Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 57 Entries. Wednesday, January 2 View Page Happy New Year Will try a diary this year in hopes I can look back at what I did wrong. lol Friday, January 4 View Page Here was last years pumpkin. It's a 1303 Sweet x Self very easy plant to grow with no major problems. I really didn't know what I was doing but now I'm hooked. Looking forward to spring. Friday, January 4 View Page Here is a shot of the patch. You can't tell but the cover crop of winter rye is in and got to about three inches high before the snow fell. Wednesday, April 24 View Page Got all of the houses up yesterday, soil amendments put in planting areas just before getting another 1/2" of rain. Wednesday, April 24 View Page Here is the old seed cleaner I use to mix soil up for the planting holes. It really comes in handy and beats mixing it in wheelbarrel. Wednesday, April 24 View Page Seed Cleaner Wednesday, April 24 View Page Seeds started today. 2009 Wallace, 1775 Starr, 1756 Lancaster, 1684 Delaney, 1623.5 Wallace and a 1048 Engle for Orange. My Squash is a 1486.5 Jarvis. That should keep me busy all summer. I already told the wife and kids no vacation this year. lol Sunday, May 5 View Page Got the plants in today. Only plant that didn't make it was the 1775 Starr. For now I put in one of my own 640's but have a few that I started 3 days ago. Time will tell. Soil temp is 67 with no heat cables. Might need to get some next year. Lights at night look great. Lots of people drive by and slow down for a closer look. Saturday, May 18 View Page Got my watermelons in the ground today. A big thanks goes out to Marvin Mitchell who hooked me up with some of his extras. 272 Edwards, 255 Mitchell and 219 Edwards. Also pulled my 640 Laginess and put in a back-up 960 Gansert. Wednesday, May 22 View Page Got some big winds today and only had one house blow over. Plants are doing fine, drenched with fish n seaweed today. Got about 1/4" rain but it was hard to tell when it was coming down sideways. Thursday, May 30 View Page Found these three coons way to close to my patch and had to get rid of them. Everything is starting to take off this week due to the heat. Season is about to kick into high gear. Friday, May 31 View Page Got these three baby coons today that were way to close to the patch. Everything is starting to take off. Biggest plant to date is the 2009 Wallace. Monday, June 10 View Page Got 2" of rain today and still coming down. Guess I won't have to water for a few days. Monday, June 10 View Page 2009 Wallace Monday, June 10 View Page 1756 Lancaster Thursday, June 13 View Page Big storm came through last night. Got 3/4" rain and not to bad wind. Plants all looked ok this morning. 1623 Wallace is still outdoing every other plant. First males showed up today. Thursday, June 20 View Page The "Fab Five" getting a drink this morning. Sunday, June 23 View Page Yesterday had 3/4" rain and heavy winds. Silt fence worked as it should. Also polinated 1623 Wallace with 2009 Wallace. Sould be a nice cross if it takes, it's 91 here today. Tuesday, June 25 View Page Pollinated a five lober on the 1048 Engle today with the 1623 Wallace. Temps have been in the high 80's so cooler with froze milk jugs placed by the female. Hope this takes it's 11 feet out on the main. Wednesday, June 26 View Page Noticed this on my leaves this morning. Almost looks like something has been feasting over the past 24-36 hours. I looked for any signs of bugs but saw nothing. Please give me an idea what to look for. I have been spraying on a weekly basis. When I saw this pulled out the Wisdom and got all plants done. Tuesday, July 9 View Page I have not posted to my diary in a while so here is the update. 2009 x Self 6/27 11 ft out on main. 2009 x 1756 7/8 15 ft 1756 x 1684 6/29 10 ft 1756 x 2009 7/7 14 ft 1684 x 1623 7/1 13 ft 1684 x 1756 7/7 15 ft 1623 x 1756 7/8 17 ft (Hope to be keeper, first two didn't take) 960 x 1048 7/6 13 ft 960 x 1048 7/8 15 ft 1048 x Self 6/29 13 ft 1486 x 2009 7/9 13 ft The Jarvis plant is strong grower but today was the first female to show up. Has only had one male show up so far. 209 Werner FP growing like crazy. 209 x self 7/8 81 Wolf has taken a beating due to wind but healthy. 81 x 209 7/8 We have had about 7 inches of rain in the ast two weeks so everything is soaked. Pictures to follow soon. Sunday, July 21 View Page This may be the end of my season. My son was in a motorcycle accident Friday and will need my 100% attention for the next month or so. I will try to keep up spraying but least of problems now. Family comes first. I have a nice one going on the 1684 Delaney plant at day 20 OTT 188. Everything else is around day 10 and lost 1048 Engle during the heat last week. This season has gone to the birds. lol Thursday, July 25 View Page Day 24 on the 1684 Delaney. 176lbs and doing ok considering I was out of the patch for 4 days while at the hospital with my son. He is doing good. Home now with Fractured t-6 and t-7 broken leg etc. Thursday, July 25 View Page Patch Dog Bella. Thursday, July 25 View Page This is Bella. Last Picture was of the sweet corn. Yum Yum. Monday, July 29 View Page Here are the numbers for this year. 1756 x 2009 Day 17 133 OTT...1684 x 1623 Day 28 227 OTT...1623 x 1756 Day 21 180 OTT...960 x 1048 Day 21 180 OTT...1486 x Self Day 17 112 OTT...1104 x Self Day 22 218 OTT...I had to pull the 2009 due to not having anything set on it. Had tons of aborts at about day 7 or so. 1048 Engle split last week. plant was doing great. I will let it grow some on side vines for chicken feed. We need some rain, I'm already getting tired of hauling water. Thursday, August 1 View Page Here is my dream patch helper. lol Tuesday, August 6 View Page Here is the 1684 at Day 36 It is 258 OTT and gaining again. It had slowed down and now after putting 150 gallons of water on it 2 days ago it picked back up. No rain here for the past week. Temps are going up this week. Tuesday, August 6 View Page Nice melon on the 255 Mitchell. Weather man says warmer days coming. Tuesday, August 6 View Page Our new feeder pigs Patty and Links. Tuesday, August 6 View Page The 1486 Jarvis on Day 25 is 160 OTT. These things don't grow as fast as the AG's. It will be nice to get it to the scales. Thursday, August 8 View Page Got 1/4" of rain yesterday and found the 1104 Wallace had soft spot and is done. Also 960 Gansert hasn't grown in 4 days, can't find anything wrong with it but will keep my fingers crossed. It would be a HD contender if it makes it. So now down to three kins and a squash left. Long gourd is at 20" lol. Wednesday, August 14 View Page Shiver me timbers it's cold for August. Put the blankets on the kins this evening. 48 for a low tonight which means much colder at my place. My 1684 Delaney is at the 500 pound mark but the 1623 Wallace plant is catching up fast. The 1623 is 7 days younger but almost at 500. First long gourd is at 3ft and going. Sunflower are around 12 foot. Got an inch of rain yesterday, watching close for cracks and growth spurts. No bugs in the patch as of yet. I have kept up on the spray schedule pretty good. Having that Stihl really helps. Cut the first Filed Pumpkin off the 81 Wolf today. It was 81 wolf x 209 Werner. Weighed in at 72lbs. Not to bad considering 6 kins growing on the plant. Thursday, August 15 View Page Here is Squiggy, Only 36" now but growing fast. Reminds me of Squiggy from The Laverne and Shirley show. Thursday, August 15 View Page Sunflowers at 13' and running out of room. I may need to rethink my set up for these for next year. Thursday, August 15 View Page 1623 Wallace. What a great looking plant. The kin is over 500 now. Will wait till Sunday to do another measure. Thursday, August 15 View Page 1623 Wallace. What a great looking plant. The kin is over 500 now. Will wait till Sunday to do another measure. Thursday, August 15 View Page 1684 Delaney. Day 45 and over 500 lbs. Thursday, August 15 View Page 1756 Lancaster at day 33 370 lbs and smallest in the patch. It's also the youngest so may have time to put on some pounds. Sunday, August 18 View Page She was growing great. Then..... Sunday, August 18 View Page 1623 Wallace x 1756 Lancaster SPLIT....Day 41 est 562 lbs. Could had been a new personal best for me. if she would had went a few more days. Averaged 25 lbs per day for the past 10 days. Hope some of the seeds are good. Now I'm down to the 1756 Lancaster (Day 37, 454 lbs) and the 1684 Delaney (Day 48, 557 lbs). The 1756 has a chance for me and a new PB. Now I see why people plant more then one or two kins. Sunday, August 18 View Page Here is a shot of the biggest melon in the patch. It's off the 255 Mitchell and only one on the plant. Almost a full time job keeping up with cutting off the little ones but he chickens love em. Finally getting some heat today, temps in low 80's. Thursday, September 5 View Page 30 days until the weigh off and have two kins going. 1756 lancaster is taping around 675 lbs and still gaining 18 lbs per day average. My 1684 Delaney is at 65o lbs and slowing to only 5 lbs per day. The 1486 Jarvis squash is around 300 lbs and slow growing. Not much news about the melons, I have a few around 100 lbs but not looking good. Long gourds have all but stopped with my longest at about 76". Very bad year for powdery mildew. All my FP plants are done so far biggest one is 72 lbs off the 81 Wolf. Looking forward to October. Wednesday, September 11 View Page It was 97 here yesterday and 92 today. Not much getting done outside. I will wait till it's 75 tomorrow. Crazy weather but both kins seem to still be doing ok. Saw first cucumber beetle yesterday so I sprayed last night. Crimson sweet melons are being picked every day. Can't keep them in stock at the vegetable stand, everybody wants them. Pumpkins are starting to sell. Lady stopped by and got 6 today and is bringing daycare kids tomorrow for a field trip. Wednesday, September 11 View Page 1684 Delaney sitting at almost 800lbs slowed down to a crawl this last week but looks nice. Wednesday, September 11 View Page 1756 Lancaster having a few issues with the stem. I cleaned it up and put a fan on it. Same thing went wrong with my 640 from last year but was able to make it to weigh off. Taped her on Sunday and I was at 835 lbs. and doing 10 per day so hope she keeps going. Temps are going to drop starting tomorrow so getting the blankets ready once again. Wednesday, September 11 View Page Squash is still going but only 2 lbs per day. Have not measured in a while but somewhere around 250-300. Wednesday, September 11 View Page Biggest melon going on the 255 Mitchell. I have not taped it yet but guessing its going heavy. When I have people visit the patch they are more amazed at the size of the watermelons then they are of the pumpkin sizes. Guess that don't say much about my pumpkin growing does it. lol Wednesday, September 11 View Page Patty and Links feeding on some culls today. These two have had so many pumpkins and watermelon this summer they should taste great come winter. lol Thursday, September 19 View Page Just scored 4 yards of Horse Manure and 8 yards of Llama Manure. The Horse manure will have to set a year or so but the llama manure can be added right away. Thanks to borrowing a friends dump trailer it made getting it a lot less stressful on the back. Thursday, September 19 View Page Twin melons both at about 100 lbs but should be great eating. I sold another big one that was 95 lbs at our fruit stand the other day for $20. Not bad considering the little sugar babies taste better and only getting $3 for those. Guy at work who lives in Detroit said he would take every watermelon I could grow. They sell like crazy up there. lol Thursday, September 19 View Page Twin melons both at about 100 lbs but should be great eating. I sold another big one that was 95 lbs at our fruit stand the other day for $20. Not bad considering the little sugar babies taste better and only getting $3 for those. Guy at work who lives in Detroit said he would take every watermelon I could grow. They sell like crazy up there. lol Monday, September 30 View Page New Personal Best of 734 lbs for me at Bengston's Monsters of the Midway Weigh Off. Monday, September 30 View Page Guess who came in last place? Thursday, October 3 View Page Loaded up and ready to go. Saturday, October 5 View Page New personal best today 982 lbs Now the 982 Laginess (1756 Lancaster x 2009 Wallace) Wednesday, October 9 View Page Patch cleaned up, plowed, disked and got winter rye planted. Nice to have it done early so rye can get a chance to start while it's still nice out.