Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 63 Entries. Monday, April 2 View Page Well, it is that time of year again. After a long winter, it is finally time to start the diary and pumpkin season. This years goal is to try and get to 1200 pounds. Picture is of my personal best 1048 Huffman/11. Friday, April 6 View Page With it being so dry this spring, I was able to start some early season prep today. Friday, April 6 View Page Last fall I expanded the patch by about 240 square feet. Then left some well rotted horse manure over the new part for the winter. Today it was roto-tilled in. Friday, April 6 View Page It worked up very easily. The sod basically fell apart. Will let it sit for another day or two, then give the whole patch a couple quick run overs with the tiller. Monday, April 9 View Page Finished roto-tilling the patch today, it worked up very nicely. Monday, April 9 View Page Also set up the mini greenhouses today. This year I decided to put down black plastic in the greenhouses to try and warm up the soil more, as well as keep the moisture in it. Monday, April 9 View Page Will be letting the greenhouses sit for probably three weeks now to warm up the soil. With it as dry as it is, I figured may as well get things up while I can. Incase it turns wet like it did last year. Sunday, April 22 View Page Started the giant pumpkins as well as a couple squash today. For the Main Patch: 1404 Bryson, 1674 Marsh, 1080 Hunt, 1382 Bryson, 979 Huffman, 560 Huffman Est. For the Secondary Patch: 877 Hunt*, 1246 Vincent*, 1399 Marsh, 800 Langridge. Only four of these will be grown out (two per patch). They were all filed, put in the starting mix, watered lightly, and then into an egg incubator set at 88 Fahrenheit. Tuesday, April 24 View Page The 1404 Bryson is the first seed to start showing signs of life. It was a split seed, so it didn't have to break the seed coat, which will hopefully still come up with the plant (I don't really want to have to go digging around it). Wednesday, April 25 View Page After a day of growth, the 1404 still has not brought up the seed coat, so I carefully seperated the two halves, and was able to pull each side away from the seedling. Wednesday, April 25 View Page Also, some more plants came up today, with some more begining to push the dirt a bit. With any luck, the rest will be up by tomorrow night. Friday, April 27 View Page As well as growing AG's this year, I have started some giant beets (in the picture) and carrots, and will be starting giant feild pumpkins, tomatos, tall corn, and tall sunflower sometime soon. Friday, April 27 View Page Today I watered the seedlings with 30mL seawead and 15 mL Muskie (fish) emulsion diluted in a litre of water. All seedlings are growing fairly well (when compared with the date they germinated), and will be transplanted into larger pots on Sunday. Wednesday, May 2 View Page On the weekend, I set up the greenhouse at the secondary patch. There will be a squash and a my mom's pumpkin grown back to back here, with about 400 square feet each. Wednesday, May 2 View Page I also transplanted the seedlings into larger pots on Sunday. They have grown a tremendous amount since then. I have also been moving them to a window on cloudy days to gradually get them adjusted to the sun. Hopefully, I will begin hardening them off next week, and then transplant into the patches next weekend. I also gave them another shot of fish and seaweed today. Thursday, May 3 View Page Here are the rest of the plants. They are not doing as well as the other group, but are still better than anything I have had at this time of the year. Sunday, May 6 View Page I started to harden off the plants today, they were set outside for about three hours in the shade, and then brought in. Monday, May 7 View Page All plants were given another shot of fish and seaweed today. They are getting this every five days. The picture is of the 1404 Bryson (left ) and the 560 Huffman (right). They are pretty much dead even, with the 1246 squash not far behind them (front left). Sunday, May 13 View Page I transplanted the pumpkins into the patch yesterday. I filled the planting holes with a half and half mix of well rotted horse manure and black earth, with mycorrhizae mixed in. In the pic is the 560 Huffman (right) and the 1080 Hunt (left). So far, the 560 has been very aggresive, and has passed everything that germinated before it. The 560 was grown off of the 1059 Vincent-McGill and pollinated with the 901 Hunt. Sunday, May 13 View Page In the second hoop-house at the main patch is the 1404 Bryson (right) and the 1382 Bryson (back left). The 1404 has been very strong as well. I will likley cull the weekest plants from these two hills sometime mid next week, or sooner if they start to crowd each other out. Sunday, May 13 View Page At the secondary patch, the 1674 Marsh (farthest) and 1246* Vincent (closest) are sharing a hoop and will be grown back to back. Saturday, May 19 View Page So, after a week or so in the ground, the plants have really begun to take off. This is the 1404 Bryson (right) and the 1382 Bryson (left). Saturday, May 19 View Page And the 560 Huffman (right) with the 1080 Hunt (left). Saturday, May 19 View Page As wellas the 1246 Vincent* squash (closest) and 1674 marsh (farthest). Saturday, May 26 View Page I culled the backup plants in the main patch a few days ago. The final line-up is the 560 Huffman, 1404 Bryson, 1246 Vincent*, and 1674 Marsh. I have started to trench ahead of the vines, and will likley start burrying towards the end of the week. The picture is of the 560 a couple days ago. Sunday, May 27 View Page And here is the 1404. It is a little larger than the 560, and has been very aggresive so far. The plants at the secondary patch have mains about 8-10 inches long and have not been reciving kelp or fish anymore (and probably wont, I am planning on just pruning and watering them). Saturday, June 2 View Page At the south end of the patch, I have a row of soybeans. The soybeans have little things on their roots called nodules, which make the nitrogen more useable to the plant. And since they generally prduce more than the host plant can use, they leave the soil with a slightly higher nitrogen level. The idea behind this is that next year, the stumps will be planted where the soybeans were, giving them easy acess to nitrogen when they are smaller. Saturday, June 2 View Page After having a large amount of wind damage last year, I have decided to plant a row of sunflowers along the west side of the patch. Hopefully, they will protect the plants later on when they aren't as flexible as they are now. Saturday, June 2 View Page Here is a picture of the patch from a couple days ago. Almost everything is in now, just have to transplant the tomatos, beets, rutabega, and carrots when they are ready. The root vegetables will be planted in the white box at the end of the patch, and the tomatos will go in the space between the box and the soybeans. Saturday, June 2 View Page The pumpkins are doing far better than any I have had before. Since this piture was taken, the huts have had to be expanded by about 2 feet, which the plants are now coming to the end of. The huts will likley be removed sometime in the middle of the week as we are supposed to have some nasty weather over the next couple days. The picture is of the 560. Saturday, June 2 View Page Here is the 1404, it is still about the same as the 560. Tuesday, June 5 View Page This afternoon I took down the greenhouses. The plants were busting out after about three weeks in the huts. I had been burying and pruning a little while the huts were still up, but it was difficult to do a good job. Tuesday, June 5 View Page Once the greenhouses were down I buried and prunned some more vines on the 560. It is begining to develop some nice side vines and is really steaming along. Am begining to expect a little bit more from this thing and the season. Tuesday, June 5 View Page And here is the 1404. It is moving along at a pretty good clip as well. It doesn't look as big as the 560 in the picture because I had the secondary’s folded forward in the greenhouse, and now have to spend a day or two bringing them back. It wouldn't suprise me though if it is a little larger than the 560 once it is spread out. Wednesday, June 6 View Page I straightened, pruned, and buried the 1404 toaday, and it is just slightly larger than the 560. I also transplanted the carrots, beets and rutabagas into the box at the corner of the patch. Only thing left to go in now is the tomatos, which will probably be transplanted next weekend. Friday, June 15 View Page Things have been moving along really nicely over the last ten days or so. There are females on both the 1404 and 560, which will likely open some time towards the end of next week. Also, I have the watering systems laid down, and ready to go once the plants get a little bigger. Tuesday, June 26 View Page The plants have done a lot since I last updated my diary. Here is the 1404, the first female flower opened on the 20th. It was about 12-15 feet out on the main, with four lobes, and was pollinated with the 560. Tuesday, June 26 View Page And the 560, it's first female opened on the 21st, it was about 15ft out on the main, with five lobes, and was pollinated with the 1674. Tuesday, June 26 View Page Here is the fruit on the 1404, I think it has set, and I have started to train the main away from it. Tuesday, June 26 View Page And the fruit on the 560. Same story with this one. If I keep these two, they will be the earliest fruit I have had. The 1048 last year was pollinated on July 7th. Tuesday, June 26 View Page I have also changed and added to my fertelizing schedual. I am now spraying every 3-4 days, with smaller concentrations, and have quit using the fish emulsion for the season and started applying bud syrup. I have also started using my watering system. It is a 250 gallon tank hooked up to a series of y-valves and garden hoses with holes drilled in them. The system is turned on for about an hour every day, and the tank needs to be refilled every other day. Saturday, June 30 View Page Day 10 for the 1404. 19 1/2" Circ. 14 1/2" SS 14" FB 48" OTT Deffinatley not the best numbers I have had, but I am hoping things will pick up a bit by day 20. Sunday, July 1 View Page Day 10 for the 560 23" Circ 17 1/2" SS 17 1/2" FB 58" OTT Little better than the 1404, but still no where near the numbers I had last year on the 513 Vincent. Monday, July 30 View Page I have been taking an online summer school course over the past month so the diary has been put on the back burner. I have managed to keep the vines mostly pruned and the spraying up-to-date, but have fallen behind in burying. Monday, July 30 View Page Here is the 560 Huffman at about day 12. It was crossed with the 1674 Marsh. Monday, July 30 View Page And here is the 1404 Bryson, same range, just one day older. It was pollinated by the 560. Monday, July 30 View Page This year I decided to try Giant Rutabagga and Beet. Here is the Rutabagga. Both are being grown in a 3ft by 2ft box along with some giant carrots. Monday, July 30 View Page Forgot the pic. Monday, July 30 View Page Here is one of the beets. I found that each seed sent up two tops, and now they look like they are developing like a siamese twin. Monday, July 30 View Page Here is the 560 Huffman. At Day 20 it was 170" OTT, or 117 lbs. Then at day 30 it was 255 1/4" OTT, or 376 lbs. Now today it was 39 days old and it was 585 lbs. Tuesday, July 31 View Page And here is the 1404. On day 20 it was 147" OTT. Today it was at day 40 and was at 430 lbs. It has been kinda slow, but I am hopefull that it will pick up, even if it can do 20 a day for the next couple weeks it should be a good size by weigh-off season. Tuesday, July 31 View Page Here is an overview of the patch. You can't see much for the soybeans in the front, but it is begining to come around to what it should look like. (not as many weeds and uncovered vines). You can just see the top of the shade structures over the pumpkins. The 560 is on the left and the 1404 on the right. The sunflowers I planted as a windbreak have come along well, they are about 10ft tall now and are begining to head out. Wednesday, August 8 View Page Here is the 560 4 or 5 days ago. When the picture was taken I guessed it was pushing 700 pounds. It will be measured again on the 10th, and I am hoping it will be 800 or better. Am getting pretty excited over this thing. Wednesday, August 8 View Page Here is the 1404. This was also several days ago, and I believe it was somewhere around 500. It has been a very slow grower for the last while, not really sure why. Am expecting it to go incredibly heavy as it looks like a rock, but will have to see. It had a little bit of stem rot on it this morining, so I scraped it clean and applied rubbing alcohol and sulfur powder. Tuesday, September 25 View Page A lot has happened since I last updated the diary. Most notably was the downy mildew shown in the picture. I am going to need a more vigorous fungicide next year, as this stuff pretty much ruined my season. Tuesday, September 25 View Page However, aside from the mildew, I have been having a pretty good weigh-off season. This is my new P.B. tomato. It weighed 3.86 lbs, more than doubling my old P.B. of 1.51. It was grown off the 3.55 Watson. Tuesday, September 25 View Page I got a little more than I bargined for with the sunflowers I planted as windbreaks. The one next to my Uncle was 16' 1" tall, and the rest are between 12 and 13'. I plan to collect seeds out of all but the tallest (mice got to it first), so if anyone would like a handfull just let me know. Tuesday, September 25 View Page Here is the 560, it is currently estimating 1012 lbs, but is only putting on a couple per day. I am desperatley hoping it gets to 1100, but, only time will tell. It was on track for 1400+ back in late July early August, but with the onset of the downey mildew, the whole thing shut down and has been idling along since. One thing though is it has a hell of a nice colour about it. Tuesday, September 25 View Page The 1404 had the same luck as the 560, with the addition of some other problems. It was on track for about 1200 before it shut down, and is sitting at 872 in the pic. Tuesday, September 25 View Page So just before the mildew, the 1404 started getting some stem rot. After about a month of scraping, disinfecting and drying I scraped my way into the center of the stem. Tuesday, September 25 View Page To try and save it,I pulled it out of the patch and put it in a shed. However, it still kept progressing, just at a slower rate. Tuesday, September 25 View Page So, I took it up to Pembroke for Hugli's Bluberry Ranch Weigh-Off. It went 3% light (due to a large indentation on the bottom) and weighed 845 pounds. Was good to get out and see another weigh off. Met a few new people and was really impressed by several novice growers who pulled 1100 pounders. Great day and great weigh-off. Tuesday, September 25 View Page Also saw this thing. It's a pumpkin cannon. They were firing pie pumpkins a good 300 feet with this thing, all run by air pressure.