Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 121 Entries. Saturday, March 23 View Page Happy 2013 growing season to everyone! It is still chilly here and lots of people are still getting snow but have no fear, spring will be here! Spent some time in the patch today spreading a light layer of homemade compost over the whole 3,550 square feet. I think it is dry enough to till so I'm going to give it a try tomorrow. Saturday, March 23 View Page Did some dome improvements over the winter including a new metal ridge pole for both houses, bolted to the hoops. No more bamboo poles coming loose on windy days and stabbing holes in the row cover! Also removed all the rusty old bolts that were still in the hoops from when these were used in a nursery years ago (they held diagonal braces in place). They used to rub holes in the cover over the course of the summer. I am hoping these changes help keep the cover intact longer than ever this year, maybe even until the end. Saturday, March 23 View Page So this is what my cover crop looks like this year. It's mostly grass and chickweed (the weeds that remained after vine clean-up in October). As I was getting ready to till and plant a cover crop in late October, Hurricane Sandy slammed us and that was it for garden work for the year. We lost power for 9 days, a large tree limb fell on one of our trucks and a 60 foot white pine just missed the house. It certainly could have been worse but there were too many distractions and more important things going on to bother planting a cover crop, so I just mowed the weeds and decided to leave them. Sunday, March 24 View Page First rototilling of the spring is complete. Normally I wouldn't think about tilling this early but since I don't have a real cover crop going and I'll be adding new myco later, I figured I'd get a jump on weeds. I ordered a big white blanket to put over the whole patch, about 4 to 6 inches thick, and it should be here tomorrow. Monday, April 15 View Page Started my seeds yesterday, April 14th. The weather has been looking up here lately so despite the seemingly slow start to spring, everything is now right on track. I still start my seeds the old fashioned way, just stick them in pots filled with a 4:1 mix of Pro Mix and bagged cow manure with some Pumpkin Pro myco on heat mats, nothing fancy or complicated. This flat contains my A line-up: 1080 Hunt, 1210 Van Hook, 1634 Werner, 1524 Fulk pumpkins, 711 Chenier and 834.5 Sandercock squashes, and 209 Holloway and 266.6 Neptune watermelons. Monday, April 15 View Page This flat contains the backups: (6) Est. 1066 McCracken, (2) 1331 Van Hook, 1544 Revier, 1194 Northrup, and (2) 928 Box. Without a greenhouse this year the plants will live in the house under lights until planting day, hopefully the weekend of May 4th. Monday, April 15 View Page Buddy and Griffin are guarding the plants already. Griffin will be a great garden dog eventually, Buddy ehhhhhhh not so much. He is still a loveable dork though. Friday, April 19 View Page Yesterday gave the patch it's second tilling of the spring. I am way ahead of schedule compared to previous years on the patch prep! Friday, April 19 View Page Amendments tilled in yesterday include about 5 yards of horse manure, 200 lbs. of gypsum, 2 lbs. of Manganese sulfate, a little iron and about 20 oz. of Borax. Really starting to hone in the micronutrients now. Friday, April 19 View Page Five days after starting seeds, these anonymous ones are breaking ground so far. OK, I can tell you that the first one to pop was a 711 Chenier squash, 3 and a half days for that one. Monday, April 22 View Page 8 days after seed starting, all of my A-line up pumpkins and squash are up and growing. Watermelons I have not had any luck with yet, but I still had a few more seeds left of the ones I want to grow this year so I'm giving it another shot. For my second attempt, I went ahead and sanded the seed edges for the first time ever and I'm trying them in the "paper towel in a baggie" method. We'll see if I have better luck this time. Pictured here is the 1080 Hunt and its 2 and a half cotyledons. I'm going to remove that weird half-cotyledon in a day or two. Monday, April 22 View Page 1634 Werner. It was the slowest germinator of the bunch so it needed some help getting the seed coat off. Monday, April 22 View Page 711 Chenier green squash. Fastest germinator and the biggest seedling so far, ready to make the world's first 1,500 lb. greenie! I want to pollinate this plant with an 834.5 Sandercock but neither of the two of those seeds that I started came up. Again I was lucky to have two more (thanks Ned!) so they have been started the same as my watermelon 2nd attempt. Monday, April 22 View Page 1210 Van Hook, also came up a little slow but will be just fine. Monday, April 22 View Page 1524 Fulk, MAGPG seed of the year. Wednesday, April 24 View Page Already getting positive results with my 2nd attempt at germinating watermelons and the 834.5 Sandercock squash. 2 834s have sprouted and also 2 209 Holloways. Still waiting for a 266.6 Neptune to pop though.............. Monday, April 29 View Page All these pictures are from yesterday. This is the 711 Chenier squash, laying down in the pot already. Monday, April 29 View Page 1524 Fulk after seaweed feeding last night. Monday, April 29 View Page 1634 Werner, catching up very nicely after the slow start. Monday, April 29 View Page 1210 Van Hook, finally starting to push out a true leaf. Monday, April 29 View Page 1080 Hunt, the oddball of the group. Cut off the weird half-cotyledon that wasn't even attached to the plant very much and now it's so lopsided it doesn't know which way it wants to go. Going to keep working on it, we'll see what I can get it to do......... Monday, April 29 View Page I've got 2 834.5 Sandercock squashes germinated now and also 2 209 Holloway watermelons. The 266.6 Neptunes did nothing for me, so both 209 Holloways will find their way into the patch so I can sib cross them. Wednesday, May 1 View Page It was a perfect, tranquil day for putting the crew out for 2 hours of sun today. If they look fine in the morning, they are going out for 4 hours tomorrow. Wednesday, May 1 View Page They have all been under a halide lamp up until now, so they're a little stretchy. It's a good thing they are getting planted in the patch Sunday, or I may have vines running across our house soon. The ten day forecast right now is looking great! Wednesday, May 1 View Page One of my other hobbies this time of year is finding these. This season is off to a very good start all around! Sunday, May 5 View Page Today is planting day! This is what I am making my mini hoop houses out of this year - it is cattle fencing that we have laying around not being used for anything. It will support the row cover a lot better, give the plants more headroom and even though it is metal there are really no sharp pokey spots. Sunday, May 5 View Page This is what they look like covered. Sunday, May 5 View Page 711 Chenier green squash ready to go in! Sunday, May 5 View Page 1524 Fulk after planting. The biggest plant at this point. Sunday, May 5 View Page 1634 Werner has been catching up nicely. Sunday, May 5 View Page 1210 Van Hook. Sunday, May 5 View Page 1080 Hunt, still the oddball of the group! Sunday, May 5 View Page One day after the Kentucky Derby, and.......... they're............off! Sunday, May 5 View Page Yesterday, Orb was the winner of the Kentucky Derby and all I could think of was the Coneheads paying homage to the symbolic vegetable orb. They were way ahead of their time. Monday, May 13 View Page 834.5 Sandercock green squash right before planting yesterday. I'm going to use this one as a pollinator for the 711 Chenier, then rip it out if all goes according to plan. All of the following pictures were taken Sunday, May 12. Monday, May 13 View Page 1080 Hunt, starting to become normal. Monday, May 13 View Page 711 Chenier green squash. Monday, May 13 View Page 1634 Werner. Monday, May 13 View Page 1524 Fulk, being knocked over by the wicked wind we were getting yesterday. Only had the hoops open for a moment to feed and take pictures. Monday, May 13 View Page 1210 Van Hook. All plants look pretty nice at this point, and the only ones not in the patch yet are the 209 Holloway watermelons. They are really starting off slow, I have to remember to start them a few weeks before the pumpkins next year. We had upper 30s here this morning and low 30s are coming tonight. All hoops are being double-covered at night, that should be enough to get them through. Monday, May 13 View Page Found these last week - 6 pounds in one spot! Monday, May 20 View Page 1634 Werner yesterday. It was generally a cool week here so growth hasn't accelerated much yet but with 80s for highs this week it soon will. Monday, May 20 View Page 1524 Fulk. Monday, May 20 View Page 1080 Hunt, going with the curvy stump look this year. Monday, May 20 View Page 834.5 Sandercock squash, can't hardly tell it's a week younger than the others anymore. Monday, May 20 View Page 711 Chenier squash. Monday, May 20 View Page 1210 Van Hook, the smallest of the oldest plants. Monday, May 20 View Page One of the 209 Holloway watermelons, planted in the ground on Wednesday, May 15th. Monday, May 20 View Page The other 209 Holloway, which will only be used as a pollinator. Monday, May 27 View Page I'm going to try to start posting pictures twice a week now. This is the 1524 Fulk, starting to run. Monday, May 27 View Page 711 Chenier green squash. As you can see, I covered Dome #1 at sunrise this morning. Today is the first day in the last 4 that it hasn't been extremely windy. Monday, May 27 View Page 834.5 Sandercock green squash. Monday, May 27 View Page 209 Holloway watermelon. When I got up this morning at 5:30 and looked at the thermometer we have on the back porch (under an overhang), it said 39 degrees. When I got up to the patch and bent over to pick up the edge of the row cover, which had been laying in a shallow ditch I dug to bury the edge, I almost couldn't believe my fingers. There was a touch of frost on the cover! There was no frost anywhere else to be found, so I assume this was because it was laying in a ditch, but still that is incredible that we got that close to having frost on the ground on the 27th of May. Wednesday, May 29 View Page Covered the second dome this morning, dome town is now in business. Wednesday, May 29 View Page The second of my 209 Holloway watermelons and the tiniest plant I've ever had in the patch at this date. I'm only planning on using this as a pollinator for the other one, so hopefully a few male flowers is all I need out of it. Wednesday, May 29 View Page 1080 Hunt. Wednesday, May 29 View Page 1210 Van Hook. Wednesday, May 29 View Page And the 1634 Werner. You can no longer tell it was a slow germinator and behind the others for a while. It's off to the races now and I'm very glad I shelled out a few bucks for this one. Thursday, June 6 View Page 1080 Hunt this morning. This plant has been showing some off and on signs of a double vine but not too bad. Two leaves at some nodes and one with two side vines so far. A few nodes haven't produced a side vine at all, and one side vine grew straight up then broke when it fell over. This has left no sides on the left side of the plant for the first 5 feet. I'm going to have to let some tertiaries grow into that area to fill it in. Thursday, June 6 View Page 1210 Van Hook. Shortest main of all my plants but side vines coming out all over the place. Thursday, June 6 View Page 209 Holloway watermelon, starting to vine. Thursday, June 6 View Page 834.5 Sandercock squash. Thursday, June 6 View Page 711 Chenier squash. The area for this plant got less manure than the pumpkin spots after hearing what Joel Jarvis had to say about that in Niagara. So far you would never know, this plant is looking very vigorous. Thursday, June 6 View Page 1634 Werner, it also had one side vine that grew practically on top of the main and then got a split in it when I tried to move it over. At that point I just went ahead and took it off, no sense it making any problems for myself this early. I'm being super proactive this year about vine rot prevention with all the problems that has caused me in the past. All in all, this is my second best plant so far, only being beaten by..... Thursday, June 6 View Page The 1524 Fulk. Beautiful, almost completely trouble free plant so far. There is a crack in the main near the stump, but I've never grown a giant pumpkin plant that didn't make me worry about something, so why start now? All plants are getting their own fans this year and newly constructed, large stump covers which will all be installed in about 10 days. In the meantime, heavy rain is supposed to be on the way over the next 48 hours. Sunday, June 16 View Page 209 Holloway watermelon today. Sunday, June 16 View Page 834.5 Sandercock squash. All the plants are looking better after 3 rain-free days in a row. Prior to that we got 5.8 inches in an eight day span - the ground became saturated for 4 straight days and the plants started to look a little unhappy. The patch started to stink too with all that manure and organic matter in there. They are bouncing right back now. Sunday, June 16 View Page 711 Chenier green squash. First female is still 10 or 12 days away. Sunday, June 16 View Page 1524 Fulk going strong. Sunday, June 16 View Page First female on the 1524 Fulk, around 13 feet out. I'll measure for sure when it gets pollinated, which could be Wednesday. Sunday, June 16 View Page A shot of my new deluxe stump covers, 2 feet by 3 feet with 24" of clearance underneath. Tall enough to fit the cheapo Home Depot fan under it, which I see Obie is using too. Well, these stump covers are patented so anyone who posts pictures using my 3 cent design is going to have to pay royalties. Sunday, June 16 View Page 1080 Hunt. Long internodes on this plant, not sure what that is an indication of but it seems to have overcome its minor double-vining and will make for a roomy plant - extra space between the secondaries. Sunday, June 16 View Page 1210 Van Hook. Sunday, June 16 View Page 1634 Werner, in the wettest spot in the patch. Tuesday, June 18 View Page First pollination this morning on the 1634 Werner at 8 feet 8 inches. Just a practice run, two more pollinations coming tomorrow. Wednesday, June 19 View Page First pollination this morning on the 1080 Hunt, a nice 5-lober at 10 and a half feet. Wednesday, June 19 View Page First pollination this morning on the 1524 Fulk at 12 feet 3 inches. Pollinated with the 1634 Werner and is a good candidate for keeper if all grows well. Wednesday, June 19 View Page The 1524 fruit on day zero. Lots of beautiful sunny weather in the forecast now, here we go! Sunday, June 23 View Page 209 Holloway today, main is around 6 feet long now. Sunday, June 23 View Page 834.5 Sandercock squash, starting to terminate a lot of this plant since I only need it for flowers for the next 14 days and then it needs to get out of the way. Sunday, June 23 View Page 711 Chenier green squash, first female coming up soon. Sunday, June 23 View Page 1524 Fulk, magnificent! Sunday, June 23 View Page 1524 Fulk, 4 days old. Sunday, June 23 View Page 1080 Hunt has become quite the plant. Sunday, June 23 View Page 1080 Hunt, 4 days old. Sunday, June 23 View Page 1210 Van Hook, a tightly packed plant. We're starting to get our first real stretch of hot humid weather so all plants got their first spraying of the year with Actinovate. The battle with powdery mildew starts now. Sunday, June 23 View Page 1634 Werner. The second female on this one shriveled up on me, so now waiting for the next one which will be several more days. Sunday, June 23 View Page 1634 Werner, day 5. Sunday, June 23 View Page Nearly four weeks after the covers went on and so far they are holding up way better than they ever have. Just a few tiny holes here and there and one spot where rust on a hoop frayed the cover open a little bit. That hoop has now been wrapped with a scrap of row cover. In the past by now there would be several softball to basketball sized holes along the peak, so the improved domes are kicking butt. Also very happy to report that not a single aphid has been detected in either dome, a gigantic improvement over last year. Monday, June 24 View Page Second female pollinated this morning on the 1080 Hunt at 16 feet. 4 lobes, potential keeper. Monday, June 24 View Page Pollinated the first female this morning on the 1210 Van Hook at 11 and a half feet with the 1080 Hunt, 5 lobes. Forgot to mention in the last post, the 1080 is pollinated with the 1210 so I'm doing this cross both ways. Ideally, I'd like to keep the next one out on this plant but you never know........... Tuesday, June 25 View Page Pollinated the first one on the 711 Chenier green squash this morning with the 834.5 Sandercock. At 15 feet 8 inches, 5 lobes, I would love for this to be the keeper on this plant. Sunday, June 30 View Page It's that crazy time of year again when I forget to post to my diary because there is so much stuff happening! This here is the 1524 Fulk at day 10, 29 inches around. Looks like it will be my keeper. I haven't been able to get anything set on the 711 Chenier green squash yet but have another female opening in the morning. The first one was on a hot day so it didn't take and the second one shriveled up the day before it was going to open. I've also got my first 209 Holloway watermelon pollination tomorrow. Sunday, June 30 View Page This is the 1080 Hunt at day 10, 33.25 inches around. I was not going to keep this one but it is growing so fast I think I'd be nuts to cut it off. It's the best day 10 measurement I've ever had by over 2 inches. It is 10 and a half feet out, but with a couple side vines missing and the wide spacing between the rest there is just 9 secondaries before the fruit - 5 on one side and 4 on the other. It will be interesting to see if that hurts it in the long run, or if total plant size is really more important. All I know right now is it's off to a fast start. Monday, July 1 View Page Pollinated my first giant watermelon today, 209 Holloway x sib at 9 feet on the main. I only had a single male from the pollinator and since that is the only melon inside dome #2 (hence no chance of pollen contamination), I did not cover the male flower. Only problem with that was I woke up to a torrential downpour this morning, so the flower was all wet and pollen may have washed away. We'll see.......... Monday, July 1 View Page Pollinated another female on the 711 Chenier green squash at 23 feet, a beautiful 5-lober with the 834.5 Sandercock. I got more pollen on these lobes that I ever have before, so this one should take. Monday, July 1 View Page Side view of the 711 Chenier flower. Monday, July 1 View Page At the request of Ned Sandercock, and also for reference, here is a female from the 834.5 Sandercock. Nice and green. Monday, July 1 View Page Also did another backup on the 1524 Fulk this morning, pollinated with the 1634 Werner. Forgot to measure the distance, 5 lobes plus a little something extra going on in that flower. Monday, July 8 View Page 1524 Fulk fruit last night on day 18. Growing well but was the first of my fruits to start developing a crack where the main meets the stem. Hopefully I have the stress releived now, it surprised me how early it started considering it's not even a tall fruit. 73 inch circ. on day 18, I will start OTTs on day 21. Monday, July 8 View Page I have still not gotten a single pollination to take on the 711 Chenier green squash. This flower is open this morning on a side vine so I'm pollinating it with the 834.5 Sandercock. I have another on a side that will open tomorrow and then the 834.5 has to get removed, it is taking up valuable real estate in the patch. If neither of these side vine flowers grow, I'll have to self the 711 which is not the end of the world. Monday, July 8 View Page The first pollination on the 209 Holloway did not take, this one here is female #2 on the main at 12 feet 3 inches that I pollinated two days ago. Two more side vine pollinations this morning. Monday, July 8 View Page 1210 Van Hook keeper pictured on day 11. Circ. was 28.5 inches on day 10. Monday, July 8 View Page 1634 Werner fruit pictured on day 19. I am so glad I decided to pollinate this one, as I have not been able to get another set on this plant either. This is now my keeper, I just have to figure out how to get mill fabric under it now, lol. It's only 8 feet 8 inches out on the main. Day 18 circ. was 67.5 inches. Monday, July 8 View Page I think I posted the wrong picture before for the 1524 Fulk. This is it right here. Monday, July 8 View Page This is the 1080 Hunt on day 18. Fastest grower I've ever had to date, 79 inch circ. I haven't had to water in exactly two weeks now with consistent storms coming through but nothing too brutal like other areas have had. Got soil test results back recently and with one exception, manganese, the results were excellent. Boron right where I wanted it, calcium finally up where I want it too. Insect problems of course are practically zero inside the domes, now I kick in the mildew prevention with Actinovate. Rockin' and rollin'. Monday, July 15 View Page The 1524 Fulk fruit on day 26 today. 109.5 inch circ. and an OTT of 245 inches. Estimated weight 331 lbs. This plant and the 711 Chenier squash are challenging me with some rotting plant parts, mostly leaves and old flower stems. Too much humidity lately and 2.1 inches of rain Saturday night is making it tough, and now we're getting temps in the mid 90s all this week. Monday, July 15 View Page Finally have gotten 3 pollinations to take on the 711 Chenier squash, all on side vines. This is the biggest and oldest at 7 days today. This plant is becoming a mess though will vines rolling over and uprooting themselves causing a lot of wilting on these super hot days. Squash always have to be so damn difficult! Monday, July 15 View Page 1634 Werner fruit on day 27 today. Day 26 measurements were 103.5 inches circ. and 239 OTT for an estimated weight of 308 lbs. Monday, July 15 View Page 1210 Van Hook fruit on day 19 today. Day 18 circumference was 63 inches. Monday, July 15 View Page Day 26 for the 1080 Hunt fruit. Circumference is 112 inches and the OTT is 248.5. Estimated weight of 345 lbs. Still the biggest but the others are starting to catch up. Monday, July 15 View Page Side view of the 1080 Hunt showing how long it is getting. It also feels very dense, I already couldn't move it a few days ago, while I can still easily move the 1634 Werner fruit. Monday, July 22 View Page 1080 Hunt on day 33 today. Didn't get to take measurements due to two torrential downpours that chased me out of the patch. Day 31 measurements were 125.75 inch circumference, OTT of 276.25 for an estimated weight of 473 lbs. Monday, July 22 View Page 1210 Van Hook today on day 26. Doin' the wheel thang. 98.25 inch circumference, OTT of 234.75. Estimated weight 292 lbs. Monday, July 22 View Page 1634 Werner today on day 34. 128 inch circumference, OTT of 287.5 inches. Estimated weight of 533 lbs. Monday, July 22 View Page 1524 Fulk today on day 33. 131.5 inch circumference, OTT of 288.5, estimated weight of 539 lbs. Growth of the pumpkins has been excellent lately but I'm seriously concerned about the plants. We've continued getting way too much humidity and rain along with very hot temps last week. Some plants, the 1524 in particular, are losing quite a few leaves due to the leafstems rotting and it is trying to move into the vines. I'm fighting it off the best I can for now but the weather has got to get drier or my plants could be in trouble. My stump covers are helping a ton though, no stump problems to report which is a miracle! Tuesday, August 6 View Page Finally an update! Here is the 1524 Fulk fruit, now known as Isis on day 47 which was yesterday. Fruit growth has not been great, plant is fighting a lot of leaf rot and some in the vines now too, lost part of the main after the fruit and a side vine so far. Still plugging along though at 323.5 OTT for an estimated weight of 757 lbs. Tuesday, August 6 View Page The 1210 Van Hook fruit, named Aphrodite, has a blossom end split that I discovered yesterday on day 40. Didn't take measurements, I'll let it go for a bit to see if I can get seeds to mature before she gets the ax. Shame, she was going to be a beautiful orange one too. Tuesday, August 6 View Page The 1080 Hunt fruit, now named Yemaya on day 44 which was Friday. OTT on that day was 321.5 for an estimated weight of 743 lbs. This one thumps like a boulder, I would bet $100 it is heavier than the chart if it went on a scale right now. Tuesday, August 6 View Page The 1634 Werner fruit, named Lola, looking deceptively small in this photo on day 48 yesterday. OTT is 328.5 inches for an estimated weight of 791 lbs. All pumpkin growth has been slower than normal lately with cool temps and possible nutrient leaching with all the rain we've had this summer. Doing my best to push them and keep them healthy but being so busy with work and everything else it has been a challenge. Still there is quite a bit of time to the weigh-offs and I'm hoping they are the type that grow all the way through September. Sunday, September 15 View Page A new personal best for me, the 1211.5 McCracken! Took 4th place at Roba Farms yesterday and was only 43 pounds away from 2nd place. Grown off of the 1080 Hunt '10, pollinated with the 1210 Van Hook '10, it was 11% heavy.