ok plants are good but the weather still not wanting to straighten out been having alot of rain and cool nights seems to be slowing everything down , Ive been lucky on wind damage so far ! 1119 McMullen seems to be taking off nicely the 1370 C&P Is doing good for my State fair plant . 1086 Is alittle behind but it still looks like I could get agood kin off it ! I'll try to get some pics this weekend ! Thursday, August 20 View Page Big shock I went to the state fair thinking I had a P.B. of 923# and it went heavy 1012# It was awesome seeing that scale hit 4-didgits for the first time !! congrats to also to C&P with the 1081# 2nd place and Marty with the first place of 1099# . All the growers did great looking down a line of pumpkins 600# plus is awesome for such a cold ,wet year my hats off the all the growers who made it , and I hope that Don Young giving out seeds to crowd draws more growers in for next years weigh in !!! great idea Don i'll be bringing seeds to Annamosia to give out. Thursday, August 27 View Page Here's my1119 Mcmullen for Anamosia doing well but will be done growing early I hope it can stay healthy! I also have my 1086C&P which is my back up it doing well also but all the cold weather and rain who knows what will happen?