Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 24 Entries. Sunday, February 15 View Page The sun has been shining off and on the last few days and temps have been above freezing. I Can't wait until it gets warmer and I can get into the patch. I started the season last fall by tilling leaves and hay into the patch and then planting rye. Rye is now about a foot tall and the deer are loving it. I'll mow it and plow it under when it gets warmer and dries out. Soil test came back and everything looks pretty good, could always juice it up a little though, the next step is seed selection. Sunday, April 5 View Page A couple weeks ago I was able to get into the patch with the tiller and till in my cover crop of winter rye. I am also working on another patch for next year. I added 6 truck loads of aged cow manure and a bunch of leaves and tilled in in. I will be planting a cover crop in that to added some nitrogen and organic matter. Heavy rains tonight and possibility of snow tomorrow, looks like it will be awhile before I can get back into the patches. Tuesday, April 7 View Page I think I have selected my seeds for the upcoming season. Its hard to decide when you are limited in space, there are so many options. I can grow two plants here at home and a third in another location. I like to grow my own seed from the first pumpkin I grew, a bright orange 417#r. Its an aggressive grower and has produced a 979# pumpkin for my dad with little effort. I am going to grow a liggett for the first time, Bob's 1375. I want to cross it with my 417. The third seed will be another one of mine, a 602 that I grew last year. Sunday, April 19 View Page Finally some good weather, the patches have dried up enough for me to get my tiller in one last time before planting. I added a ton of course sand to my patch and determined that it wasn't much so maybe I'll add more next year. I ran the tiller through and chopped up nice and fine. Seeds were soaked today in peroxide and will be heated the next few days to germinate. Friday, April 24 View Page I potted my plants last night, 100% germination for 8 seeds (backups). I put potting soil in the pots and mixed some bone meal and mycho in with it. Hope to get them planted in the patch by may 1. Weather will be great this weekend, I will get the hot houses put up so I'm ready to roll. Will get pics as soon as the plants poke through the dirt. Wednesday, April 29 View Page The pic is my 602 grown last year, only been in pot for 6 days and has second rue leaf. I was able to put my 417 and the 1375 liggett in the patch tonight. I worked some 3336 in the planting area with some root shield, mycho, and blood and bone meal. Hopefully storms wont be too severe and the heat come back. Friday, May 1 View Page Thought I was off to a good start this year had plants in ground in late april but wind damage my hot house and broke off both plants. Thats why you should have backups. They will be put into the ground tomorrow with some heat lamps since temps have dropped. Sunday, May 17 View Page Pumpkins are slowly getting ready to vine. I hope it doesn't frost tonight. Spent Saturday outside and tilled patch again, finally killed all of the rye cover crop. Put down clearys granular 3336 and blood meal and bone meal. Gave each plant a shot of 6-6-6 liquid fert and kelp solution. Following pics are of my 417 and the 1375 ligget. Sunday, May 17 View Page My 1375 Monday, May 25 View Page Plants are still doing well, The 1375 should start running soon and the 417 has already started. It is a hair over 18" long on the main vine. Some leaves are 12" in diameter. One leaf got too hot and has started to shrink and has dead spots on the edge. The rest of the plant looks ok. We are getting some sprinkles now hopefully we get the inch they are calling for this week. Thursday, May 28 View Page Pumpkins are off to the races, my 417 has really started to take off, its a good 3.5 feet, my 1375 is around 18". Both have good sized vines and leaves. The picture is of my 417, you can see the 1375 in the back heading the opposite direction. I have staked them down to the ground to help prevent wind damage. Thursday, June 4 View Page We got over an inch of rain a few days ago with quarter sized hail and wind. My biggest leaves have holes all through them but the vine appears to have been spared. the 417 is around 5 feet long now with 18" side vines at the stump. The first female appeared yesterday at about 4 and a half feet out. I've seen a definate slow down in growth the past 3 days. Sunshine has been limited and its been cool and cloudy. Ready for tomorrow, wamer weather and sunlight, lets getem growing fast again. Saturday, June 13 View Page Plants are growing well , 4 to 6 inches a day. I'm at about 8ft x 8ft. The first female on my 417 at around 4.5 - 5 feet opened today(forgot to pinch that one off). Two male blossoms opened Wednesday. The first female appeared on the 1375 today but will still only be about 6 feet out when it opens. We got about 1.5inches of rain according to the gauge wed and thur and the ground is still damp. It was a good slow soaker with no wind and hail. We will need more of those in July. I am putting together my watering system this weekend and will be doing some weeding. Will continue to bury side vines and hope for the best. Tuesday, June 23 View Page Pumpkins are doing good, should be able to pollinate this week on my 417 and the 602 plant. Something happened to the tip of mhy 1375 and it is no longer growing normal. I do not see any pumpkins so I will terminate the main and the closest side vine will become my new main. I still hope to pollinate by July but well see. Thursday, July 9 View Page Pics of patch Thursday, July 9 View Page another pic Thursday, July 9 View Page yet another Thursday, July 9 View Page I posted some pics of the patch, guess it will take a day or so for them to show up. I grew two plants in my patch at home and put them back to back. I dont like it that way there is no air or light separating thed plants so next year I will go back to side by side. The bigger pumpkin of the two is my 417 its larger than a footbal but a little smaller than a basketball right now. The other is approaching baseball size. My patch is almost full. This is probably the nicest plants Ive had, if I can only keep them healthy. A lot has changed since my last post, havent had time Ive been busy keeping up with the plants, weeding/watering/burying vines and going to work. Good luck to all. Thursday, July 9 View Page I have to get away from the patch every now and then to get in some fishing, this is two weeks ago, last weekends trip didnt go as well. Sunday, July 19 View Page This is a pic of my 602. It measures 55# in the pic but 2 days later is now 74#. I looked at last years records and the 602 was pollinated 7/10 and wieghed 97# at 20 days. I am ahead this year, pollinated 6/30 but at 20 days only at 74#. This is a backup patch just to grow a third plant but seems to do better with a lot poorer soil. We only put in 2 truckloads of manure, no amendments and just fertilize with bloodmeal and bone meal and miracle grow. got to 602 pounds last year with less manure well hope to get an increase this year. The patch at home has disease problems. I lost my 417 plant with a pumpkin at 30" circumference. The other plant is the 1375 liggett and I have a pumpkin growing that is now 33" at 15days. I have been cutting and trating a couple leaves a week that appear to have an orange yellow goop inside the stalk. Lesson learned too much water can be bad and I think I used too much, have cut way back and will try to keep this one alive as long as possible. Tuesday, July 21 View Page The 1375 is now at 40" circ and plant is looking healthy. I did see one leaf with powdery mildew already, usually dont see until August. I got creative with some side vines and tertiary vines trying to get new growth past the pumpkin and fill in gaps. I water by hand now every other day or every two days depending on how wet the soil looks. I try to let it dry some to keep disease levels down. My 602 in the clay patch at my grandpas is at 90 pounds today, thats about 17 pounds in two days. I hope it picks up. I notice little roots sticking up out of the dirt everywhere, grandpa waters everyday morning and afternoon by hand with a hose so I wonder if they are drowning. Luckily still no signs of disease. I will try to get him to cut back a little and see what happens. roots seem to go back under ground when soil dries up some. Good luck to all, August and rapid growth period will here before you know it. Sunday, August 2 View Page 1375 liggett in my patch at home. This pumpkin averaged 25# a day while I was on vacation and is now at 215# circumference measurement. Sunday, August 2 View Page This is a pic of my 602 at the patch at my grandpas house. It is measuring out at 253# via circumference method, it gained 123# while I was gone averaging 13.5# per day. I am impressed considering the size of the plant and the soil that it is growing in. Wednesday, August 5 View Page Its been busy catching up since vacation. I have been burying some new growth, spraying fungicides and insecticides, and hoping for the best. Both pumpkins have been growing quite a bit and ar now both over 325# OTT. The liggett has passed up the 602 finally. It should with 3 times the plant and better soil. I have had 35# gains on the 1375 and an average of 17#/day on the 602. the 602 appears healthy but I have been struggling to keep the 1375 healthy and we have had some amounts of rain be it a sprinkle or a shower almost everyday here the last 10 days or so. I have powdery mildew thats spreading, and noticed a tertiary with wilting leaves next to a rotting leaf stalk. All has been removed and the areas treated with bleach water one day and zerotol the next. I am praying for sunshine to dry things up a bit. Sounds wierd I know but at least when we water we control how much and when and that can help control diseases. I just hope to keep them going.