Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 298 Entries. Thursday, January 1 View Page A new Year and new chanses. This the patch right now, wich is about 50% done. The rest will happen this spring. Excited to grow on a bigger and brand new patch. Good luck to everyone!   Sunday, January 4 View Page Yesterday Tina and I dug the entire patch with a shovel, so to get more air in the soil and bring up some of the subsoil. Did a store bought soil test to get an indication of the progress and the ph and npk's are showing the wanted effect of the ammendments.   Saturday, January 10 View Page Now that is dedication.....Pumpkin tattoo :)   Thursday, January 15 View Page Our rottweiler/hound mix, Roxy (a houndweiler)   Thursday, January 15 View Page Eden, our cat. 13 years old.   Saturday, January 31 View Page Ok the patch had a little rest and now its time to keep on building. A new kind of manure. Alpaca poop. Looks a bit like rabbit droppings on steroids,,lol.   Saturday, January 31 View Page Next to that more horse manure,,we found real nice aged manure. Loaded for us,,,(wich is a nice change from shoveling ourselfs, lol)   Saturday, January 31 View Page Here a look at the merchandise. We found out that finding manure in these parts can be kind of hard. So finding huge aged piles that are free and loaded for us is like finding gold. And we struck a big vain this time...   Saturday, January 31 View Page And like usual it took us most of the day, and we had to stop with sunlight faiding. Two more trips tommorow and we wil done manure wise. After that maybe some compost to top it off, but first we finish this job. We made little piles all over, A premium pile blend of horse, cow, and alpaca poop. Things are moving along   Sunday, February 1 View Page After two more loads today its been enough. The patch has come very close to the look and structure i,m after. Besides various ammendments, i,m gonna look for compost, best quality i can find. Manure is on enough for this year. We raised the patch more then 10 inches. Cool thing bout the alpaca farm is that we can pick up manure weekly to build a pile near the patch. This wil save us travel time next year. Right now its time to relaxzzzzz..   Thursday, February 5 View Page Besides the regular pumpkin prepp we started out other veggies. The regular mostly. We are gonna try some onions, some habaneros, 4 large varieties of tomatoes and two kinds of sunflower. Spring is coming,,,can hardly wait.   Saturday, February 21 View Page Today: added several loads of mushroom compost to finish up the bulk prepp. Extra attention for planting areas. Further added more bonemeal, bloodmeal, and cottonseed meal.   Sunday, March 1 View Page Time to work on a new tea brewer. Not to big because we are only growing 4 plants. So i came up with a 9 gallon model. Its based on brewer i found on the net. It pumps the water out, and back in. The splashing of the water helps the gas exchange, pushing o2 in and breaking the waters surface tention allowing co2 to escape.   Sunday, March 1 View Page The pump on here pumps about 1.5 gallon a minute wich should make for a cycle of 6 minutes. Next to that i made a basket for the tea bag, wich an airdiffuser in the bottom stirring up and oxigenating the tea even more, the diffuser in the compost also is good for fungal hyphea development. Trying to create maximal fungal volume.   Sunday, March 1 View Page And now for some testing. A first test batch is brewing and i will check it every 12 hours. Its not perfect but it beats an airstone in a bucket, although this works to, to an extend that is. First recipe i,m trying to get some fungal development going, using fish, humic acid, and only a bit of mollases. Also a microbial innoculant containg nitrogen fixing bacteria and several bacilus strains. Before i started this little project i brewed some small (1 gallon) test batches. Heres some pictures coming up:   Monday, March 2 View Page Here a cilate feeding on bacteria, several flagellets (protozoa) surrounding it.   Monday, March 2 View Page Here again now, in a diffrent position, the move pretty fast and are hard to capture in a picture.   Monday, March 2 View Page Here in the bottom of the picture attached with a thin thread a vorticella. A bateria eating type of protozoa that creates a vortex to bring bacteria to its mouth.   Monday, March 2 View Page here especially clear in the middle of picture, a naked amoeba. (the clear "stain" in the middle) Theres more then one and theres flagellets and bacteria present to.   Monday, March 2 View Page Here attached to some organic matter two fungal sproutes that have just attached. Theres another one floating around.   Monday, March 2 View Page Those are some of the things i,m looking for in my thea, these pictures where taking of tea that stopped brewing for over a day. all magnified 400x. I will post some more later of finished thea. For now, i,m gonna figure out wich brew time has what results. With a microscope it not a guessing game no more, i can make sure the teas good. More later...   Tuesday, March 3 View Page Now nearing the 30 hour mark, the bacteria are dominant. Not very surprising since i added microbial inoculant to the tea. It containt several strains of bacillus, wich you can see as little rods in the picture.   Tuesday, March 3 View Page The bacteria create an alkaline inviroment wich is not in favor of the fungi, so they have a hard time developing and are few. Once the protozoa (flagellets) population wil increase the bacterial situation wil stabelize and fungi wil come. Atleast in theory, lol. we wil see, on the picture struggeling fungal hyphea.   Tuesday, March 3 View Page Fresh castings and kelpmeal wil come tommorow and i wil repeat the testing. The quality of any compost tea depends on the compost or castings you use, the fresher the better.   Wednesday, March 4 View Page Spring soiltest came back today. AWSOME! A drastic positive change in both balance and ppm,s. We managed to get ppms up from a total of 360 last soiltest to almost 3000 now (all numbers combined) percent cation saturation is almost where we want it, just a couple % off. We know what to do now and can finish up our work on the soil. Its time to start working on watering.   Wednesday, March 4 View Page Still working on the tea, so here some pictures of fungal hyphea:   Wednesday, March 4 View Page another   Wednesday, March 4 View Page Last one, with plenty of bacteria around.   Wednesday, March 4 View Page a bacteria feeding nematode.   Wednesday, March 4 View Page A detailed close up of its head. The black spots insides its body are bacteria, its diner. All pictures have been taking of a batch of tea brewing at over 70 f for a total of 46 hours. pictures are taken at various brewtimes.   Thursday, March 5 View Page After 36 hours of brewing some of the thickest fungal hyphea yet. The recipe was for fungal tea so it seem the stressing of the fish and humic acid seemed to have done the trick. I wil let it brew till 46 hours to see if protozoa and amoebe wil become much more prolific. so far very few if any. A completer tea with all players is wanted.   Friday, March 6 View Page trial tea is done. Using a recipe for fungal volume, i can say that after 36 hours i got the best results for that. 0 to 18 hours fast bacterial growth and the start of fungus. 24 to 36 hours fungal hyphea growth. 36 to 45 hours most diverse tea containing about all microbes and fungus wanted. 45 to 54 hours decreasing fungal hyphea and rising protozoa numbers.54 hours and up fungal hyphea slowly disapear and protozoa number rise tremendous. Fun to see this little universe working. But to many variabels to conclude anything definite. altough for diversity the brewtime wil be over 36 hours for me. For fungal tea it would be the end of the brew. Ofcourse every brewer is diffrent and quality of compost to. Only thing i couldent check were do2 levels, but that has to wait till next year. Its time to build some hoops...   Saturday, March 7 View Page tweeking the soil today, little bit of work on the ph, greensand, peatmoss, lime.   Saturday, March 7 View Page greensand and peat moss are for water retention, the lime wil have to correct the ph, wich was pretty good already, but with the slightly acidic peat moss i added a bit extra.   Saturday, March 7 View Page And a patch wouldent be complete without:   Saturday, March 7 View Page Patch is almost ready, two more produkts at the end of the month and several drenches for soil life. There wil be no more tilling from now on, just shallow raking.   Sunday, March 8 View Page When you use horse manure, good luck comes right with it!   Wednesday, March 11 View Page First I want to thank everyone who gave us advice on how to position our Horseshoe....LOL... After careful thinking and some research we will be leaving it the way it is.. :) But I did find out that there are three ways to position your Horseshoe incase anyone else wants to know... 1. "the luck will run out." 2. "it must point down so the luck can pour onto you." :) 3. "directionality is not considered important, but what IS important is that the horseshoe was actually used -- worn and discarded by a horse -- that it was found in the road or in a field, not purchased"   Wednesday, March 11 View Page Ok one more time back to the tea. Having good results the first times, i added 3 more diffusers and one extra airpump, result got better but brewtimes stayd the same. This wil be my final set up for this season. a picture of a fungal hyphea, with a protozoa zooming in the middle, bacteria in the background, fuzzy though.   Wednesday, March 11 View Page same fungal hyphea, but now the focus on the bacteria. The rod shaped bacteria belong to the bacillus clan. Also protozoa and flagellets. (it looks better live when they are moving around)   Wednesday, March 11 View Page The last two pictures belong to this fungal structure, its to big to fit in one field of view, but it was massive, and very healthy looking. Bacterial counts where very high and the same can be said for protozoa. By far my most succesfull tea. It was a brew off wormcastings, fish, mollases, bonemeal, oatmeal, and a teaspoon of microbial innoculant (to add the baccilus). The innoculant is perfect in the tea, or the tea for the innoculant. bacillus grow very fast in airated tea, and reach a peak at 24 hours. But even in a completer tea 20 hours later there numbers are impressive. Very intresting to see it all unfold infront of your eyes.   Thursday, March 12 View Page This years line up.   Thursday, March 12 View Page Things are coming toghether, myccorhizea, pesti and fungicides came in, along with several other foliar goodies. Almost everything is here. Spend the day in the patch finishing up the frames for the hoops, although they are no hoops this year. And i started on the watering system, i got about a third done. By this rate we will be done at the end of the month allowing the soil to rest before we start off. Its about time!!   Monday, March 16 View Page The first new personal best of 2009 is set. In a 4 seed germ try out, we had two out of 4 germing in 21 hours.   Saturday, March 21 View Page Used the day off to add final adjustments to the Patch. All thats left is installing the watering, a windfense and plastic on the hoops.   Sunday, March 29 View Page We were gonna spend the saturday in the patch, but since we had a day of heavy rain, i made two more wormbins and ordered two more lbs of worms.   Sunday, March 29 View Page Today was better. It was sunny but very windy. I was planning on spraying merrit but the wind was to bad. We were able to put up the windbreaks for the plants. This coming week the watering system wil come in, and we plan on putting it in asap. So far we are right on track. Three more weeks till starting time.   Thursday, April 2 View Page The worms came in today and are getting used to there new housing as we speak. Some horse manure hopefully keeps em happy for a while,,,they wont be fed for atleast a week and then i wil slowly start feeding.   Thursday, April 2 View Page And before i forget,,,The first big zac has sprouted. Still waiting for some saucer tomatoes to come up. The morgage lifter are outside and have started to take off. This wil the first time i wil actually prepp a tomato bed. Started yesterday with old manure,,,and several other ingredients wil be worked in as soon as possible.   Wednesday, April 8 View Page As Luck would have it we found another horseshoe today in the patch. Two horseshoes in the same patch.....If that doesn't bring us luck I don't know what will....   Wednesday, April 8 View Page Today we added "CHARCOAL GREEN BIOCHAR" a biochar inoculated with beneficial soil microorganisms and enriched substrates. Biochar helps bind organic toxins (such as herbicides) from soil to provide a safer environment for new or existing root systems. And adding essential carbon, wich wil do our sandy soil good. season start is closing in...   Friday, April 10 View Page Spend today preparing the planting sites and getting started on the irrigation. We got the tape down and a couple misters up. Tommorow more wil follow. For optimal coverage we will order more tape and mister. Although coverage is nice, we think we can do better. And let me add this : i hate poly tubing! Test run for the misters on the picture.   Saturday, April 11 View Page Finished up the misters today. Turns out we had more then i thought. Biggest plants (900sq f) will have 6 of them, wich is plenty. Still need more tape though.   Saturday, April 11 View Page I have declared war on bugs for the 09 season. Here is an action picture of the first strike....   Sunday, April 12 View Page And after opening the bugwar, i have started the war on disease to. This one is gonna be especially hard since we have high humidity. But the ground work is done. From here on it is a matter of consistancy and in june cranking it up to battle mode.   Friday, April 17 View Page Sending off final soil test today before planting. We will start germing on Sunday so by next weekend the fun starts. :) I will finish up the hoop houses in the morning. Making some compost tea to spray on too.(so I can use our new backpack sprayer, can't let Frank have all the spraying fun) Best of luck to all, I hope that the start of your seasons goes well. :)   Friday, April 17 View Page I too have started brewing and looking at the compost tea under the microscope. First, I need to get Frank to show me how to use the microscope correctly, my pic are not as good as his. :) But I am learning. Here is a pic of a cilate with some rod bacteria next to it.   Friday, April 17 View Page This pic shows how they both have moved. The cilate has only moved slightly but the rod shaped bacteria has reall moved,compared to the previous pic. It is soooo cool watching them move around. :) Tea has been brewing for 24 hours now.   Friday, April 17 View Page Here is a pic of my compost tea brewer. Nothing fancy. I have three air bubblers in it. I will spray it on the planting holes in the morning. :)   Saturday, April 18 View Page My little one took a pic of me and I did not know it. Here I am building a hoop house. It was 80 degrees today, so our hoop houses will mainly be there for wind/rain protection.   Saturday, April 18 View Page Here are the hoop houses over the planting holes. I know they are not fancy but they will work for what we need them for. The closest hoop is where the 1255 Vankooten will be, next will be the 985 werner, then the 1041 Mckie, and in the back area of the patch will be the 848 Mackenzie. It was windy last week so I need to repair the wind fence in the morning.   Monday, April 20 View Page Our season hast started. Seeds are soaking. Four 88f peat pots are waiting for their guests.   Wednesday, April 22 View Page Soiltest got back and i,m very happy. Pottasium was subject to leaching but in our sandy soil this was to be expect. Balance of things is very nice and we managed to get our om% up to a very nice level. Nitrogen leached to but wil be compensated for foliar. We are good to go.   Saturday, April 25 View Page Germination proces has been suffering complications. 3 out 4 have come to life by a cesarean and are currently still in intesive care. The 4th is hanging in there but barely. Keep your fingers crossed...   Saturday, April 25 View Page the tention is killing......   Monday, April 27 View Page well, germination this year has turned out to be tricky. 985, 1041 and 1255 are up, but not shure if they wil make the patch. Seedstarting mix this year turned out to retain to much moisture despite moderate watering. a second 848 has germed and we are waiting for lift off. Back ups have germed and wil be ready to go. Big names or not, only the healthiest seedling wil make the patch. Next weekend their gonna have to be in. Not sure anymore of our final line up, lol. Ya gotta love growing.....   Tuesday, April 28 View Page what a diffrence a day makes. We changed the starting mix, wich seemed to be the problem. Now finaly seedlings are looking much better. 1041, 985, and 1255 wil most probably see the patch next weekend, 848* wil take a day or two more. What a ride,,,lol,,saved them from a early end....   Wednesday, April 29 View Page Made some compost tea last night and used some "fresh" worm poo from our bin. I will look at the tea under the microscope tonight. If everything looks alive and ready, Frank is gonna spray on the patch in the morning.   Wednesday, April 29 View Page This is my third year growing and it amazes me how fast these roots grow. This is the 1255 trying to grow out the bottom. A couple of days ago when we transplanted our babies into new soil, the 1255 had very few roots and we were not sure if any of them were even gonna make it into the patch. Now look at it. WOW.....Had to transplant to a bigger pot, they wont be going into the patch till the weekend so them roots need some more room to "GROW". :)   Thursday, April 30 View Page Tina did an awsome Job on the tea. Very complete, from fungi to amoebe, bacteria, protozoa you name it,,it was in. Being married to a grower is great! lol. 848* is up now, so our planned line up wil be going in. Germination problems where not as bad as thought, but the beginning can be nerve racking. 1041, 985, and 1255 are working on there first leafs and they all look very good. So far the 1041 seems to show a more vigour.   Sunday, May 3 View Page Our season has officially started. The 848* Mackenzie, the 985 werner, the 1255 van kooten and the 1041 Mckie are all in the patch.   Monday, May 4 View Page Transplant has been a succes. Noticable growth after night one. And good timing to. Harsh sun dissapeard after the clouds and rain is passing thrue, with temp in the 80s during the day and 60s at night. So far a good start with the 1255 winning the prize for best looking seedling so far.   Tuesday, May 5 View Page Time for the yearly seedling pictures. Here the 1010 hester in the front (back up) and the 1255 van kooten in the back.   Tuesday, May 5 View Page And the 1041 mckie,,,doing good sofar.   Tuesday, May 5 View Page 985 werner in the back and our own 897 finders in the front. The 985 isnt looking a 100% right now,,,it wil have two weeks to prove me wrong. If it wont grow properly i wil grow my own seed.   Tuesday, May 5 View Page And last but not least this 811.6 vincent- mcgill (sorry if i spell it wrong ;) This little seedling has been looking like a pumpkin seedling but is a true green squash. Sofar its looking a lot better then the mackenzie. This wil be our green pollinator this year.   Tuesday, May 5 View Page And the most unbelievable thing happend. We found a 8 year old sleeping in our home, who wanted to help weeding,,,,wow!   Thursday, May 7 View Page A little something for the new growers. Theres many plans for big compost tea brewers and how to build but for one plant or the start of the season, a 5 gallon bucket and a aquarium airpump with about 3 or 4 airstones can make you some quality tea. In this recipe i use about two cups of wormcastings, half a cup of kelpmeal, 4 tblsp. of mollases, 2 tablesp, of fish emulsion and two tablesp, of 12% humic acid. Between 36 and 40 hours a very complete tea with everything you need in there in good numbers.   Thursday, May 7 View Page The amount of air in the tea, and quality wormcastings are most important. Make sure you dont use to much food. (mollases and fish etc.) Ending the brew sooner wil give a bacterial and fungal tea. For a complete tea you have to wait for protozoa and amoebe to come in to play. 36 hours to 44 hours is best using the 5 gallon method. Brew inside or like reccomended at ambient temperature. (healty thick fungal hyphea on the pic.)   Thursday, May 7 View Page but i,m no expert. ;)   Thursday, May 7 View Page Seen some of pumpkinplants most feared enemy today. But i planned on doing a treatment today so it was all good. We used garlic spray two days ago as a deterent and today we used some of more lethal stuff. Both a systemic and contact spray where sprayed. Also found some nasty grubs so along with the spray some grubbex. Seedlings are doing well and received some compost tea today. The werner seemed to look better today and had grown considerable,,,the 848 mckenzie is a poor seedling and is dwarfed by the vincent mcgill squash,,,we might have to go for the 811.6 if the 848 doesnt speed up soon. The 811 seems very vigourous and beat most of the pumpkins to. Time will tell. On the pic. a early mothersday present for tina,,,lol. ;)   Friday, May 8 View Page 194 mudd, we have lift off.   Tuesday, May 12 View Page Here is the 1255 after a week in the patch. :)   Tuesday, May 12 View Page The 1041 after watering. Look at me grow.   Tuesday, May 12 View Page The 985 is looking the best and biggest out of all our plants so it looks like we wont need the back up for this one after all. :)   Tuesday, May 12 View Page The 811.6 Vincent-McGill is a really pretty squash plant. Still not sure which one we will be keeping on this one. The 848 is a small weak plant right now so we will have to wait and see.   Thursday, May 14 View Page Here is the 194 Mudd working on its first true leaf, man these babies grow fast too. Also today I gave the plants in the patch a shower with some compost tea. :)   Saturday, May 16 View Page 985 werner, dispite cloudy days,,,very rapid growth. Back up plant was pulled today and main vine should hit the soil in 4 to 5 days.   Saturday, May 16 View Page 1041 mckie,,,right on course.   Saturday, May 16 View Page 1255 vankooten, togheter with the 985 leader of pack. This plant looks very nice.   Saturday, May 16 View Page the 811.6 vincent-mcgill, this one wil be the squash choice,,its proven to be the more promising seedling. The 848* has moved.   Saturday, May 16 View Page Tomatoes are all in and doing well.   Sunday, May 17 View Page At times i ask myself how crazy we are.... Heres Tina work on a 150 foot trench for our irrigation. The guy with the trencher was busy,,,it had to finished today so we had to dig ourselfs. And ofcourse...it came pooring down. The result,,a spiket about 8 feet from the patch instead of 200 feet. So tommorow i can work on installing the timers. We are almost ready for the summer.   Monday, May 18 View Page update on the war on bugs: After several enemy troops where dectected we went on recon. We found the enemy in good numbers and had some pumpkin napalm drop in. After that some heavy artillerie to finish it off. Many casualties for the enemy and the plants are still unharmed. Our guards are up,,aint nobody touching our babies.   Monday, May 18 View Page As a late season cold snap creeps in *45*, along with a Lake Wind Advisory for the day, thank goodnes our hoops are still in place for protection.   Friday, May 22 View Page All four plants are doing very well, with the 985 still leading in size but the 1041's main vine is longer by a couple of feet. Pined down all mains with bamboo sticks. All plants are at the 7-9 leaf stage, with several small leaves about to come to life, and tendrils are growing also. So this means it will soon be time to take the hoops off. Daily time spent in the patch is 2-3 hours along with working 50+ hours a week (we have to be crazy) :)   Saturday, May 23 View Page The hoops came off today. Although we got a stormy week ahead, it was time to let them out. Still a temporary windbreak untill the taproots are established. This is the 985 werner   Saturday, May 23 View Page Next week it wil be time to adress some uninvited guests in our soil, they wil soon start feeding again. For now: the 1255 vankooten   Saturday, May 23 View Page the 1041 mckie   Monday, May 25 View Page Plants got liquid myccor today,,all is well.   Tuesday, May 26 View Page 811.6* short stubby powerhouse   Tuesday, May 26 View Page the werner just over 4 feet.   Tuesday, May 26 View Page 1255 vankooten   Tuesday, May 26 View Page Watering is on the timer now. Any day now addition drip tape and more misters wil arive. After that watering wil be finished. The rain lately make watering easy though. Hand picked about a gazillion grubs. The madness had reached a new level.....   Friday, May 29 View Page It is 9:35 pm and it is still 82 degrees outside. So installed two more misters to plants today, to make the total of 5 now per plant and shooting for 9 per plant. Sprayed compost tea and the first hour in the patch today was spent just burying vines (forgot how much time that takes) but I still enjoy every minute of it.... :)   Saturday, May 30 View Page Here is the Werner...All plants outgrew their windbreakers three days ago. In the background you can see the 848, it is still putting out new growth but very slowly. It now has its own mister so lets hope the extra water will make it grow a little faster. Also in the background...WEEDS!!!!   Saturday, May 30 View Page The 811.6 Vincent-McGill has started to take off now. The main vine on this one is a thick one. Sidevines are starting to come out on this one too.   Saturday, May 30 View Page Spent 2.5 hours just pulling weeds today. I got a 5 gallon bucket full. Weed pulling gear consisted of a beach umbrella, gloves, a small cooler to sit on, and large bottle of gatorade. :)   Saturday, May 30 View Page All pumpkin plants have females on them now. This is on the 1041. Looks like I need to get my nails done..LOL...;)   Saturday, May 30 View Page Here is the back of the 1255. Look at them sidvines grow. Driptape and Misters are doing their job. Im so glad we have them this year. :)   Saturday, May 30 View Page Here is the front of the 1255. Soaking up the last bit of sunshine. Patch time = 6.5 hours today, man I need a loooong bath. :)   Sunday, May 31 View Page Pesticide and fungicide day. I found this dare devil after spraying the plants. He should be in bug heaven by now.   Monday, June 1 View Page Patch vieuw, with our squash the 811.6* vincent-mcgill in the front. Plants are 4 weeks old now and the pumpkins are all over 9 feet, growing close to a foot a day now. The squash is slower, but shows a massive and thick vine, and looks very nice sofar. The war on bugs (and disease) is fearce, we have caught first japanese beetles, seen cukes, and theres still many that wil hatch in weeks to come. The chemical warfare goes on. But so far, so good.   Wednesday, June 3 View Page It is 9:30 now and it is 84 degrees outside. With these warm nights our plants are growing a foot a day, now at 12 feet. Today sprayed compost tea and milk. Watermelon is starting to vine and the 848 now has a foot long main vine. :)   Thursday, June 4 View Page Note to self....Bring a raincoat to the patch and leave it. One of the disadvantages of having your patch 30 min away from home is you have to take whatever comes your way(be it rain, blazing sun, or having to go pee) :)   Friday, June 5 View Page The 811.6 Vincent-McGill now has 2 foot wide leaves,,several other plants got side vines close to 10 feet,,,and roots,,are found up to 12 feet out,,,it never stops to amaze us how fast these plants grow. WOW   Monday, June 8 View Page time for an update. 985 werner.   Monday, June 8 View Page 1255 vankooten   Monday, June 8 View Page 1041 mckie   Monday, June 8 View Page 811.6* vincent-mcgill   Monday, June 8 View Page 194 mudd watermelon.   Wednesday, June 10 View Page As I was covering up vines and roots with dirt, I was surprised by this big guy/gal. My very own bug eating machine on the 1255 :)   Saturday, June 13 View Page First pollination of the year. 1041.5 McKie x 1255 Van Kooten :)   Saturday, June 13 View Page Best investment of the season: misters.   Sunday, June 14 View Page 1041 mckie   Sunday, June 14 View Page 194 mudd   Sunday, June 14 View Page 1255 van kooten   Sunday, June 14 View Page 985 werner   Monday, June 15 View Page plants are 6 weeks old. Hopefully the heat will not affect the pollinating.   Tuesday, June 16 View Page First green lady two days from opening.   Tuesday, June 16 View Page Not a lot of room left 2/3 of patch is filled up. Growth is very fast this year. 3O foot plants in 6 weeks is wow.   Wednesday, June 17 View Page After tomorrow we will have 6 baby pumpkins pollinated and 1 baby squash, feels good to have babies in the patch again. :)   Thursday, June 18 View Page The season just changed drammaticly, here you see doom rolling in. And doom it was.... We will leave em in for fun, and see what comes out of it. 6 months of work, thousands of dollars ended in a 20 minute storm. Such is life. Could be worse though,,,so we will press on.   Sunday, June 21 View Page Three days later i was shocked when i arrived at the patch. Leafs perked back up, and after pruning the bad ones off, we actually got some decent plant left. More storms to come though, we have been warned.   Monday, June 22 View Page 7 days old 1255 vankooten x 1041 mckie   Monday, June 22 View Page 9 days old, 985 werner x 1255 vankooten   Monday, June 22 View Page 1041 mckie x 1255 vankooten. 9 days old.   Monday, June 22 View Page All set sofar are between 15 and 16 feet. The 811* has a 4 day old set 13 feet but to soon to say if it took. The chosen fruit are ahead of last years already.   Tuesday, June 23 View Page Day 10 for the 985 werner and the 1041..... Both were at 37 inches. WOW!!! A new PB for us as far as day 10 measurments go. The past couple of days the 1041 was an inch behind the 985 but it caught up to it.... Last year we were at 29 inches on day 10. It was day 8 for the 1255 and it was at 27 inches, I hope my girl catches up with the other two. ;)   Tuesday, June 23 View Page At the end of day 10 we measured this. That 2000 lbs barrier might be broken by the south this year,, (by an immigrant) MUHAHAHHAHHAAAAAHHAHAAAAAAA!!!!!!!   Tuesday, June 23 View Page all kidding aside,,very good start.   Wednesday, June 24 View Page Here is the 811.6 Vincent McGill on day 6. It is at 18 inches. :)   Wednesday, June 24 View Page The 811.6 Vincent McGill was a 6 lober. :)   Thursday, June 25 View Page 1255 x 1041, 38 cc day 10. Both the werner plant and the mckie grow at astonishing rates. day 12 est. 55 lbs and over. The 985 here,,,the beast from the south east.   Friday, June 26 View Page The 194 Mudd has three little watermelons on it. I need to make some extra room for this plant in the morning. :)   Friday, June 26 View Page To the right is the 1041 Mckie. The sun was shining in on the patch as it was going down for the night. :)   Friday, June 26 View Page Here is "The Beast" yesterday the ott was at 132. Today it measured 152. That is a 27 pound gain on day 13. :)   Saturday, June 27 View Page At two weeks old the 985(The Beast) is already est. over 100 pounds. OTT 166 up from 152 yesterday(14 inches). The 1041, two weeks old, est. 92 pounds OTT 157. The 1255 at 12 days old is at OTT 126, est. 51 pounds, so in two days it gained 13 inches in cc. And last but not least the 811, Day 9 it is at 30 cc already. :)   Sunday, June 28 View Page Day 10 for the 811. Measured 34 inches-cc. :) Also today the temp was 103 degrees. Plants are starting to show some signs of heat damage.   Monday, June 29 View Page 985 werner x 1255 vankooten day 16   Monday, June 29 View Page 1041 mckie x 1255 vankooten day 16   Monday, June 29 View Page 1255 vankooten x 1041 day 14.   Tuesday, June 30 View Page On Day 17 "The Beast From The Southeast" gained 36 lbs. OTT now at 203. Grow Baby Grow!!!! Make Mommy and Daddy proud. :)   Thursday, July 2 View Page Tina had to perform surgery on the beast. The massive stump about two pop cans thick showed weak sections. Sections have been removed and left a cavity in the stump area. Daily gains dropped from 30 plus to 20 lbs. A large 25 foot side vine had to be amputated. In the worst case we wil loose the stump, for now the situation wil be checked twice a day. The 1041 has taken the lead today. Measurment will follow, 33 lbs gain for the day.   Friday, July 3 View Page Today July 3, 2009 we lost our beloved 985. About 5:25 this evening the 985 had to be taken. She was born April 25, 2009. She lived a short life but in that time she showed us what great power she had and with tears in my eyes and knife in hand, slowly she was pulled from the ground. She leaves behind a mother(Tina) and a father(Frank) and two step-sisters(1255 and 1041). The family ask instead of flowers please make a donation to "The Finders Foundation". We would like to thank all our friends that stood by us and watched her grow. :***(   Friday, July 3 View Page Day 20 for the 1041. CC measured 96 today and the OTT was 227. EST weight is 256 lbs.   Friday, July 3 View Page Here is the 194 Mudd at one week old.   Saturday, July 4 View Page Here is the 1041. It measured 100 in CC today and the OTT was at 234 est weight at 279. Will we hit 300 on day 22?   Saturday, July 4 View Page Here is the 1255. It will be at day 20 tomorrow. The OTT is at 195 so I hope it gets to 200 for day 20. :)   Saturday, July 4 View Page Had to buy a new sheet today for the 1041. She has now moved up to a queen size. So since the Beast is down we now have the "Queen" of the patch. :)   Sunday, July 5 View Page The war on bugs is a tough one this year. Squash Bugs(Stink Bug) were found on the 1255 along with some egg clusters. They have penatrated our barrier. On a happier note the 1041 did go past 300+ pounds in EST. CC is at 105 on day 22. Self Note: Always make sure your batteries are charged in your camera. :)   Monday, July 6 View Page 811.6* day 18   Monday, July 6 View Page 194 mudd   Monday, July 6 View Page 1255 vankooten   Monday, July 6 View Page 1041 mckie   Wednesday, July 8 View Page Day 20 for the 811.6. CC 77 and OTT 185. :)   Thursday, July 9 View Page 1041 McKie....Had to make cover bigger today. 10 x 13... Day 27 :)   Friday, July 10 View Page OOOPS....I ment Day 26 in my last post. :)   Saturday, July 11 View Page Side shot on day 28 of the 1041 McKie. :)   Saturday, July 11 View Page :)   Saturday, July 11 View Page As I was leaving the patch tonight, spotted this little one. Nature is sooooo cool... Look at that web....Perfect for BUG catching.... :)   Monday, July 13 View Page 1255 vankooten   Monday, July 13 View Page 811.6 vincent*   Monday, July 13 View Page 194 mudd   Monday, July 13 View Page big zac   Monday, July 13 View Page 337 finders planted today. Try for a fruit for oktober fair.   Monday, July 13 View Page daily breath of air for mckie fruit.   Monday, July 13 View Page Day 30 for the 1041. Ott 297. It better start growing or we are gonna pull it!   Tuesday, July 14 View Page The 1255 gained 29 pounds thanks to Frank who found a couple of extra grow points that I did not need...;) It now has a cc of 100.   Tuesday, July 14 View Page i told her so... :)   Wednesday, July 15 View Page Looks like we might turn a bit green after all. :)   Friday, July 17 View Page At 22 days old the 194 Mudd...EST. 62 lbs..:)   Friday, July 17 View Page 1041 starting to get some color... Day 33..:)   Friday, July 17 View Page Lookie Lookie who is that I see, the 985 Werner looking back at me…He He He He… With only two side vines in the front and six in the back, this Beast is still growing, so we are gonna leave it on, what the heck. In the past two weeks it has added another 203, which makes its Est. weight now at 390.…..WOW WEE…. :)   Saturday, July 18 View Page Here is the 337 Finders after only 6 days in the patch. :)   Monday, July 20 View Page still gaining nicely, but slowing down a bit.   Monday, July 20 View Page And this is how our squash adventure ends for this year. Fruit stopped growing. approx 220 lbs. Will need to try this again next year.   Thursday, July 23 View Page Pumpkins are starting to gain again. Nights are back in the lower 70's. Both the 985 and the 1255 are est. over 400 lbs. Gains are slow on them both but steady, both added another 13 lbs today. Tomorrow is day 40 for the 1041, +28 lbs for today which brings us over 800 in est. The 337 Finders should be off and running by next weekend. Pics will be posted tomorrow. :)   Friday, July 24 View Page After only 12 days in the patch the 337 Finders already has its first tendrils. :)   Friday, July 24 View Page Day 29 for the 194 Mudd. OTT 142...:)   Friday, July 24 View Page Day 40 for the 1041 McKie. OTT = 341 :)   Friday, July 24 View Page 985 Werner... :)   Friday, July 24 View Page Here is the 1255...Growing slow still. Est just over 400 lbs...:)   Friday, July 24 View Page Last entry for the day. Rain yet again. For the past three weeks it seems like right before I finish spraying or as I am leaving the patch it starts to rain. Gotta Love It!!! :)   Monday, July 27 View Page this next entry is for adults only. So if your younger then 18 dont go any further then here.   Monday, July 27 View Page I thought Tina was spraying, but as i moved in closer i found her in this compromising position on her pumpkin. I sure hope the neighbours werent watching.....   Monday, July 27 View Page This is the 1255 stem,,,it started foaming.   Monday, July 27 View Page I think somebody put some detergent water in our patch...   Monday, July 27 View Page The 1255 stopped growing and so today we pulled the plant.   Monday, July 27 View Page Now for some highlights...   Monday, July 27 View Page OOPS.....wrong picture,,this is the one. Today our melon reached 100 lbs in est. Nice....   Monday, July 27 View Page and....   Monday, July 27 View Page We past our pb and state record in est. today with still plenty of growth left. A good day.   Thursday, July 30 View Page Time for some melon pics,,,,sidevieuw   Thursday, July 30 View Page from the top   Thursday, July 30 View Page stem end   Thursday, July 30 View Page blossom end...day 35 111.3 lbs est.   Thursday, July 30 View Page Our 337 finders.   Friday, July 31 View Page Yet another day with rain. Yesterday the Airport got 3.77 inches of rain, our patch is about 10 minutes from there. Forcasted to rain the next three days.   Saturday, August 1 View Page Measured the 1041 early this morning to see if it had reached that 1,000 pound mark, just could not wait till tonight to measure we were way too excited for that. WE MADE IT TOO A 1,000...... :) :) :) :) We are still on the benchmarks for 1,200. OTT was at 363 = 1,002 on Day 48(morning measure).   Saturday, August 1 View Page Did our normal measuring time 6:00 pm and the 1041 is now at 365.5 OTT. which is 1,023 pounds. +27 for the day. Hopeing by next week this time we will be headed towards 1,200. The queen size sheet has gotten too small so useing two sheets now to cover her up....:)   Monday, August 3 View Page day 50   Monday, August 3 View Page day 50 side   Monday, August 3 View Page Tina for size reference. She makes it look elegant!!!   Monday, August 3 View Page rite here,s a pic Festus and cletus style.   Monday, August 3 View Page ott 160 for 121 lbs. Still plugging along.   Thursday, August 6 View Page The 1041 is at OTT 374=1095 pounds est. The 194 Mudd watermelon is at OTT 164.5 = 130.5 pounds est. And last the 337 Finders @ 3 1/2 weeks old is almost 4 ft out and the first female is in the very tip..... :)   Sunday, August 9 View Page 425.2 Finders 2009 2% heavy, 1255 vankooten x 1041 mckie   Sunday, August 9 View Page 546.8 Finders 2009, 6.8% heavy. 90% of plant was amputated after day 17. With 5 foot of main vine left it still gained 300 lbs. This is the one that got away this year.   Sunday, August 9 View Page side view   Sunday, August 9 View Page Here is the 337 Finders starting to get sidevines. There are two females now on the end.... :)   Monday, August 10 View Page day 59 for the 1041, SS 107.   Monday, August 10 View Page girth 52, ott 170   Wednesday, August 12 View Page The 194 Mudd gained 6 pounds since yesterday. OTT 172.5 = 148.5 pounds. :)   Saturday, August 15 View Page Rain, Rain, Go Away, Come Back NEXT YEAR!!! Trying to clean up the patch a bit today to get ready for harvesting and another storm came up. Got real dark and windy and then the skys opened up. You can see the rain drops in the pic. This pic was taken at about 6:30 when it should be still light outside.   Sunday, August 16 View Page We are gonna have our own little weigh off this in three days,,gonna pick it tommorow. so,,,   Sunday, August 16 View Page Guess the weight: cc: 167 ss 107 btf 107 cross: 1041 mckie x 1255 vankooten age: 66 days. closest without going over will win seeds from the pumpkin and an additonal 500 nothrup.   Monday, August 17 View Page Isn't he cute. Scratching his chin..... :)   Monday, August 17 View Page Lifting time...Tina inspecting the bottom,,,wich was solid as a rock.   Monday, August 17 View Page extra large pallet..and off to the trailer.   Monday, August 17 View Page Note: i need a bobcat to.   Monday, August 17 View Page 9 year old heather inbetween this years harvest. The melon stopped growing just in time, so we can weight it on the big scale to. One long tuesday...and after that its off to the scale.........   Tuesday, August 18 View Page As we were digging up the stump we dug up one of the roots and it measured nearly 20 ft long...WOW :)   Wednesday, August 19 View Page Its time! arrived at the farmers market.   Wednesday, August 19 View Page Checking the scale one last time..   Wednesday, August 19 View Page First the melon..   Wednesday, August 19 View Page Wooohoooo!!awsome!   Wednesday, August 19 View Page Then the big one..   Wednesday, August 19 View Page steady....   Wednesday, August 19 View Page WOOOHOOOOO!!! new pb,,,state record 1164 lbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Wednesday, August 19 View Page doing some interviews, lol.   Wednesday, August 19 View Page Harvesting seeds,,,( while being filmed, lol)   Wednesday, August 19 View Page Inside view....   Wednesday, August 19 View Page and then....   Wednesday, August 19 View Page The sad end of a great pumpkin, lol. Its been a tuff season, with lots of stump problems, but one with a satisfying and succesfull end. Increased our pb and state record with a whopping 267 lbs, wich is not bad. The melon was great to grow to and wil be repeated next year. All in all theres plenty more room for growth,,,so we will be back, next year,,,BIGGER! Special thanks to Dan Mckie, Quinn Werner, Jake VanKooten, and Bob Mckenzie, John Vincent, Razz, Miriam, Georgia scales, and the Farmers Market.   Wednesday, August 19 View Page We could not have pulled this off with out them...Thank You ....   Thursday, August 20 View Page And here we go with our little Fall Plant. At 5.5 weeks in the patch the 337 finders is 8.5 feet out. The first two female were taken off. Today did some weeding and a seaweed and humic acid soil drench. Also today did a Pestacide and Fungacide spray.... :)   Thursday, August 20 View Page This will be the first pollination on the 337. Should be ready Sunday... We just can't get enough this year..:)   Sunday, August 23 View Page Pollination was a no go. Female had two deformed lobes and it was on a sidvine. Also too close in. Three more females coming up should be ready by end of next week. :)   Tuesday, August 25 View Page Here is the second female ready. I think I will let the bees do their job on this one and see what happens. Another female will be ready this weekend. Did a compost tea drench and spray today. :)   Wednesday, August 26 View Page Looks like we are ready for pollination in the morning :) Ok I couldn't wait till morning to see, so I peeked...She is a perfect 5 lober. Glad I didn't pollinate the first one. Also tonight I sprayed Eagle and Merit...:)   Sunday, August 30 View Page Spent the day in the mountains. The next couple of pics are for Lee....   Sunday, August 30 View Page NC Mountains.....   Sunday, August 30 View Page A view of the river from up top.....   Sunday, August 30 View Page Perfect example of mother nature at her finest....   Sunday, August 30 View Page We also visited the Biltmore Estate.....   Sunday, August 30 View Page Flower garden at the Biltmore Estate.....   Saturday, September 5 View Page First pollination aborted at day 6. There are two more females that were pollinated by the bees. Baby #1 is at day 3 and at 7.5 inches. Baby #2 also day 3 grew two inches yesterday to cath up with baby #1, also at 7.5 inches. Today did a seaweed drench and sprayed fungacide and pestacide. :) Nights are in the upper 50's now.   Saturday, September 5 View Page "While they were saying among themselves it cannot be done, it was done." Helen Keller..... One of my fav. quotes...... :)   Sunday, September 6 View Page Did a little hiking today. We went to Peach Tree Rock. Here is Heather and I near the "small" waterfall. :)   Sunday, September 6 View Page This is the rock which the park is named for. Peach Tree Rock...The rock is made of coarse-grained sandstone which is eroding away.   Sunday, September 6 View Page Here is another rock that is coarse-grained sandstone....   Sunday, September 6 View Page Here is a up close pic of the rock in the previous picture. It looks like a rock but when you touch it, it feels like sand and falls off like sand too. Was cool to see up close...   Monday, September 7 View Page Here is a pic of baby #1. It is now at 10 inches on day 5. Lets hope she keeps growing. Baby #2 is now at 8.5 inches. One more open pollination happened today. :)   Saturday, September 12 View Page Well baby 1 and 2 did not make it from last week. Here is my last chance for a fall pumpkin. Here is Aunt Bee. She was is 5 days old and at 12 1/4 inch. She is two inches bigger then the others at this age. She was 12 inches when I got to the patch and by the time I left she grew 1/4 inch. So crossing fingers on this one. :)   Sunday, September 13 View Page Baby grew another two inches today. She is at 14 1/4 inches on day 6. :)   Tuesday, September 15 View Page I feel like a first time mom again..:) This part is still as exciting as the first time three years ago. Well in two days baby has grown 7 inches. She is at 21 1/4 on day 8. Will she make it to 30 for day 10? :)   Wednesday, September 16 View Page Sprayed fungacide and pestacide tonight and baby grew to 25 3/4 inches. Looks like we are gonna make it to 30 for day 10. :)   Thursday, September 17 View Page Day 10.....CC was at 30 1/2...OTT grew 12 inches in total = 78 inches. :)   Saturday, September 19 View Page Day 12 for "Baby Aunt Bee". Her CC has gone up 28 inches in one week to a total of 40 CC. OTT is now at 101. We are on the chart. :) I will have only 21 more days to grow this baby till the fair. I hope we atleast get a 100 pounders out of her. :)   Tuesday, September 22 View Page Aunt Bee getting some evening sun. Her CC is now at 54 and OTT is at 135 = 61 pounds Est on day 15.   Friday, September 25 View Page Day 18 and the OTT is now at 162...We Hit 100 lbs est...yaaaaaaaaa....:)   Sunday, September 27 View Page Day 20 for Aunt Bee....OTT is at 170. The past two days it has rained all day long so slow growth. But today it is sunny.... :)   Tuesday, September 29 View Page Day 22 and we are at 130 pounds. The cold nights have really slowed her down. Avg 7 pounds a day now. Tonight down to 49 degrees so put an extra blanket on her. We have to harvest her in 11 days. So hopeing for closer to 200 pounds by then. :)   Sunday, October 4 View Page Tina,s Fair pumpkin of our 337 Finders est 140 lbs   Saturday, October 24 View Page Started patch prep today. I used the tiller for the first time by my self with success. :) Also sent off soil test today.   Monday, October 26 View Page Here are the ribbons that I won at the fair this year. The green one I got Second in the Hidden Valley Ranch contest. Next the big red one is for my Pumpkin. Next is the Pink one from Fleischmann's Yeast which I got First and that recipe goes onto a National contest where one person is picked from the Southern part of the US. Then next two are for two other cakes that I made. So not only do I grow pumpkins I can cook too....:)   Thursday, October 29 View Page 5 hours and 15 yards of cow poo later we can officially say that 2010 patch prepp has started. pfffffffffffffff.........   Thursday, October 29 View Page Its Halloween!!!!!   Saturday, November 7 View Page The first of many gallons of coffee grounds...Here are 8 gallons of them.   Saturday, November 7 View Page What do you get when bull poo meets a truck spreader...POO all over everything including the side of the shed...LOL...But one positive I didn't have to shovel it just had to clean it off every thing around the patch, car,shed, trailer. Spent 5 hours today in the patch. Tilled in 8 TONS of CHAMPION BULL POO. Only the best for our patch this year... :)   Sunday, November 15 View Page Major progress in patch prepp today. Spread all the corrective ammendments.Next weekend we will be done for 2009. Looks very promising for 2010. Should become an intresting year.But only after spring and final tweeking and soil tests we can be shure Also dumped 1000 lbs of pure horse poo on tomato patch. It wil hold about 8 giant tomato plants. like i said, 2010 is gonna rock!!   Saturday, November 21 View Page Went to a friends house today so Heather could feed the chickens. She collected some eggs too and got to pet one. A first for her. :)   Saturday, November 21 View Page Calling in the Professionals for 2010. Go Team SC!!!!   Saturday, November 21 View Page You know you are a Pumpkin Grower when... The sight of smoke/heat is rising up from your compost and all you can do is stand back and SMILE. Or ......next pic...   Saturday, November 21 View Page Your husband bends over to smell/check out the goods, AKA compost and you are writing a check to pay for it. Two signs that you might be a Pumpkin Grower. :)   Saturday, November 21 View Page Thank You God for sending me the perfect wife.....   Saturday, November 28 View Page AWWWWWWW......His and Her's matching patch shoes :) One of the many new things we are gonna try new next season. Made them with Cedar and put three screws in each of them to attach them to the boards. :)   Sunday, November 29 View Page More leafs...   Sunday, November 29 View Page No, its not bird feed.....   Sunday, November 29 View Page Last time this Year. Pretty much done.   Monday, December 14 View Page cover crop   Monday, December 14 View Page long ways till spring.   Thursday, December 17 View Page Here is a pic of our little one Heather. She is in the third grade. Today she got to read to a second grade class. I was there and she did a perfect job....Proud of Her...School teacher in the making?   Thursday, December 24 View Page Look what Santa put in the mail box today. :) Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas.   Saturday, December 26 View Page This is one of my Fav. dips to make. I put the recipe on the message board. :)   Monday, December 28 View Page Ok starting a couple of days early. Only reason I am posting this is so I will make sure I get the extra pounds off. Patch will be way to hard in the SC heat with all this extra on me. Wish me luck....I have 40 lbs to go... :)   Monday, December 28 View Page Cover crop looks like grass now. :)