Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 110 Entries. Sunday, April 15 View Page Here goes my rookie year. I'm starting with a AG Richards 1468 from 2007 and a 943.5 Lengel F: 1274 Stelts and M: 1495 Stelts both from 2010 as a back up. Keep your fingers crossed for me. :O) Monday, April 16 View Page Here are my heirloom tomato's basking in the morning sun. Today's high is 89 F so they won't be out there long. Monday, April 16 View Page Here's my patch's guardian, Mr. Winklebottom. he was sent from another dimension to watch over my garden. I don't know from which dimension he came from and I'm not asking!! Thursday, April 19 View Page I'm warming my planting medium that I will be germinating my seeds in. I have a rather bad cold at the moment and am not feeling the best so I will be preparing the seeds tomorrow and will take a photo of what I've done at that time. :O) Saturday, April 21 View Page I'm soaking the seeds in plastic baggies for 4 hours then it's on to planting them in a sterilized medium at 85F. Saturday, April 21 View Page Here are my two seeds now planted. I believe I did everything correctly. Soaked seeds for 4 hours. Pre moistened starting medium to damp status. Planted seeds 1/4 " deep flat side as discussed on message boards. Wish me luck!! Saturday, April 21 View Page I forgot to add that I did file the seed coat edges. Wednesday, April 25 View Page I'm having to wait for the patch to dry out after receiving close to 3 inches of rain so I can till in amendments. Wednesday, April 25 View Page The ground was dry enough to till the amendments into the patch this afternoon. I tilled in Manure, peat moss and Holland's Pumpkin Power into the patch. The only thing left to do is wait for my seeds to germinate. :O) Thursday, April 26 View Page Mr. Lengel saw my diary here and sent me an e-mail. One of the two seeds I'm germinating is from his 943.5 monster. It was great to find out where this seed came from and learn about the person that grew the pumpkin that is came from. I hope I do him proud. Thursday, April 26 View Page I went downstairs to check on the seeds and 943.5 Lengel is beginning to appear above the starting medium. No sign yet of the Richards but it's still early and for all I know this one could take 10 or so days to make an appearance. Friday, April 27 View Page Yesterday afternoon I checked on my seeds and was very pleased to discover the Richards 1468 has broken the top of the starting medium. Germination rate for 2012 my rookie year is 100%. :O) Friday, April 27 View Page Here are my seeds germinating and rising above the soil line. I'm a proud Momma!! :O) Saturday, April 28 View Page The stem on the Lengel is extremely thick. Notably larger than the Richards that is a day behind the Lengel. Even taking into consideration the difference in germination time the Lengel's stem would still be thicker. Very interesting. Sunday, April 29 View Page Patch and garden are now done being amended. I tilled in the last composted manure and fertilizer this morning. Monday, April 30 View Page Here's the two starting their first true leafs. I'll be transplanting them to one gallon pots then on to the patch in a bit. Tuesday, May 1 View Page Happy May Day everyone!! ;O) Today is rainy but warmer with highs near seventy. I'm going to be transplanting my two plants into gallon pots in a couple of hours. Thursday, May 3 View Page Yesterday I went to Lowes and purchased some Black garden fabric for the tomato area of my garden. My Big Zac's after a seed germ issue have finally taken off and are well on their way. Friday, May 4 View Page Seven rows of sweet corn have been planted along with four giant sunflower seeds. The humidity today is quite intense. Saturday, May 5 View Page Today I went to the garden center and picked up some Tomato Tone and a bottle of Daconil fungicide. I also purchased some 6 Ft bamboo stakes and some small diameter bamboo stakes to use to train vines on the pumpkins. Sunday, May 6 View Page Tomorrow the pumpkins are going in the patch. They are on their third leaf stage so I think it's high time. I'm also laying down and pinning black garden fabric in the tomato area of my garden to begin the process of transplanting the tomato's in a week or so. Photo's of all processes will be forth coming. Monday, May 7 View Page Here is the 943.5 Lengel which was a very nice orange colored pumpkin and I can only hope with selfing the pumpkin that I too will have the same orange color. I just transplanted this about an hour ago. Monday, May 7 View Page Here is the 1468 Richards also transplanted and resting comfortably. Monday, May 7 View Page Here is the guardian of the corn. He came to me in a black mass ritual and told me he would protect the corn so I would have buttery, sweet corn on the cobb in September. Of course I accepted his offer because after all it is corn. Monday, May 7 View Page Here is my corn area. I planted seven rows of Extra Sweet hybrid seeds last Friday May 4th. You can see the guardian of the corn in the background. Monday, May 7 View Page Here is the Tomato area of the garden. I originally said that I was laying black fabric down but I changed my mind and went for the gray color. I'm planting approx 30 heirloom tomato plants plus two Big Zac's Monday, May 7 View Page Here is the top row of my tomato plants as they sit in the shelving greenhouse. Another week or so and I believe they and the weather will be ready for me to plant them. Monday, May 7 View Page Here are the other rows of tomato's. I've already given away quite a few plants to neighbors. Monday, May 7 View Page I've just finished watering my tomatoes with a water mixture of Neptune's Fish Emulsion and zipped them back up into their greenhouse. Today's highs are in the mid sixties with rain expected this afternoon. Wednesday, May 9 View Page The pumpkins survived their first couple of nights planted outside. The first night along with all of yesterday included a nice amount of rain. We were and still are dealing with a moisture deficit but with thirty plus hours of of intermittent rainfall the deficit has been notably lessened. Friday, May 11 View Page Happy Friday everyone!! Sunday is the target day to plant most if not all my tomato's in ground. The NWS forecast calls for 50f + temps at night and 70F + temps during the day. Sounds just about right to me. :O) Saturday, May 12 View Page I've decided to start planting my tomatoes today. The weather and the temp's cannot be any more perfect. I should be done planting them by end of day tomorrow. Photo's will be taken and shared. Monday, May 14 View Page All tomato's have been planted along with a couple of green/red pepper plants and a couple of strawberry plants. It's now raining with more rain forecast for tonight and tomorrow. I will take and post a photo shortly. Monday, May 14 View Page Here is a photo taken a few minutes ago depicting my tomatoes now planted. It was raining as I took this. If you look in the background you can see a small portion of a leave of the 943.5 Lengel hiding behind the hoop house. Wednesday, May 16 View Page Both the Lengel and Richards are doing well. Slow but steady growth mainly from wet weather but growing they are. The corn I planted is coming up. The tomatoes are doing well. Photo's will be coming of everything shortly. My mom always said I had a green thumb and she was right. Thursday, May 17 View Page We received close to an 1" 1/2 of rain which has reversed a moderate drought here in eastern PA. Friday, May 18 View Page Here's the 1468 Richards doing well and growing. Friday, May 18 View Page Here's the 943.5 Lengel doing well and growing with no signs of stress. A few days ago wind caused a stem to break resulting in a lost leaf. Friday, May 18 View Page Here is my only Giant sunflower to sprout after seeds were planted in ground a couple of weeks ago. The seed is an (F1)from Norm Craven's 25ft 8in tall sunflower. Friday, May 18 View Page Here is a photo of a corn seedling I singled out as an example of my corns current growth thus far. All seedlings look healthy and are growing quickly. I can't wait for some sweet corn with butter, salt and pepper from this planting. :O) Saturday, May 19 View Page Here is the 943.5 Lengel doing well despite a wind gust breaking a leaf off. Sunday, May 20 View Page Sprayed the pumpkins with Sevin yesterday evening at dusk. My attempt to be proactive concerning infestation. Tuesday, May 22 View Page Two days ago I found a few Aphids on some seedlings left over from planting. I quickly located the correct insecticide in my arsenal and sprayed each plant accordingly. It rained a moderate amount yesterday so I must reapply the insecticide again once the chances of rain have diminished. Yesterday evening in the midst of a elongated break in rain I retied all of my tomato plants to their stakes with Jute due to the plants growing quickly. The Pumpkins are growing more rapidly now and it will only be a matter of a few days before they begin to vine. Wednesday, May 23 View Page We just finished a very strong thunderstorm with torrential rain. It was sunny and extremely humid today so I knew we were in for it. The weather on our local news said we have received close to 2 1/2" of rain in the past two days. Thank God we are getting a break in this tomorrow. All plants appear to be handling it. Sunday, May 27 View Page Here's the 943.5 Lengel. It's starting to vine nicely with no issues other than a broken leaf stem a couple of weeks ago. Sunday, May 27 View Page Here's a close up shot of the Lengel's vine. Very healthy and robust plant thus far. Sunday, May 27 View Page Here is the 1468 Richards also beginning to vine. This plant is starting to really grow quickly now. Sunday, May 27 View Page here's a close up of the Richards vine. Extremely healthy and happy. Sunday, May 27 View Page I've just completed re staking the tomato plants. In the foreground are heirlooms and the background are Big Zac's and a Goliath. All doing well. Tuesday, May 29 View Page The last week and a half have brought us close to six inches of rain. I've been very diligent in checking for disease on everything growing in the garden. Thursday, May 31 View Page Did some but not all of much needed weeding then buried vines on the pumpkin plants and included some of Holland's Pumpkin Pro to the trench where I buried the vines. Thursday, June 7 View Page My 943 Lengel is throwing a ribbon vine as it's main. I'm attempting to correct this by over watering to force it to divide. We shall see. The war was waged in the tomato plant area concerning aphids but I've won by pulling out the heavy duty killers. Corn continues it's upward climb and is looking good. Friday, June 8 View Page The 1468 Richards is on it's first secondary vine. Saturday, June 9 View Page I awoke this morning to find two male flowers open on the 1468 Richards. Saturday, June 9 View Page A sea of tomato plants. Saturday, June 9 View Page This morning I drenched both pumpkin plants with two gallons each of fish fertilizer mixture. Monday, June 11 View Page I was successfully able to split the 943 Lengal's ribbon vine. The over watering technique worked very well. It also has it's first male flower open this morning near the base. Friday, June 15 View Page A five lobe female is now open on the Richards plant. It's only out approx. five feet so I'm letting this one go by. There is another one developing that will be approx seven to eight feet so I'm going to use that one and with plenty of males blooming pollination will not be an issue. Friday, June 15 View Page I was told in the new grower's forum that I had a double vine and not a ribbon vine so I stand corrected on that. :O) Wednesday, June 20 View Page Here's one of the prison cells from Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. It's the nations first prison. My spouse and I drove the 60 miles south to Philly to take in a couple of sites day before yesterday. Both Pumpkin plants are progressing. The Richards is approx. 8 feet out and the Lengal is approx 10 feet. One of my Big Zac tomato plants has a very nice and large megabloom on it. My sweetcorn is projected to be taller than " knee high by the 4th of July " so everything thus far is doing very well as it be. A photo montage will be forthcoming shortly. Friday, June 22 View Page Pollinated a five lobe female at approx 10 ft on the Lengel with itself. We shall see!! Sunday, June 24 View Page It appears that I have pumpkin growth on the Lengel that I self pollinated a couple of days ago. This morning I buried vines on the Lengel and added pumpkin pro to those vines I did bury. My Big Zac tomato plants are doing very well with many double blooms thus far and some set fruit. The heirloom tomato plants are growing extremely well with many at over 5 ft in height so far. Overall it appears out of a total of 25 tomato plants I have over 80 tomatoes in various stages of growth. :O) Thursday, June 28 View Page I have brought in a satanic priestess to bless the pumpkin growing on the Lengel. I provided her a nice dinner of Kentucky fried chicken and peach cobbler. She shook the chicken bones over the pumpkin said a few phrases in Latin then drove off in her Prius. I have a good feeling!!! Monday, July 2 View Page Here is the pumpkin on the Lengel thus far. Decent growth. I'm awaiting a growing female to open approx 12.5 feet out to pollinate then we will see which is the one to cull. Monday, July 2 View Page Extremely good growth on my heirloom tomatoes and Big Zac's. Monday, July 2 View Page I am going to easily beat the traditional quote used by farmer's to gauge where their corn is. " Knee high by the 4th of July" to see if they are going to have a decent crop. Mine is approx waist high on the majority of plants. This is Illini Xtra Sweet Hybrid corn from Burpee. Monday, July 2 View Page I finished burying vines and trimming off tendrils this afternoon. I'm taking advantage of this window of slightly lower temps (upper eighties)and lower humidity to catch up on some work in the garden. The 4th is forecasted to be upper nineties again with suppressive humidity so I thought it wise to work diligently and quickly. Wednesday, July 4 View Page I want to wish everyone a peaceful and blessed 4th of July. I'm honored to be here with all of you. Thank you for letting me be part of your family. Wednesday, July 4 View Page Day 12 and showing good growth thus far. Thursday, July 5 View Page I have officially named the pumpkin Jet Jaguar after the legendary 60's Japanese Sci Fi Character. Here is a photo of Jet Jaguar standing victorious after doing battle with a monster bent on destroying Tokyo. He also teamed up with Godzilla on occasion to fight Megalon and other undesirables. Friday, July 6 View Page Here is Jet Jaguar ( pronounced Jet Jag- U- wa ) at day 14. Solid growth so far. Jet must become as large as possible in order to fight Megalon on the outskirts of Tokyo in late Sept. ジェット ジャガー保存してください東京メガロ行く行く行くジェット ジャガーから ！ あなたは私たちの幸せと喜びをもたらす ！ Translation- Please Jet Jaguar save Tokyo from Megalon Go Go Go Jet Jaguar! You bring us happiness and Joy! Saturday, July 7 View Page Severe storm with 65MPH gusts at the front has made it's presence felt in a huge way. I'm afraid of what this did to my pumpkin plant. The winds have wiped out at least seven of my tomato plants. I cannot go outside and assess the damage fully due to the storm currently producing heavy lightning. Damn it! Saturday, July 7 View Page Stay strong Jet Jaguar!!! Saturday, July 7 View Page I was able to asses the damage. Some tomato plants are gone but staying on top of burying vines for Jet Jaguar has saved the plant!!! Whew!!! I'm very lucky indeed to have dodged the majority of this storm. Sunday, July 8 View Page Here's Jet Jaguar at 16 DAP. OTT measurements will be forthcoming. Two day size increase seems impressive. Monday, July 9 View Page Here is Jet shaking hands with Godzilla after defeating the severe storm we just had. Thank you both. Thursday, July 12 View Page Since I will be out of town tomorrow I will post photo's of Jet Jaguar at 19 DAP. I will post OTT measurements when I get them. Growth thus far is good. For my rookie year I am pleased. Thursday, July 12 View Page Another photo at 19 DAP. Thursday, July 12 View Page 19 DAP. Sunday, July 15 View Page Jet Jaguar at 22 DAP. He needed a larger shade cover so out came the umbrella. Sunday, July 15 View Page Another view at 22 DAP. He seems to be developing a Dill ring. The shape appears indicative of such from what I've studied. Overall growth is good! Monday, July 16 View Page Fertilized pumpkin plant with Neptune's Fish fert. Friday, July 20 View Page Today is my birthday, and, because of it Godzilla is destroying high tension electrical transmission lines in my honor. Jet Jaguar was so moved he hugged me then demanded another shot of Jack. Jet said he had to keep his pimp arm strong. Hmmmmmm. Saturday, July 21 View Page Here is Jet Jaguar at 28 DAP. Saturday, July 21 View Page Side View at 28 DAP. Saturday, July 21 View Page Stem shot at 28 DAP. Saturday, July 21 View Page Here is a tomato from one of my Big Zac plants that I culled in order to have the plant focus it's growing efforts on a tomato from a multiple fused bloom. A nice sized cull that I will give to my neighbor for his fried green tomato habit. Wednesday, July 25 View Page I have just finished foliar spraying calcium on the Lengel plant supporting Jet Jaguar. Thank you Tom of Extreme Pumpkin Store for your assistance concerning Nutri-Cal. :O) Wednesday, August 1 View Page Welcome to the 1st annual Groundhog Chews Your Pumpkin Day!! There are approx six small bites with one that is somewhat deep but not enough to penetrate to the inside core. I don't know if it was coincidence that the three days I failed to spray animal repellent around the plant and pumpkin caused this but I'm going to take the blame for it nonetheless. I know these bite areas will heal and grow over but Jet Jaguar I'm certain was not amused by the attack. I am going to dry and cover Jet with a tarp each evening prior to retiring for the evening. I'm certain that this will assist in keeping anything like this from happening again. Thursday, August 2 View Page I found this large chicken devouring a baby in my patch this morning. I asked if he minded if I took a photo of him doing so, he said he didn't so here's the photo as proof. Thursday, August 2 View Page I just finished my weekly foliar spraying of Calcium on the Jet Jaguar plant. Jet is healing after sustaining an attack from a groundhog overnight yesterday. I treated his wounds with bleach and fungicide. The bite areas are not too deep so all is well. I just finished foliar spraying calcium on the plant and buried the recent vine growth. Sunday, August 5 View Page Ahhh...Yes!! The automatic bacon dispenser in the bathroom. I buried vines this morning and foliar sprayed fish Fertilizer on the Big Zac plant that's growing my monster tomato. Monday, August 6 View Page Here's my PB thus far; 2 lbs 4.9 oz from a tommato that's not off of my competition Big Zac plant but off of the one I'm growing for quantity. The tomato I'm putting forth the most effort for is on my other Big Zac plant is much larger than this one. Monday, August 6 View Page Another shot of the 2 lbs 4.9 oz Big Zac, my PB thus far. :O) Wednesday, August 8 View Page Here's my personal best and the best one of this growing season. The tomato I was nursing towards the three pound mark started to flash color so I had to pick it. 2 LBS 8.6 OZ. Decent for my rookie year of growing giant tomatoes. Four pounds will be my goal for next season and being armed with excellent seed, excellent soil and Marv's book I shall reach that goal. Wednesday, August 8 View Page Another shot of my personal best and best of the season. 2LBS 8.6 OZ Big Zac. Friday, August 10 View Page Moderate to heavy rain today thus far. Everything in the garden is enjoying the big drink. Sunday, August 12 View Page Here is the wounded but growing Jet Jaguar at 50 DAP. This was most likely caused by a ground hog by the size of the bite areas. I have been applying bleach and fungicide to the bite areas and the response has been favorable. The deepest bite area is close to an inch deep but also has been responding to the treatment. Needless to say I have been covering Jet every night since the incidence took place. Sunday, August 12 View Page A close up shot of the deepest bite area. Slowly but surely this deep wound is healing. Sunday, August 12 View Page As I was pruning the Bib Zac plant I was using for quantity I found a tomato from what appears to be a five bloom fused blossom. I swear I never saw this! I have promptly removed all growing tomatoes to the exception of this one and have covered the tomato with a white wash cloth for shade. I have foliar sprayed calcium on the plant and deeply watered it. It appears that my 2.86 lb Big Zac might not be my personal Best after all. :O) The giant tomato season continues!! Sunday, August 12 View Page In case you wanted to know what PA_J looks like. This is me. Monday, August 13 View Page I've been playing Motorhead to Jet in order to speed up his healing process. Wednesday, August 15 View Page Yesterday I took a break from my garden and the pumpkin patch and took a nice 90 mile drive to Liberty State Park NJ. There my spouse and I took a ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue Of Liberty. Here is a photo I took of the new World Trade Center Being erected. Wednesday, August 15 View Page Here is a monument made from structural steel taken from the World Trade Center towers destroyed on 09/11/2001. This is part of the New Jersey Empty Skies 09/11 Memorial located in Liberty State Park. This memorial honors all New Jersey residents that were killed at the World Trade Center, The Pentagon and from Flight 93 that crashed near Shanksville PA. For everyone who died that day despite where you were from, may God hold you and keep you. You will never be forgotten Tuesday, August 28 View Page This morning I hosted a patch tour for turkey's. I had seven RSVP and seven turkey's showed up. Here is a photo of some of them commenting on the overall plant health. Friday, August 31 View Page Here I am this past Wednesday at Rutger University's annual tomato tasting event held at their research farm located in Pittstown, NJ. They had over 100 varieties of heirloom and hybrid tomatoes to taste along with many apple varieties and peaches. No giant tomatoes were at this event but then again it's a tasting festival and not a weigh off. It was delicious and alot of fun. Friday, August 31 View Page here is the tomato this morning that I had mentioned earlier in this diary that has kept my giant tomato season going after I thought it was over. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that this is going to be over three pounds for my personal best until if and when the monster in the next photo grows to maturity. Friday, August 31 View Page Here is the monster. This is on the other Big Zac plant. After studying megablooms it appears that this one is a seven to eight flower behemoth. Grow my pretty, grow and devour the weak amongst us. Saturday, September 1 View Page 2.71 lbs...ARGH!!!!!! The tomato started to ripen so I had to pick it. It has fallen short of my 2.86 LB personal best this year. My PB was a Big Zac and so is this one. Saturday, September 1 View Page Here is another shot of the 2.71 LB tomato from the Big Zac plant resting in my hand. Next year I am concentrating the majority of my efforts on plants that have the capability of producing giant tomatoes. I have had two Big Zac plants this year. Next year I will have at least ten Big Zac plants plus Church, Delicious, Brutus Magnum and Mega Marv. I have one last remaining monster that I have pictured in a previous entry from yesterday. It still give me hope of breaching the 3.00 LB mark. I'm extremely pleased about my rookie year of growing giant tomatoes and next year will be even better!!