Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 54 Entries. Sunday, April 8 View Page We have lift off (2008 Neptune) � Sunday, April 15 View Page Just have to install hinges and plastic and the greenhouse will be ready � Saturday, April 21 View Page Plastic tarp is stretched over the frame. I�ll give it 3-4 days for the soil to warm up then I�ll plant my 2008 Neptune � Tuesday, April 24 View Page Finally... 2008 Neptune planted � Wednesday, May 2 View Page Starting to vine out a bit (2008 Neptune) - Going to treat this plant with some watered down fertilizer soon. � Monday, May 7 View Page 2008 Neptune � Wednesday, May 9 View Page Growing and a healthy pace - hopefully if I can grow a decent size pumpkin, I�ll take it to the -old farm market- Vancouver island. >>>>> hi Glenn �hi Dave � Monday, May 14 View Page 2008 Neptune is liking the hot weather >>>>>high of 26c today � Saturday, May 19 View Page 2008 Neptune doing fine - The vine is about 5� long now >>>>> Added 3.5 yards of well composted horse manure to the patch today. � Thursday, May 24 View Page Nice weather coming up, so I freed the beast - plant is close to 8� long now � Saturday, May 26 View Page First pumpkin � Sunday, May 27 View Page Mixing 1 litre of well composted llama manure with 5 gals of water and feeding it to my 2008 Neptune. Hoping for good results. >>>>> Pic of last years pumpkin � Tuesday, May 29 View Page Nice day so I buried some vines. A bit windy today >>>>>>dog in the pic is named Major, he just finished a birthday snack...lol � Wednesday, May 30 View Page Vine is about 10� long now (2008 Neptune) A few male flowers opened up today � Saturday, June 2 View Page Buried more vines today - rain expected by tomorrow � Sunday, June 3 View Page Little pumpkin at about 8� ... not sure if it�s worth pollinating but I will anyway.. just in case � Wednesday, June 6 View Page Cold today with super high winds, I�m surprised the patch didn�t get torn up by it. Hoping for warmer weather to kick things into gear - � Thursday, June 7 View Page A 5 lober opened today at about 9 feet but no males to pollinate with except a dead flower from yesterday that I cut off. I used it anyway...lol ...who knows maybe it�ll work � Friday, June 8 View Page Vine is 14� now �� I�m surprised it�s still growing at a good clip with how cold June has been so far � Sunday, June 10 View Page Buried more vines and noticed some of my first born leafs are dead around the edges. Don�t know why ... ugh � Thursday, June 14 View Page Looks like the pollination took -This is my back up pumpkin. There is another one @ 14+ feet but won�t by ready to pollinate for another 10-12 days. � Saturday, June 16 View Page Blazing hot today- even hotter tomorrow * � Wednesday, June 20 View Page Put up some shade netting. Still needs to be joined better in the centre but it�s working perfectly. The plant went from wilted bad, to looking normal within an hour after putting up the net � Friday, June 22 View Page Pollinated 2008 Neptune x self Sure hope it took. My pumpkin at 8 feet flopped � Saturday, June 23 View Page Pollinated one on a side vine with plenty of fresh males... yesterday my hopeful kin on the main had maybe one fresh male flower>>> who knows what�s going to happen � Monday, June 25 View Page Pollinated last Friday @ about 16� ...sure hope it took � Thursday, June 28 View Page Pic on left is at about 3 dap ..... pic on right is 7 dap �� (I�m wondering if the pollination took) It�s still shiny and making micro gains, but the weather has been really cool for this time of year ..with little sun. Fingers crossed � Sunday, July 1 View Page Happy Canada day !! Did a bunch of vine burying today ....whew! � Sunday, July 1 View Page A 3 lober ? Never seen one before myself � Monday, July 2 View Page This pic is from day 9 (yesterday) ...Small but we�ve had rainy cool weather � Wednesday, July 4 View Page Waiting for my pumpkin to grow is the hardest part..haha ���� Here�s a pic of a male flower from 2016 ( iphone5s ) � Thursday, July 5 View Page Another cool and rainy day for July, nothing new to report �� Here�s a pic of my 655lb pumpkin from 2016, I came in second at the garden centre � Friday, July 6 View Page Making small but good gains each day now. Not growing super fast like a lot of others but I�m happy for now. Gave the leaves a foliar feed today with cal/mag � Sunday, July 8 View Page Spent a good part of my day off spreading a load of compost/soil on my patch and also burying vines. I use the 25 gal pail and a pond pump to drench my patch with amendments. � Tuesday, July 10 View Page Pollinated this one @ about 24� (this morning) ��There was already a bee inside ..but whatever � Thursday, July 12 View Page Grew 3� in circumference in the past 24 hrs � Finally a stretch of good weather �- contemplating culling my back up pumpkin � Friday, July 13 View Page Culled my back up pumpkin today. It was growing on the 4th side vine �- nothing else to report except hot weather forecasted for the next several days. � Saturday, July 14 View Page Love this hot weather! � Sunday, July 15 View Page Bought myself a new 4 gal backpack sprayer for foliar feeding my pumpkin plant (an early birthday present) �- My old 1 gal sprayer was lunched � Tuesday, July 17 View Page 11 days growth (2008 Neptune) � Friday, July 20 View Page Starting to lose its roundness � I�ve started backing off the water a bit because I don�t have very good drainage, hardpan is only about 18� from the top of my soil. 2008 Neptune- (watch out Richmond Dave) .. haha � Saturday, July 21 View Page Compost tea - 2 tbsp of molasses, 1 litre of llama manure per 25 gals of water/ Recirculated with a pond pump � Tuesday, July 24 View Page Bought a cheap-o moisture meter from amazon and it doesn�t work. The reason I bought one was because I was wondering if I was overwatering being that my soil has a high content of clay. I cut back watering as a precaution and right away pumpkin kicked into gear :) Everyone�s patch is different indeed � Thursday, July 26 View Page Gave plant a drink of seaweed extract (1/2 strength) ���- Really hoping to break my personal best (655lbs) this year. � Saturday, July 28 View Page Leaves are smallish and kind of unhealthy looking, its been that way since I started growing (3rd season) This fall I�m going to send in a soil sample and see what the scoop is, maybe it will reveal something. Shade netting was a good investment but I need more � Tuesday, July 31 View Page 2008 Neptune 204 lbs � Wednesday, August 1 View Page Shade netting came down as we�re going to have at least a week of cloudy /cooler weather. � Friday, August 3 View Page My first Atlantic �giant� (2014) 48 lbs - haha � Monday, August 6 View Page Shade netting back up,hot weather has arrived. >> Was only a few hours away from watering time so I decided to check the soil to see if I was overwatering, and according to moisture meter I was.�� pumpkin has slowed down in growth to 1/4 of what it was, maybe I�ve been overwatering it all along....that would explain a few things. � Thursday, August 9 View Page Slow grower, but that�s ok. Measures to 311 lbs � Monday, August 20 View Page 259ott 400 pounds � Recently been pounded hard by powdery mildew and the pumpkin has all but stopped growing Going to deal with the mildew today � Monday, September 3 View Page Increasing the size of the patch for next year considerably. I�m also going to bring in a lot of high quality top soil after the season is over, then plant fall rye. � Saturday, October 6 View Page Had lots of problems this year with my one and only pumpkin, leaves were thrashed by early aug. Also a vast majority of Sept was wet and cold. Anyhow I got it loaded for next week in Duncan B.C. @ the Old Farm Market weigh off. � Tuesday, October 16 View Page Going to try a greenhouse in 2019. Bought this frame a few weeks ago 12x20� �