Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 96 Entries. Friday, January 28 View Page 1500 gallons of water that seems to stay about 20 degrees above night time lows. � Friday, January 28 View Page I mean 15000 gallons � Saturday, January 29 View Page Those are my fert tanks by the way....Just kidding, the photo relates to a topic I started on the message board. � Saturday, February 12 View Page With ears like this we just have to call this practice seedling "Dumbo". � Friday, February 18 View Page 193 White .If it keeps growing it will be a practice plant for starting a few months too early. � Monday, February 21 View Page Dumbo went to a friend's garden at sea level, where it usually 50F+ at nights. I wanted to take a picture of the plant at the beach but forgot the camera.It is still early but the family could get something...maybe even a PB and hooked on growing. Thanks for the seeds Joe Jensen, It was your #1009 from 2010 and it appears to be a good grower that I will try at home when our nights warm up. All the seeds you sent this way will see dirt in someone's garden. � Sunday, February 27 View Page View from front porch this morning. � Thursday, March 17 View Page 193 White running couple of days ago. It is going to exceed the cold frame area and heat cable zone too soon at this rate. Probably extend both. � Saturday, March 26 View Page 193 White has put out male flowers for a few days now. It is getting to where the plant is filling in and expanding from all directions. Looks like it is growing fast now. I'll post a picture when the first female flower gets here. � Tuesday, March 29 View Page It's not in the photo but the first female flower is coming on the 193 white now.The main is about 5 feet. The low slung rebar heat trap is working well both day and night. Two Mountain Hoosiers are in the black pots. � Monday, April 11 View Page 193white first real pollination attempt on 5th or 6th female. The plant would look quite a bit bigger and better had I been spreading it out properly. � Monday, April 11 View Page Same plant looking at the main. Gets much warmer than actual temps against that south facing wall, as much as 15-20 degrees. It might be be too hot there in a couple of months. � Saturday, April 16 View Page The little baby from 4/11 look to have taken. Most notable changes are that the stem is 3"-4" long and getting thick and strong looking. No nascent females in over a week with lots of growth and male flowers. Pretty scary if this is our only good chance after all that was put into this plant. Good thing more plants are coming. � Saturday, April 16 View Page Don't mean to sound ready to lose hope in this plant it is a great plant and I am grateful for the seeds. It will be good to have a few more plants soon to hold some growing focus. � Monday, April 25 View Page Cut 5' off the main. Tired of watching it grow without a fruit and can use the room. The plant is not huge, but it has never paused growing either. Was nearing 200 square feet before pruning the main. The plant is now 3 months from germination without a set. One is coming on a secondary for a pollination attempt soon.Hopefully there will be more as the weather grow warmer. � Monday, April 25 View Page Third 193 white pollination attempt. With a warm trend coming on, started some direct seeded Mountain Hoosiers. Lots of other melon and squash volunteers and intentional plantings have been popping up and look good so it is a little experiment with melons. A few direct seeded "blue rinds" in the window sill. Started a few other Carolina Crosses in paper towels on the satellite modem where test have been successful. � Thursday, April 28 View Page This is the trained into a rectangle, and truncated (cut main) 193 white. More females are coming on. I want to start pruning more but waiting for a likely "grower". it is about 16x12 now and is in a big growth spurt from warm weather. � Friday, April 29 View Page We are tinkering with being market growers or something of the sort. This is part of the butternut squash area... about 1/3 acre in total . The strategy is to avoid erosion and dust problems by growing in the remaining stubble of the winter annuals with drip irrigation. Summer weeds don't grow here if there is no irrigation. Each "hill" has 15 gallons of compost "double dug" in. Hopefully, next year we can shift the drip a few feet, one way or the other, and do new holes with the same crop. � Friday, April 29 View Page Typical row for butternut squash crop. � Wednesday, May 4 View Page First two of the Mountain Hooiser seeds direct planted in the garden are now seedlings. It took 8 days. These are from Tennessee Dreamers 103 Masterson. Getting mixed results on CC Melon seed starting in the house with pre-germ, but we will have plants and back-ups and a few to give away. I'll name our hopefuls when they are in the patch. � Thursday, May 5 View Page My new watermelon warmer. ABS parts with a 50 watt fish tank heater inside. I'll put this next to the just pollinated melon and insulate according to how cold it will be at night. Came up with this while getting help in the watermelon on serial failed fruit setting. � Thursday, May 5 View Page Watermelons are getting nice shape and stem, like this one, This 3 or 4 day old one looks to have energy still. � Thursday, May 5 View Page Scott wants to say that he and dad made this picture for Mommy on the blog. Happy Mothers Day! � Thursday, May 12 View Page 193 White Today. � Thursday, May 12 View Page Bunches of seedlings waiting for the next warming trend. I cover the box overnight with a light inside. They are liking it a lot. Best looking are four 243.5 Kents. � Thursday, May 12 View Page The little watermelon on my one winter plant. Not growing fast. There are a few smaller ones and a pollination attempt today. � Sunday, May 15 View Page Aside from growing in a greenhouse it is just too cold, or perhaps better said, not hot enough for watermelon in my area when starting in January. Same roadblock every stage...almost, but just not quite enough heat even with cables...plant gets old without a chance of a really big one. � Sunday, May 15 View Page Started germinating pumpkin seeds for my patch.Probably do one or two plants.I failed with two of duster's seeds last year , so I have never grown anything other than store bought seed. My hope is to get the seeds given to me on this site to some semblance of a mature, and hopefully orange, pumpkin. � Saturday, May 21 View Page Yesterday The melon transplants went in, one set of siblings per spot in hopes thinning one and keeping the best of each. 149.5 White. 193 White 196 Bhaskaran 243.5 Kent The direct seeded Mountain Hoosiers are putting out first and second true leaves. � Friday, May 27 View Page Put the pumpkin plants in the patch Yesterday. The seedlings look great. There are now four 596 Ciesielski 08' and two 487 Ciesielski 10' plants. Just growing a row in hopes of some nice pumpkins....they have about 2500 square feet to grow in. � Friday, May 27 View Page 193 White melon about 25 pounds. � Sunday, June 5 View Page First year floricanes on the blackberries planted last spring. � Sunday, June 5 View Page Ollalieberry type of black berry. � Sunday, June 5 View Page Dinosaur blackberry pie by Stevie and Carolyn. � Sunday, June 5 View Page The melon has been growing so slowly most of the time that you can't be sure it hasn't stopped. It looks nice and has slowly gotten to be the big enough to know it is not a regular watermelon but so far that's it. All the recently planted water melon sibling pairs are growing slowly. With them started to vine we have started to cull to one each per spot. Most look like identical twins but one 149.5 white did much better than the other. 6 Pumpkin plants all look good and identical which I think is a sign that they are healthy. � Sunday, June 12 View Page It's a nice looking melon but small for it's age. Weather finally got above 50 at night a few days ago. Not going to be something to take to the fair. The plant makes me thing of the Sargasso sea, or tundra, it is that thick and matted... could have grown to 600+square feet easily. � Sunday, June 12 View Page 243.5 kent front, 196 Bhaskaran in the back. Could be good ones to try flag patterns on. � Sunday, June 12 View Page New 193 White, can't see it much, but this is a great spot in the patch about 25'x30' dedicated for the plant if needed. � Sunday, June 12 View Page 60" foot row or Mountain Hoosiers with lots of room to grow off the row. I am really excited about these from Tennessee Dreamer based on what he and a few other growers from BP.com did with them....and especially that they have reported that they taste great! Hoping for good results. Rustico: In it for the food. � Sunday, June 12 View Page Pumpkin patch, not an effort worthy of competition but we could get some nice orange ones and good seeds. It's fun. � Thursday, June 16 View Page Mostly low to mid 50's until now, we are mid to high 50's finally. First night that doesn't dip below 60F might be in July. � Sunday, June 26 View Page Pollinating first of the direct seeded Mountain Hoosier melons. � Wednesday, June 29 View Page 149.5 white, pollinated yesterday at 6-7 feet on main. � Wednesday, June 29 View Page 196 Bhaskaran. I like this plant. It could get a little cramped in the main garden, but it looks real nice there. The soil is sandy and deep, with lots of good compost and rabbit manure added. � Wednesday, June 29 View Page 193 White, looks good. My winter version of this one grew much faster due to heat cables, a clear tarp and a heat lamp every night.It never dropped below 60F until it got too big for the tarp setup, which was pretty big. � Wednesday, June 29 View Page Keeping tabs on the squash project, Lots of Butternut, a few Blue and Golden Hubbards and some Delicata. . The weeds are intentional. These were planted memorial day weekend... except for the ones the rabbits took out at the cot leaf stage and were reseeded. The main concern is that the root zone prep and drip irrigation pattern won't support very high yields. So far so good. � Wednesday, June 29 View Page Mountain Hoosiers filling in. Some fruit are pollinated and I am shooting to save good seeds. Not going for the biggest we can get of the type. � Wednesday, June 29 View Page Miscellaneus garden stuff with an emphasis on peppers and eggplant. Summer and winter bush squash on the right and Strawberries to the left. � Wednesday, June 29 View Page Strawberries, etc. � Monday, July 11 View Page The 149.5 White plant. � Monday, July 11 View Page Biggest melon so far. It's on the 149.5 main 60 OTT in the morning of the 12th day. All the vines are skinny and I almost pulled it. Might as well see what happens. There are two other 4-5 day fruits on separate fingers. � Monday, July 11 View Page 193white is so much thicker in every way. It's starting to take off now. There are two 4-5 day old sets here. I want one more on a strong growing finger but I don't see the female yet. The sets are only at about 6 feet. � Monday, July 11 View Page 196Bhaskaran, also a strong grower and producing the most females most of which stick when pollinated. Actually all the plants are doing well setting what there is. This one just makes more. The first fruit was pollinated on the main with the 193white on July 4th. There are a few opens and another cross with the 193 White yesterday. If it takes, I pull the earlier one just to get a farther out fruit to watch. The plant will have to grow over the rocks and through the corn to get big. The tallish peruvian purple corn, which is 12 inches on center, has never been fertilized. I just put it in the ground after pulling broccoli which was grown with lots of compost this winter. � Monday, July 11 View Page The help is no good this year. They are wierd...and scary....might as well leave them up in this tree. � Monday, July 11 View Page Correction. The 12 day OTT on the 149.5 White was 70 not 60. The 14 day is 80". The plants are bigger than they look in the pictures. � Wednesday, July 13 View Page Now I realize these mountain hoosiers are a little too close. It will be interesting to see it the end of row plants make bigger melons. � Sunday, July 17 View Page 196 Bhaskaran, my birthday melon, hit the charts at day 11 or 12. I got the same measurement both days, so I could have goofed up 11....or worse the melon could have stopped. Our other decent grower all but stopped after hitting the charts and the culling of a decent fruit on a secondary on the same main. There are still lots of melons some confirmed slow pokes and some TBD. � Monday, July 18 View Page Looks like a doctor delivering another "sugar baby"... We are getting lots of these that meet the standards for the type. It's a good surprise because it took so long for the plants to get in gear. Zero spray. � Tuesday, July 19 View Page Squash garden health becoming a bit of a concern. Mostly worried about leaves yellowing. The plants are setting the first couple of fruits per vine now. � Tuesday, July 19 View Page Close-up of a yellowish and yellowing plant. My first guess is somehow I am messing up watering....too much since they are planted in holes? Maybe they need some fertilizer? � Tuesday, July 19 View Page Biggest Mountain Hoosier, 50 pounds give or take.Was first pollinated and it is starting to ripen. � Tuesday, July 19 View Page 193 White, moderate grower but the best on this plant so far. Day 13. � Tuesday, July 19 View Page New melon on the 149.5 is nice looking and long.It was 93OTT day 12. � Tuesday, July 19 View Page Good news, my birthday melon, looking like the best so far is still going! 196 Bhaskaran x 193 white. � Tuesday, July 19 View Page Here is a pretty mountain hoosier crossed with what I assume is a Carolina Cross melon. � Tuesday, July 19 View Page Highly photogenic(it's not there fault there is no photograper around), lemon cucumbers. Prolific and delicious, too. � Wednesday, July 20 View Page Birthday Melon,196 Bhaskaran, Day 16= c51.5, ee34,ss28 113.5 OTT. 2nd largest is 149.5 White, 106.5 OTT on day 15. � Sunday, July 24 View Page Just having a beautiful summer. Mid 80's for daytime temps and 58-62 at night for the most part. My watermelons could probably use more heat but they are doing pretty good anyway. Sure is enjoyable to work out there. Hopefully the weather is working out for the local pumpkin growers. � Tuesday, July 26 View Page 400 or so squash plants are O.K. After much panic studying and consulting with a very knowledgeable grower, it was discovered that I when I took the drip irrigation off the booster pump and changed to gravity (to save electricity), I had unwittingly cutback on water. Thanks for the help big moon. � Tuesday, July 26 View Page Smaller areas were not affected by the water snafu. This is day 22 for the Bhaskaran melon. It was 128.5 OTT on day 20. I'll measure it again on day 30.It's compost grown. So far it has got two simple drenches with simple compost tea...just water and compost. � Tuesday, July 26 View Page 149.5 White also charted over 60 pounds on day.It's the most symmetrical of the keepers, looks like a pipe painted like a watermelon. From what I hear around the forums, it doesn't "have the girth". The stem looks like it might be kinked a little too. � Tuesday, July 26 View Page Meant to say day 20 for the 149.5 in the previous post . Two melons on the 193 White....around 50 pounds each on day 20. One is on the main and one is on a large finger. All plants are now getting controlled to about 300 square feet. � Tuesday, July 26 View Page Scott watched this volunteer Howden plant daily, from the time he found it in the compost pile and we transplanted it, until the day he cut it from the vine. � Tuesday, July 26 View Page A good dose of perspective in the middle of the season never hurts. � Thursday, July 28 View Page Rabbit manure tea today for the three CC melon plants. I hope it doesn't kill them because it stunk so bad it seems like it could. � Friday, July 29 View Page I couldn't wait until day 30. I look at the darn things everyday anyway, so the growth is hard to notice....might as well tape'em. Three melons gained between 4-5 pounds per day for 5 days. This is with 2 or 3 melons per plant and I am just measuring the oldest and biggest. Day 25 196Bhaskaran 144.5 OTT Day 24 149.5 White 137.5 OTT Day 24 193 White 124.5 OTT � Tuesday, August 2 View Page Time to pull the plug on the 149.5 plant. The good grower was nearly completely severed from the vine by a rodent, either right before or right after my last taping. The plant did pretty well and the fruit was on a decent trajectory depsite a cooler than average summer...so it's been good for confirmation of what is possible here. � Wednesday, August 3 View Page 196Bhaskaran, day 30 156OTT. � Thursday, August 4 View Page 193White, day 29 141 OTT. � Thursday, August 4 View Page Closer picture of the 196. About 30 straight length now. � Thursday, August 4 View Page 193White growing pretty good now. � Sunday, August 7 View Page Been in the low 50's three nights in a row for about the 3rd time this summer. There are at least few more cool nights anticipated. Great for sleeping after a nice hot day...going to find out soon see how Carolina Crosses like it. Supposedly large swings in day and night temps make sweet melons, so there is perhaps a bright side. � Monday, August 8 View Page 5 day check-up: Best growing melon fell way off the good pace it was on. Second best slowed down almost as much. I was more or less waiting for this. I doubt they will catch fire again. Going to try to get them to be the best quality "eaters" I can. � Thursday, August 18 View Page 196Bhaskaran is still the biggest @ 173.5 OTT 45DAP. It's gaining about 2.5 pounds per day. The plant has gone somewhat downhill. It got some fish fertilizer yesterday. 193 White plant looks great and has a nice but short melon. The biggest is 120 lbs. day 44. � Thursday, August 18 View Page Organically grown Butternut squash yield is about 2 small and 2 medium and 3 large squash per plant. Could have been much better or much worse. The plants never were exactly thriving.Eating watermelons and most other things did much better. Either way, there's definitely no shortage of squash around here. � Tuesday, August 23 View Page One for each kid,off the 196 Bhaskaran, the plant died with the biggest about 150 pounds at 40-45DAP. I am going to try to get them weighed. � Tuesday, August 23 View Page The cantalope is about 20 pounds. It's a 50 Gibson,open pollinated with no others from the crossing group around. I just threw the seeds out on a hill in the squash patch. There are a few more like this on two small plants. � Tuesday, August 23 View Page It was actually a quite delicious cantaloupe. We may just grow these for food and as an interesting fruit to take to farmer's markets, produce exchanges, etc. � Saturday, September 3 View Page We took the fruit from the 196 Bhaskaran plant out for some fun today. We showed it at a local produce swap event which is run by some great high school students. A half a dozen or more people signed up for some seeds.After that, we weighed it at Jamul Recycling Center and it came up 159 pounds. Final OTT was 172...about 10 pounds heavier than the chart...and not a state record! � Sunday, September 4 View Page 193 white, Last melon in the patch. It's 60 days old and 170 OTT. I think it will approximately tie my newbie PB. I really got lazy a few weeks ago when I realized it would not make 200 pounds, so it has a little sunburn. Just waiting for it to get a little more ripe. � Sunday, September 4 View Page This is our 159 is was only about 45 DAP when it stopped growing suddenly and was therefore not ripe. My little farmer looks like he is eating this thing in earnest...but the little guy is totally in on the joke. � Monday, September 12 View Page 193 white was weighed at the recycling center it was 150lbs. It looked like it had the shape to go heavier than charts according to what I heard in the forums, but it had a big hollow center. Unfortunately, it wasn't much for taste despite going organic and waiting until it was ripe. � Monday, September 12 View Page We had some fun in the patch and with taking the melons to show around town.Not really anywhere reasonably close to "compete" with them. Ate a lot of good mountain hoosiers and sold some too! Thanks for the existence of this site and the generous posters who help out. � Friday, September 16 View Page I have often felt grateful to the bees for their help with all the open pollinations in the garden this year. Here they help themselves to the fruits of our labor. � Wednesday, September 21 View Page Last picture of the squash crop field curing. � Wednesday, September 21 View Page A pile of good squash for the house. The delicata variety is highly recommended. Happy international peace day! �