Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 87 Entries. Monday, March 3 View Page Time to start another bavarian diary. Good luck to all in 2008! Christmas presents 2007:   Monday, March 3 View Page This winter, we only had a little of snow...   Sunday, March 23 View Page This is the weight I resolve to beat this season. 627lbs - personal best from last year, grown on 691 Edwards 06!   Sunday, April 6 View Page Time to say thank you to all growers which sent seeds this way. It is big honour for me to be part of this world wide pumpkin growing community. I never met such generous and friendly people before. Hope I can pay back all any time. After many hours of serious thinking, I found the five competition seeds for this season:   Saturday, April 12 View Page Again my line up for this season... Competition plants: 748 Pukos 06 (1370 Rose x 1231 Pukos) 905 Toftness 05 (707 Toftness x 898 Knauss) 1005 Werner 06 (998 Werner x 998 Pukos) 1408 Daletas 07 (1068 Wallace x 805 Pukos) 1412 Mckie 07 (1407 Wolf x 1139 Sherwood) Backups: 756 Knöpfle 07 (1180 Daletas x 801 Stelts) 479 Krautmann 07(670 Daigle x 1370 Rose) 399 Niederhofer 07 (1048 Companion x 1250 Kline) 280 Burghardt 07 (551 Christensen x 691 Edwards) These four plants will probably find a place for doing some nice orange bavarian crosses...lol! My 24 Burghardt 07 (525 Smith x 523 Olsen)... smallest pumpkin in GPC list 2007: I have to try it! 1003 Marsh 07 (695 Handy x 1231 Pukos) 617 Reiss 06 (1068 Wallace x sib) 710 Wolf 07 (1407 Wolf x sib) At least I will keep them in big buckets for pollination! Long gourds: 85 Sullivan 07 (110 Timm x 110 Paton) 92 Niederhofer 07 (76 Jutras x 121 Kline) 106 Lovelace 07 (126 Jutras x 107 Timm) 112 Offermann 07 (98 Gipe x 76 Nelson) One english marrow for EGVGA competition: 44 Wursten 07   Saturday, April 12 View Page Patch is prepared...tilled yesterday with my old good "Agria": (year of constuction:1965!)   Saturday, May 10 View Page Had a lot of problems by starting my seeds. Used an other potting soil then last year, which caused deformed cots and leaves. My line up changed a little bit! Seedlings are small but we have got a couple of nice warm days now here in germany, so I planted outside yesterday: 1005 Werner 1171 Toftness 748 Pukos 1105 Bowles 1003 Marsh Sorry Bart, Dan and Steve: Hopefully I can keep the 905 Toftness, 1412 Mckie and 1408 Daletas in big buckets for pollination! My cover crops (mustard) is doing well between the hoop houses!   Saturday, May 24 View Page Had to replace the 1173 Toftness by the 1408 Daletas. Do not know what causes theese deformed leaves...any ideas?   Saturday, May 24 View Page 1408 is small, but did pick up quite well...   Friday, May 30 View Page Small plants, but healthy! 748 Pukos:   Friday, May 30 View Page 1005 Werner:   Friday, May 30 View Page 1480 Daletas:   Friday, May 30 View Page 1003 Marsh:   Friday, May 30 View Page 1105 Bowles:   Friday, May 30 View Page Long gourd:   Friday, May 30 View Page View, when I`m weeding!   Friday, May 30 View Page My cover crops are amazing this year!   Friday, May 30 View Page Began to mow down the mustard around the hoop houses.   Wednesday, June 11 View Page Will try some sand under the giants this year!   Wednesday, June 11 View Page Where are my hoop houses? lol!   Wednesday, June 11 View Page All plants are small. Will keep the hoop houses some couple days, because it will get colder... 1408 Daletas pick up a little bit:   Wednesday, June 11 View Page Little crack in the main vine of the 1105 Bowles. I think it will heal out!   Wednesday, June 11 View Page Best long gourd plant so far: 85 Sullivan!   Wednesday, June 11 View Page Fire place is waiting for some visitors...   Tuesday, June 17 View Page Took off all hoop houses yesterday and mowed down the cover crops! In front the 1105 Bowles...   Tuesday, June 17 View Page Big leaves on the 1003 Marsh, but no secondaries yet!   Tuesday, June 24 View Page Mowed down all the cover crops today, so I have an overview now. Here you can see how I`m using the mustard for weed control. First two plants: 1408 Daletas (left) and 748 Pukos (right)   Saturday, June 28 View Page Mustard is drying now between the plants. No chance for weeds - that´s great!   Saturday, June 28 View Page I´m using some old plastic chairs to cover first females. Had bad hail damage on early fruits last year. Think they will need one more week to open. No females yet on 1105 Bowles in front.   Sunday, July 6 View Page Actual state of affairs: july 2th: 1005 Werner x open july 5th: 1408 Daletas x open; 748 Pukos x open july 6th: There was a chance to do some pollinations today! 756 Knöpfle (1180 Daletas x 801 Stelts) x 479 Krautmann (670 Daigle x 1370 Rose) I like this cross!!!!! 479 Krautmann x 399 Niederhofer (1048 Companion x 1250 Kline) 24 Burghardt x 1003 Marsh 1003 Marsh x 1005 Werner   Saturday, July 12 View Page Smallest plant so far: 748 Pukos   Saturday, July 12 View Page 1408 Daletas   Saturday, July 12 View Page 1005 Werner   Saturday, July 12 View Page Have to terminate first sidevines soon. 1408 and 1005 saying hello! Lot of snails around because of the rainy weather.   Saturday, July 12 View Page 1003 Marsh   Saturday, July 12 View Page 1105 Bowles: some females bloomed today! All open pollinated!   Sunday, July 13 View Page Pollinated one of my "bucket plants" at home: 905 Toftness x 1005 Werner Hopefully I get a small pumpkin with "big" genes for following seasons!   Sunday, July 20 View Page We had a great small patchtour here yesterday. Tom Niederhofer and Roger Rüegger with his family came in for a visit.   Sunday, July 20 View Page Which one should be the keeper on the 1105 Bowles? Roger and me discussing between the plants...   Sunday, July 20 View Page Sunset at the patch! We spend a great time together!   Sunday, July 20 View Page We also did some pollinations: 1105 Bowles x 1408 Daletas (sidevine) 1003 Marsh x 1105 Bowles (sidevine) 280 Burghardt x 1408 Daletas   Saturday, August 2 View Page GPC member at large Heino Helbock arriving for a visit in my patch - what a honour!!! lol!   Saturday, August 2 View Page Heino is inspecting the fruit on the 1005 Werner! In the evening we discussed a lot and the next day we started for a patchtour to Robert Jaser and Peter Frei. You will find some pictures in the photo gallery.   Wednesday, August 6 View Page Visited my good friend and fellow grower Thomas Niederhofer (Pumpkin-Tom)! The master himself in his patch...   Wednesday, August 6 View Page As every year he is growing ornamental pumpkins on trellis!   Wednesday, August 6 View Page The green hell....   Wednesday, August 6 View Page WOW!   Wednesday, August 6 View Page ...   Wednesday, August 6 View Page My wife and a big sunflower!   Wednesday, August 6 View Page Of course we found some atlantic giants as well: Toms biggest fruit so far on the 1250 Kline!   Wednesday, August 6 View Page Tom, Susi and Steffi, thanks a lot for the hospitality! We really enjoyed this day! We will be back next season for sure!   Monday, August 11 View Page At 6 pm in the evening: "bomb attack" in my patch...the end of the season!   Tuesday, August 12 View Page The day after...   Tuesday, August 12 View Page ...   Tuesday, August 12 View Page fruit on 1408   Tuesday, August 12 View Page long gourd trellis , disappointed grower, fruit on 1105 Bowles, fruit on 1005 Werner   Tuesday, August 12 View Page 1005 Werner   Tuesday, August 12 View Page Wheel on 748 Pukos and the rest of the covering...   Tuesday, August 12 View Page genetic patch   Tuesday, August 12 View Page "pumpkin illustration"   Tuesday, August 12 View Page picture taken on august 9th!   Tuesday, August 12 View Page 10 minutes of hail and the end of my dreams...   Thursday, August 14 View Page Cleaned up the patch. Pulled the 1003 Marsh completely.   Thursday, August 14 View Page Cut the maine vine after the fruits. Pumpkin growing without any leaves...lol   Thursday, August 14 View Page Then I sculled up the ground.   Thursday, August 14 View Page This is the gardening tool I used.   Thursday, August 14 View Page Sowed cover crops and spreaded the rest of the sand I normally use under the pumpkins. Will be back 2009 for sure!!!   Monday, August 18 View Page Would like to give you a short report from a great patchtour we had here in germany on august 16th. Tom and me arriving at Norberts home - ornamental pumpkins everywhere:   Monday, August 18 View Page Tom is inspecting all the curiosities...   Monday, August 18 View Page The courtyard is filling up with growers.   Monday, August 18 View Page One part of the patch:   Monday, August 18 View Page Doing some measurements:   Monday, August 18 View Page Other part of the patch with two nice greenies...   Monday, August 18 View Page Norbert explaining us how to make compost tea...   Monday, August 18 View Page Norbert Andres and family, we all thank you so much for hospitality!   Thursday, August 21 View Page Last entry just before holiday. Built two houses to keep the pumpkins dry. Perhaps they will survive till weigh off time. Think the other two will not make it...   Thursday, August 21 View Page Cover crops already sprouded. Hope my patch will be green, when I`m back in 14 days... Good luck all for the rest of the season!   Sunday, September 7 View Page Back from holidays. The pumpkins in the maine patch rotted away. Not too dramatical - good fertilizer for next year...lol! All fruits were open pollinated, so never mind about the seeds.   Sunday, September 7 View Page Last small pumpkin left for this season. I hope it will hold together for the first bavarian state championship on september 28th. The cross is 24 Burghardt 07 x 1003 Marsh 07.   Sunday, September 7 View Page Time for some other hobbys now. Went fishing with my brother at a small rivulet and we caught some nice rainbow trouts....Hmmmmmm!   Thursday, September 11 View Page Brewing my own beer on terrace - yes I am a real bavarian....lol!   Monday, September 15 View Page 24 Burghardt begins to rot at the bottom, so I decided to cut it open for harvesting the seeds. No growth since the bad hail damage in august. It is called now 151 Burghardt 08 EST (24 Burghardt 07 x 1003 Marsh 07). No pumpkin left for a weigh off...what a season!   Monday, September 15 View Page It had a really thick blossom end...I like that! Should try this cross next year...seeds are looking ok so far!   Saturday, October 11 View Page My cover crops in maine patch are developping quite well...   Saturday, October 11 View Page ...and there are weeds growing as well! There is one called "gallant soldier" (lat. galinsoga parviflora) already blooming, so I decided to mow down the middle of the patch, before it can produce millions of seeds. Hopefully, I will get some more growth from the red clover during winter months now.   Tuesday, December 30 View Page Red clover is still green under the snow...   Tuesday, December 30 View Page Last picture in 2008: I like this place...even in winter! Would like to say thank you to all growers who sent me already their seeds. Have all a good and successfull year 2009! Take care...I will be back next year...