Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 56 Entries. Tuesday, June 2 View Page 1450 Steil looking good. Tuesday, June 2 View Page Up to my ears in Maters. Been selling for more than a month now. I'll sell more than 13,000 lbs this year. What would be better is to have that many lbs on 6 AG 's this year lol. Saturday, June 20 View Page We just got hammered. High winds hail and rain. Saturday, June 20 View Page Ok Don Young must have sneezed looking S.E. toward my house. We just got rolled on a heck of a thunder storm. I really don't think my outdoor pumpkins are taking this well.. Saturday, June 20 View Page 4.5" of rain in 1 1/2 hours. Trees and power lines down in different parts of the county. California wouldn't even want that. Tuesday, June 23 View Page Ok now just 2 days later we get this monster storm. I had to go and assess damage and there is a bunch of huge buildings destroyed. I got lucky and received a bunch of rain and extreme high wind velocity. Just North of me about 5 miles we had a tornado. Also had one about 10 miles north of that in my county. Outdoor plants are still in the ground, but they can't take any more of this stuff. Wednesday, June 24 View Page Well more storms predicted today. Every other day we are getting these. I had 5" Saturday, 4" Monday and strong stuff coming today. Here's some damage from one of the tornadoes on Monday. This was 5 miles North of me. Wednesday, June 24 View Page Ok here we go round 3 in 6 days. Good lord. Thursday, June 25 View Page 18" of rain now since Saturday evening or 5 days. More high winds and hail. My outdoor patch is well watered. Don't figure I will need to water anymore between now and Anamosa right. Thursday, June 25 View Page You know it's rained too much when you're cutting out furrows to get rid of water in your High Tunnel and there's no holes in the plastic!!! Oh ya I t's also on a hill side. Sunday, June 28 View Page 1450 Steil has a beautiful shape. Really like this pumpkin. Sunday, July 5 View Page There is something hiding in there. Tuesday, July 7 View Page 4.6" of rain last night. That makes it 23.5" in the last 16 days for me. I finally tilled the patch 2 days ago to get rid of weeds and added fertilizer. Haven't been able to do anything. Sent soil down the hill last night. Not planning on getting anything for fall. Crazy weather. Wednesday, July 8 View Page Can anyone identify this guy looking in my tunnel and trying to look at my pumpkin. He said he was lost and gave me some wild story about wanting to sell me a vacuum cleaner. I was able to interrogate him and found out he was from Des Moines. Said his name was Don Young. All kidding aside Don and Julie delivered an order I had. Don and Julie have been very helpful the last couple years in teaching me some things on these AG ' S. Thanks Don and Julie. Saturday, July 11 View Page Isn't it an inch a week on watering these AG ' S not an inch a day. Good grief. Saturday, July 11 View Page Ok 6" of rain this morning. That brings my grand total to 29 1/2" of rain in 21 days or since June 21st. If you California boys want you can start your trenchers up and lay some water line clear to my place. I have plenty of water to share. Thursday, July 16 View Page Ya this is what we really need. Top "crust" in the patch was really getting dry. Never seen anything like this for years. Thursday, July 16 View Page What a beautiful scenic view of the running stream beside my AG ' S, "NOT". Yes as you can see no energy in the soil after this monsoon season. Weeds and no secondaries. Not done on this rain and I know I'm over 34 " of rain in less than a month. Thursday, July 16 View Page Oh what a refreshing 5 1/2" rain this was this morning. We didn't have 60-70 MPH winds with this one. 35 inches of rain in 27 days. More on the way. Sunday, July 19 View Page One of the nicer pictures that I've taken of my AG ' S. This pic was a while back. It still has a nice shape. 1450 Steil. Monday, July 20 View Page This says it all. Friday, July 24 View Page And again. Holy crap not sure what we have done to deserve all this. Sunday, July 26 View Page Oh look we might get a nice rain. Lord I apologize for what ever I have done to upset you, but I get the picture lol. Sunday, July 26 View Page Soil test from day 35 on 1450 Steil. Easy to add some nitrate. Monday, July 27 View Page And again. Sure this will put us over 40" of rain since June 20th. California boys better speed those trenchers up and get all the water you want from me! Tuesday, July 28 View Page 122 degree heat index today. More rain coming. "HELP". Tuesday, July 28 View Page And again Wednesday, July 29 View Page When I got my soil test back the other day I was really suprised to see my nitrate level down at 15 lb/acre. Everything else was good on nutrient levels. This pic. was taken about 10 days ahead of the soil test. The color clearly shows I'm getting enough nitrogen to the plant. I'd say the Azos worked on bringing the nitrogen into the plant from the air. I'm not an expert on this, just my observation. Thursday, August 13 View Page Finally got my pumpkin loaded for the Iowa State Fair. What a job. Had a ton of people that came to help. Too wide for the pickup bed. Had to really elevate. Should be a nervous 2 hour drive in the morning. No matter what happens this a personal best by a long ways. 1450 Steil. Thursday, August 13 View Page My grandsons hanging out with my pumpkin before we loaded it tonight. Thursday, August 13 View Page Plenty of help to load this pumpkin. Thursday, August 13 View Page Plenty of help to load this pumpkin. Friday, August 14 View Page Well lucky enough to win a weigh off at the Iowa State Fair today. My 1,450 Steil that I grew is now the 1,235 Davis 2015. Went just a touch light. OTT of 388".Absolutely no plant or pumpkin issues. This pumpkin was 69 days old. A big thanks to Don Young and Scott Steil for advice. This was by far my personal best. Congrats to the other growers that were there today. All good people. Saturday, August 15 View Page 1235 Davis 2015. Monday, August 17 View Page Not much luck getting the pics to be the right direction for my diary. Grandsons and my daughter with my 1235 Davis at the Iowa State Fair. Tuesday, August 18 View Page Thought I would throw up the chart I had this year on my 1235 Davis that i took to the Iowa State Fair. Took off 100 MPH then came to a creeping pace at harvest date on day 69. I know taped daily, but 1st pumpkin over 1000 lbs for me and never had anything grow like this before. Day 13-21. Tuesday, August 18 View Page Day 21-28 Tuesday, August 18 View Page Day 30-38 Tuesday, August 18 View Page Day 39-47 Tuesday, August 18 View Page Day 49-57 Tuesday, August 18 View Page Day 58-65 Tuesday, August 18 View Page Day 64-69 Wednesday, August 19 View Page Told my wife that Tim, John and I better get our passports because we are getting ready to receive a nice trip with our women to the big show. Oh crap there's a couple other weigh offs yet. Oh well. This is the closest I'll ever be to the top lol. Can't wait to see all the big pumpkins getting weighed in this year. Genetics, genetics, genetics. Friday, August 21 View Page U.S. Congressman Dave Loebsack hanging out with my pumpkin at the Iowa State Fair. Friday, August 21 View Page Former U.S. Senator and one of many presidential candidates Rick Santorum wanting a pic with me and my pumpkin before the Iowa State Fair weigh off. Saturday, August 22 View Page Getting ready to till in some premo Alfalfa into the soil for next year's State Fair pumpkin. Spray some goody on it and till some leaves in this fall along with some lime and some other goodies. Soil health is everything. Monday, August 24 View Page Got my pumpkin loaded up at the State Fair grounds and got it home today. Funny how this was "not" a nervous 2 hour drive because of bumps in the roadway coming back.Helped Marty Schnicker load the biggest salad I have ever seen in the back of his truck. Onions, Cabbage, Ag Pumpkin, Pie Pumpkin,Taters, Maters, Zucs, Gourds, Long Gourds with 3 Water Melons for a desert. I'm sure I missed something. Marty can grow anything. Saturday, August 29 View Page Cut my 1235 up today. Saturday, August 29 View Page Nice wall thickness on most my 1235. Blossom button area only 3" but the rest of the walls were between 7 1/2" - 10" thick. Saturday, August 29 View Page And finally my bull and one of my cows were enjoying the treat that was cut up for them. Saturday, August 29 View Page Only came up with 90 mature seeds out of my 1235. Must have been 400 other seeds, but only being 69 days on this pumpkin it probably needed a few more days to finish out the others. Tuesday, September 1 View Page Doesn't make a difference with me since I'm done for the year, but going from highs in the low to mid 70 ' s and lows in the 50 ' s last week to this I figure your AG ' S are going to be needing some cooling clear to the East coast. Crazy weather. Thursday, September 3 View Page Good rear view pic on the 1235 in the last week before I harvested it. Solid pumpkin with no issues. Monday, September 14 View Page Since I don't have any pumpkins for fall weigh offs I decided to grow a few brocolli plants. Not sure if 750 plants is over doing it or not. Saturday, October 3 View Page Had a great time at Anamosa today. Didn't have anything to take this year since I seen Noah and the Ark go by. Doesn't matter. Great growers and 15 pumpkins over 1000 lbs. Congratulations to John and Merri Barlow with the win at 2034 lbs. Great weigh off Mr. Norlan. Thursday, December 31 View Page Well here I go again. About 950 tomato plants started and I will be transplanting them in one month. Seems like I just got done with tomatoes. I would like to wish everyone a happy new year and the best year of growing that they have ever had!!