Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 47 Entries. Wednesday, April 20 View Page I thought I had better start my diary. Here is the lineup for 2 patches. Wednesday, April 20 View Page I made a new patch for this year. The soil definitely needs more work. Here is the soil heating cable inside the frame of my little hoophouse. Wednesday, April 20 View Page Here is the lineup again. I plan on starting them tomorrow. Sunday, April 24 View Page So here my babies sown on April 21 into 3 inch cowpots. The excitement is mounting for emergence this evening, Monday or Tuesday. Sunday, May 15 View Page Well I've been remiss in posting. Here is a pic of my babies emerging 4/29. Sunday, May 15 View Page All of them germinated except for the 2032. Plant-out day was 5/7. I put the 2109, the 2102 & the 2036 together in my new patch. Sunday, May 15 View Page I put the 2145 & the 2017 together in my old patch. The 2017 initially was the most vigorous. Sunday, May 15 View Page This is the new patch on the left with the hoophouse. That is a giant mater bed on the right. My son helped me put the snowfence up today. Sunday, May 15 View Page This is the old patch with the snowfence just put up around it. It has strategic openings that will be closed with the Aluminet windbreak once I get it up. It got down to 39 degrees F this AM so I had lights in the hoophouses to provide a little bit of warmth. Sunday, May 15 View Page Sorry, wrong pic. Let me try again. Sunday, May 29 View Page Well, I'm going to be leaving for a week doing college visits with my boy so I thought I need to cull the plants in my patches. In this pic the large vining plant is the 2017 which is totally zooming by the 2145. Sunday, May 29 View Page Well I am not finding this site to be very user-friendly to upload pics. I try dragging, I try putting the file name in & I usually get the wrong one. It is just not worth wasting my time to struggle with this crap. Sorry, I've just run out of patience. It seems like last year it was easier to upload pics thru my iPad & now that doesn't work so I've been trying to do it from the pc. And that just isn't working well for me either. Tuesday, July 19 View Page Andre is a 2017 Martin '15. He is 24 DAP today. OTT is 223 1/2 inches approx 253 lb. Over the last week he has averaged 22 lb/day. Tuesday, July 19 View Page Andre is a 2017 Martin '15. He is at 24 DAP. OTT is 223 1/2 inches approx 253 lb. Over the last week he has averaged 22 lb/day. Thursday, July 21 View Page Here is my 2017 patch with new improved shade structure over the pumpkin, also some Aluminet shading some of the youngest vines. Wednesday, August 17 View Page Here is my 2017 Martin at 53 DAP, est wt 765 lb Wednesday, August 17 View Page Here is my big Brutus Magnum at 29 DAP; it will easily be my PB! Monday, August 22 View Page The greatly anticipated moment was a huge letdown! On the other hand, I have a new PB & have joined the 5 lb club. But I was just aching to get into the 6 lb club! Monday, August 22 View Page The tale of the tape. Sunday, September 18 View Page So here is a pic from August 31 of my 2017 Martin OTT 905 lb at 67 DAP Sunday, September 18 View Page I began to get some soft spots on the stem of my pumpkin despite the Captan paste I applied. The pic shows the appearance after I had excised the lesion, sprayed isopropyl alcohol & sprinkled sulfur dust on it. Sunday, September 18 View Page Here we are with our tripod, 2 ton chain hoist & 27 inch lifting ring courtesy of Lee. Thankfully, for our first tripod lift it went quite well. Great thanks to Gary May! Sunday, September 18 View Page Here we are with our tripod, 2 ton chain hoist & 27 inch lifting ring courtesy of Lee. Thankfully, for our first tripod lift it went quite well. Great thanks to Gary May! Sunday, September 18 View Page Here we are with the lifting ring. Sunday, September 18 View Page Checking the bottom & it looks good! Sunday, September 18 View Page Lowering into the truck onto the pallet. All things considered, for our first time building & using a lifting tripod, it went quite well. Sunday, September 18 View Page Here we are at the Kentucky Weighoff, the peanut gallery in the background. It's always good to have some comic relief at these stressful events! Lol Sunday, September 18 View Page Thankfully the rain ended for the Weighoff. Sunday, September 18 View Page We had the Tomato entries. I got second place with my 3.20 lb Sumo. Sumo is a new large variety created by my buddy Fred Bruns. It doesn't produce the Megablooms like Big Zac but the individual fruit are good size. Sunday, September 18 View Page The winner of the Giant watermelon competition & master of ceremony Frank Mudd with his massive 305 lb fruit! Sunday, September 18 View Page Ecstatic about our weight, 9% over the OTT! Sunday, September 18 View Page The final board. Sunday, September 18 View Page All loaded up & ready to head for home. We had a blast! Sunday, September 18 View Page Here is the deloading team, pic by Kathy. Sunday, September 18 View Page Note the chains between the tripod legs. One of the tripod legs was on the concrete & I wanted to ensure we had no slippage. I should have placed the eyebolts about 4 inches higher to clear sides of the truck. Sunday, September 18 View Page Kathy & me. Sunday, September 18 View Page I hear that there's more decorations coming! Saturday, October 29 View Page Here is the winner of the Fair Oaks Weighoff, Mark Goodman. Saturday, October 29 View Page Let's try this again. Saturday, October 29 View Page Here is one of the carvings at Fair Oaks. Saturday, October 29 View Page Last Sunday we went to Louisville's Jack-O'lantern Spectacular. It was very impressive. Here is one of my favorites. Saturday, October 29 View Page I can't resist, another favorite. Saturday, October 29 View Page So I cut into my 1051.5 to retrieve seeds 3 days ago. Saturday, October 29 View Page Here is the thickness along the side. Saturday, October 29 View Page I got 340 seeds, shown here drying. Saturday, October 29 View Page Here is my carving work. I think it turned out pretty well for me. Sunday, November 13 View Page So here is a shoutout to the unsung heroes. It is fun to observe the rapid growth of the plants & fruit. It is fun to take your punkin to Weighoff. Not many people enjoy the cleanup. My wife doesn't do much patch time but she helped me to hack up & dispose of our AG today!