Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 93 Entries. Saturday, February 9 View Page We can all disagree and argue at times, but at the end of the day, this is how I feel after a day in the dirt. Best of luck to all in 2013! Saturday, February 16 View Page There has been a major disturbance in the force. Thanks Ron and Pap! Friday, March 1 View Page My 2 Ozark river dogs, unfortunately the one on the right has very little time left due to a rupture in a spleen tumor that was just discovered. He is\was the best patch dog and will be missed dearly. Friday, March 15 View Page 75 degrees today means a Missouri summer suit and time to get going on patch. Jokes on me in the end after I added compost, amendments etc... the tiller flooded over and over. Spark plug looked good, but ran out of light. Hope I can figure it out before rain comes tomorrow night with all my amendments sitting on top. Friday, March 15 View Page First wrangler around 17 months old now and next boy could be here within a month. I still don't know if two at this age will be a good thing for growing since I wil be home all the time, or bad. LOL, just want to make the scale for once. Saturday, March 16 View Page lmao, Marco not happy to see his grandpa... and grandpa not happy to be in the "city" from his Missouri Ozark woods cave. Friday, March 22 View Page Frankie, the only dog left after Tito passed trying to be my new helper. She means well, but is better off chasing butterflies. We are planning on getting a new Shepherd\patch dog in 6 months. Compost and amendments were tilled in last week... just need to add some manganese sulfate once the ground dries again. Sunday, March 24 View Page Last year, 2012 March 24th. Early spring and hot as hell summer. Sunday, March 24 View Page Same shot, one year later to the date, March 24th 2013. Late spring and got hit with over 10 inches of snow today. I was wearing cutoff shirts and shorts last week and tilled the patch. Thursday, April 11 View Page Starting day! We dropped back into the 50's today after the storm that blasted Colorado moved through, but will be back to 80 degrees by Sunday. I hope to germinate the 923 Gerhardt, 1684 Delaney and have the 921 Rosa as a backup. I also hope to germinate a 993 Vincent McGill to grow out of a pot to have males for the 923. Friday, April 12 View Page Once a year throwback. This is my grandpa Puricelli derived from Brescia,Italy living in Saint Louis 1955. He had a small garden, loved the vino, and served in WW2 in the U.S Army. 1684 is going well in p.t method with root poking through... 923 is still swollen. Saturday, April 13 View Page Had to start a 921 Rosa since the 923 Gerhardt still has not popped. I re-filed and changed out paper towels. Time will tell. Late spring this year, but everything is finally starting to go green. Garden is all ready for 2 plants. Sunday, April 14 View Page 923 Gerhardt didn't germinate, but the backup 921 Rosa did. BUT, after reading on here, I am hesitant to grow it due to problems with the plant and fruit. Started a 840 Young (777 Young x 1059 Vincent McGill) tonight, and have a 777 Young to serve as its backup. 1684 Delaney is out and going. Tuesday, April 16 View Page Won't be growing the 1684 this year now either. Rough start this spring, damn. Friday, April 19 View Page 840 Young (777 Young x 1059 VMG) -(777 was 993 VMG x 1059 VMG) on left 1 day after germination. She looks to go orange and if you look close you can see it was the same coffee container I used for the 1059 VMG I grew in 2011. On right is the 1381 Delaney literally 45 minutes after I got the seed shell off... talk about the finer things in life. That is always fun to say hello, I'll be at your back and call for the next 7 months, now what can you do?!?lol Friday, April 19 View Page Here's my post to Norm. I had a beard and breifly shaved it to Flat Norm status, but my kid didn't like it.lol. Cheers Mr. Gansert! Wednesday, April 24 View Page On Paper, this 840 Young might be one of the most orange there are (I hope). The 840 is the 777 Young x 1059 Vincent McGill. So it's dad and maternal grandpa are both the 1059 Vincent Mcgill, and it's maternal grandma (993) was the mother to the 1059 Vincent Mcgill... LMAO. To pollinate, I am either going to use a 1213 Rea, 980 Fredricks, 777 Young or 993 VMG grown from a large pot on side just to make a good orange cross. Anyone who has an opinion on this please email me. Friday, April 26 View Page Stress level at 12 out of 10. Kid is 18 months and next boy due in just 6 days. I'm also down a dog and a cat for pest control. Temps were nice, dropped off to 50's but supposed to be in 80's next week. Anything is better than that 108 chit from last year. The 840 and 1381 will be moved outside Sunday. Sunday, April 28 View Page Plants in the ground. As you can see I still grow under trees. I'd like to grow 700-800 pounds, but will be very hard to do with 5 hours max of light each day. Friday, May 3 View Page Wiz, the snow you sent 4 times now amounted to 8 inches of rain over the past couple weeks. Everything is green, but I worry about how much was leached. Here's to mud in your eye! Saturday, May 4 View Page Add another pumpkin grower and fisherman to the game, my 2nd son, Wyatt William, was born today. And the 1381 and 840 continue to really grow. The 840 Young started off fast, but the 1381 literally doubled in size the past 48. Thursday, May 9 View Page For the guys growing in the buckets or little plots. Back in 2010, I had 1 generic AG, 1 field pumpkin, cucumbers, and 2 other variety pumpkin plants all within 175 square feet. I had about 8 growin on the fence. Powdery Mildew was a b$tch that year. And more on the fence: http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=138815 Saturday, May 11 View Page My boys, and cheers to the Watermelon champ, D English, of Missouri for the AG seeds. Saturday, May 18 View Page 840 Young (777 Young x 1059 VMG) - flawless start and more aggressive than the 1381 so far. Laid down today. I had to cut the kickstand leaf on the 1381 today... usually I can get away without doing so since I hate removing a leaf at this stage. Saturday, May 18 View Page Patch shot and a pic of my new chopper. 840 on right, 1381 on left. I will prove to the world a 1000 pounder can be grown in shade on tree roots! lmao Saturday, May 25 View Page Missouri Ozarks and some Smallmouth fishing. Tuesday, May 28 View Page Powdered each secondary on both plants with Cayenne Pepper. There are just way too many squirrels and chipmunks out back to try and trap. Both plants are about 7-8 feet out and both have females I might pollinate after last years mess with the heat\drought. Wednesday, May 29 View Page Here's my 840... already with yellow vines just like the 1059 that saturates its blood line. This plant is by far the fastest I have had. 1381 is slower and might get pulled to free up some time I really need as one AG is all I have had time for. Zappa field pumpkins and sunflower, maters, and about 5 other varieties od gourds and pumpkins all moving along. Saturday, June 1 View Page Storms\tornadoes tore through last night dropping hail with heavy winds. Plants are shredded. Still thankful because people just 5 miles to the north lost their entire homes completely. Saturday, June 1 View Page 1381 plant is all but done. 840 took a bad hit and the main and secondaries are torn up, snapped, holes etc from the hail last night. Here is one on the 840 I am attempting to redneck fix. LMAO, great start! Green house growers are lucky folks. Wednesday, June 5 View Page 840 has rebounded well from the hail. I cut any damaged secondaries clean and am letting a tertiary grow out to take over as the secondary. I have a female to pollinate within a couple days, and more to follow at every other node. Saturday, June 8 View Page First pollination on the 840 but probably not gonna keep. It's about 7 feet out with too little of plant behind it. I really like the tall shape it will have. I heard longer is better for weight, but I grow for looks so the taller the better. Saturday, June 8 View Page Pumpkinman Dan is to Poison Ivy awareness as I am to DON'T hit the damn turtle awareness. This girl just had a clipped rear rescued from a bridge over the creek she wanted back in. Saturday, June 15 View Page Culled this a 5 days ago on the 840 to let more plant get behind a set fruit. Saturday, June 15 View Page But this happened today. Main is done. Looks like another year with half ass results. I'm not settling on a 300 pounder grown 40 feet off a side vine. That just isn't worth it. Hope everyone else is having a better day. LMAO Saturday, June 15 View Page Marley, this one is for you brother. After a bad day with a snapped main vine, fishing with my year and a half old kid solved everything. Tuesday, June 18 View Page Unknown leaf problem at about 5 feet out? They started a bit yellow and went down over 5 days. Wednesday, June 19 View Page 1381 is officially pulled... could not recover from hail. The last fruit on the main of the 840 where the main was severed did not take as of today. That means I have one plant with no main and will be forces to try on a secondary. Already at a disadvantage of growing with 4-5 hours of light a day, I'm having second thoughts of growing on a secondary at all. Not worth a small fruit. My June 15th entry is starting to haunt me. Thursday, June 20 View Page New side vines of the headless 840 stare out in horror over its dead counterpart, the 1381, just a couple hours after it's lifeline was pulled. The 840 now has full range if it dares to venture into Hail Hollow. Sunday, June 23 View Page Missed some pollinations this weekend due to being on my small, Ozark floating home. Thursday, June 27 View Page The 840 which is confirmed to really be suffering a soil condition. No females will keep, and all but 2 of the secondaries seen in the above have at least one rip or "explosion" at one or 2 nodes an inch across. Way too much Nitrogen I suspect, but not sure why. With a severed or no main vine, that leaves me 2 secondaries to try and get a female on. I have one that looks good for early next week. If not, I am giving the plant 10 days then pulling it. Not worth the stress to grow a dink, and I wouldn't mind taking some time off with the kids. Thursday, June 27 View Page Note, I did have some pollinations missed from being away, but bees didn't do their dang job. Sunday, June 30 View Page Pollinated 840 Young times self about 18 feet out off the second side vine. Monday, July 1 View Page Sometimes after just 1 day, you know it took. Wednesday, July 3 View Page Found her in the garden this morning, rained all day yesterday and they love the rain. Pumpkins not so much... need more of a balance. Saturday, July 6 View Page 840 Young, 6 DAP. Really like the perfectly round shape, but having major stem issues. You can also see splits at the nodes on the vines which happened on the entire plant. Way too much N? Saturday, July 6 View Page Well, this about sums up a Saturday night in Missouri when you have 2 kids under 2, no sitter, and can't be on the river. Fire, one coldy (one after another), music and watching that pumpkin grow. Sunday, July 7 View Page My other option at 2 days old on last secondary where main was severed. It is already the size of a baseball and will likely be my keeper given the other one's stem issues. Monday, July 8 View Page One has bad stem rot and the other now has this as of today (3 DAP). Everything on this plant has split at every node and now stem. I really don't get how this year went so bad. Hail taking out one plant, main vine cut in half when out of town, stem splits on everything under 10 days... wonder if I can even grow anything decent on this with splits and on a secondary? Thursday, July 11 View Page 11 DAP, slow growing at 27 CC. Will most likely get the knife Sunday as a 5 and 6 DAP are growing much faster. This one also had the stem rot which I got rid of with minor surgery leaving the small hole. The other 2 both have major vine splits at the stem which I figure is better than the stem itself. All 3 are gimps, only one will be chosen. Friday, July 12 View Page Cut the above this morning. Left it with 2 feet of side vine and 2, eight foot terts to grow. Hoping for a 100-150 pound orange carver. Other 2 up at front of plant on secondaries growing well and will make the decision in a week or so. Thursday, July 18 View Page Day 13 and 42CC on 840 Young. Nice Tall pumpkin. Did some major stem surgery again today, hope it holds. Saturday, July 20 View Page Advice needed. This guy is 15 DAP, 50 CC and very tall. The top portion of its stem at vine was rotten and removed, and the vine is split in half on both sides too. It keeps growing 5 CC a day, but I have an 8 DAP at 25 CC with zero issues. It is on one of the first side vines vs this one (in Pic) that is on the last trained as a new main. Stem issues (in pic) vs younger fast grower on bad secondary vine? Any thoughts, please email me. I culled the other slow grower that I had mentioned in the discussion board earlier this week. Vine borers are awful this year too, and not sure how long I can keep the plant going. Saturday, July 20 View Page Not 2 years yet, and the kid is a natural. Well, if dragging out of the water counts vs reeling. That won't happen till 3. Thursday, July 25 View Page Patch shot. Thursday, July 25 View Page 840 Young, 20 days (63 CC), not the biggest due to a severe stem split. Looks to go the color of the hat when said and done. Friday, July 26 View Page They say go big or go home, I just cut that nice colored 20 DAP from the main vine (pictured above). 2CC gains a day due to a vine split won't cut it. I'm now all in for the 14 day old back up. Monday, July 29 View Page Keeper at 17 DAP on 840 Young after a culling the big one above. Looks exactly like the 1059 VMG I grew in 2011 which happens to be the 840's daddy and grandpa. Saturday, August 3 View Page This one was culled over a week ago (840 Young) due to a bad vine split, but continues to grow and go very orange with just 6 feet of vine supporting it. Should be a nice carver. Saturday, August 3 View Page Here is my keeper, any thoughts on how to avoid disaster or growing into the stem. Will a piece of foam work and slowly push it out? Dr Dixon? Saturday, August 3 View Page Smallmouth Zappa field pumpkin. Got stem? Saturday, August 10 View Page Zappa Sunflower grown in about 4 hours of sun a day. Stands about 14 feet and just starting to flower. Tuesday, August 13 View Page 32 days, why cut from the vine??? Tuesday, August 13 View Page Another year, another split on my only keeper. Damn, that sucks. Friday, August 16 View Page Cut from the garden tonight. Hoping to have a monster for his 2nd birthday next month, didn't happen due to a split, but I have a few things up the sleeve. (?) Thursday, August 22 View Page Kids make it hard to be on the river, so late night fishing is the way to go for now. Thursday, August 22 View Page My friend, Maggot, with a skinny river Smallie. They are thin from the current but stronger than any lake fish its size. Saturday, August 24 View Page So before my last AG split, I grew one of those late season vines off the stump at the base most people prune and set a pumkin on it. It's 21 days old today and 65 CC. Ha, and everyone thought I was done. Also, my Zappa field pumpkin has shattered my PB and I'd say is close to 50 pounds. It's in an area with 3 hours of light and never buried one node. Pics up soon. Saturday, August 24 View Page Zappa field pumpkin is doing well after stem split. On the left is a beer tucked away for scale. I guess the 50 pound range. PB regardless. Thursday, August 29 View Page Early season cull #1 grown on 8 feet of vine this whole summer. 840 Young - very orange Thursday, August 29 View Page Early season cull #2 grown on 12 feet of vine this whole summer. 840 Young - had a bad stem, and healed once cut from the main Thursday, August 29 View Page New keeper after my best one split grown off a back main pollinated Aug 2nd is 76 CC on day 27. Hope for a 500 pound beauty. All 840's were selfed Monday, September 2 View Page Never shocked by what we see at Lake of the Ozarks. Friday, September 6 View Page LMAO, Marley. Saturday, September 7 View Page Grown off a back main pollinated August 2nd. It will be my last year growing for a while so I'll be happy with anything. Looks to be going a brilliant orange. Saturday, September 7 View Page For Zappa, thanks for the field seed. She weighed in at 49 pounds on my scale. Saturday, September 7 View Page For Kreig, got a win over Pitt tonight. Saturday, September 14 View Page Cut from the plant on day 21 due to a stem split and grew to 200 pounds on only 8-10 feet of vine feeding it. A few emailed me to keep it on the plant and give it a chance, and I sure wish I did! It would probably have been a personal best had I done so. Another year and more mistakes. Saturday, September 14 View Page The above is the 840 Young and is a darker orange than the 1059 VMG I grew in 2011. Wednesday, September 18 View Page Nothing better than calling in sick to work and fishing the Ozarks for Smallmouth. Wednesday, September 18 View Page Enjoying the no waders for now, but that'll only last a few more weeks. Water got cold after it started raining. Tuesday, September 24 View Page One of 3 on grown from the 840 Young. Hail and a snapped main vine ruined my year, but at least have a few red ones. Can you find the tomato? Thursday, September 26 View Page Losing half the garden(where straw is). Ramification of years of failure... garden gets turned into more grass\play area for kids. I suppose more room for the dogs to poop too since it wasn't already hard enough finding their turds. Friday, September 27 View Page I know some of the guys from states that border Missouri will like this. Friday, October 4 View Page My buddy stopped by with another monster watermelon... hard to grow pumpkins big here but the melons love it. Mr English might even have a state record gourd in the back of that truck tomorrow morning. Thanks Doug, the boy was a happy one. Friday, October 18 View Page The "chicken" of Carp, Bigheads and Silvers. I'm sure there were a few Grass and Common in there, but we just saved the U.S natives like Buffalo and Blue&Flathead Cats. Carp were disposed and given to homeless hawks, Eagles and Turtles. Even Gar were saved before the Carp. Friday, October 25 View Page Was hopin for a future bull rider, but might have a rodeo clown. Friday, November 1 View Page Happy Fall to everyone... Friday, November 1 View Page And can't remember when that Dogwood was ever so pretty in late fall over my now 400 square foot patch. Is that a sign I might be a flyweight-hitter next year? Saturday, November 16 View Page The Hulk at 6 months, looks to be my own personal pumpkin hauler. Friday, November 29 View Page In the woods today I came across this tree stump. Very simple, and reminds me to keep it "simple". Maybe I'll have better luck rather than over apply all the micronutrients due to faulty soil tests, sampling and reading bad advice. Friday, December 6 View Page Patch shot where the dog is about to dump, about 19 degrees now and getting down to 6 night. Hoping for a Missouri win over Auburn tomorrow in the SEC championship and an Ohio State loss... sorry Cecil, but our only hope to make the BCS championship game! Saturday, December 14 View Page Two snows already this year. I hear that is good for the garden and nutrients or something like that.