Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 59 Entries. Tuesday, June 2 View Page My version of the hut, some left over rebar, 3 old storm windows and some zippie ties...seems to be working so far!!   Tuesday, June 2 View Page A picture showing the 4 plant that are growing. The one farthest away and the 2nd one are showing the most promise at this time. Plan on eliminating the other two at some point.   Tuesday, June 2 View Page This is the best one today. Since I bought these seeds on EBAY (please no LOL's) and ain't got a clue to their history, I'm gonna call this one ?????1SKOCH. Time will tell I guess????   Tuesday, June 2 View Page Here's a picture of the garden. The 140 tomatoes are protected on either side with fragrant sumac, beyond that is the onion, sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, cantaloupe, peppers, zuchini, etc. You get the picture....I like dirt under my nails...   Wednesday, June 3 View Page Emptied 1.2 inches of rain out of the gauge. MAN WE NEEDED IT. Everything in the garden looks good tonight with the exception of the cantaloupes.. They just can't get on track for some reason. Zuchini is bloomin bigtime as well as the potatoes, strawberries. Big punks are holding there own. I can't believe how big the leaves are getting. Plan on brewing up another batch of tea. Began plans for the new brewer with info from SCTROOPER.. Thanks Jim....   Thursday, June 4 View Page Fired up the brewer. Made some adjustments to it and man, WE GOT TURBULENCE!!!! 15 gallons of water and it's splashing up 3/4 the way to the top of the 50 gallon drum. I bumped up the worm castings to 10 cups, 8 oz of molasses, and 8 oz of fish emulsion. Need to get some kelp meal for the next batch. I can already see an increase in bubbles over the last batch.   Thursday, June 4 View Page Zuchini is getting crazy with blooms. Several have set on in the last few days. Rain really helped liven things up in the ol garden.   Friday, June 5 View Page The most comfortable seat in the house!! Planted the second group of sweet corn today. Flooded the two best punks with 3 gal of tea each. This batch definitely turned out better!! My JD 790 is my favorite of all my toys. Perfect size for my garden..   Friday, June 5 View Page My 8 year old daughter Megan and our cocker spaniel Rocky LOVE playing in freshly tilled dirt! She's my pumkinator.   Sunday, June 7 View Page Spent most of today tilling and updating the wind protection around the plants. Planted 9 more watermelon plants. Sounds like rain tonight, would be nice to get another inch or two.   Sunday, June 7 View Page The little brewmaster at work. Megan wanted to add the ingredients this morning to our 3rd batch of tea. She really helped me alot today working in the garden.   Sunday, June 7 View Page SKOCH#1 is just shooting it's 4th true leaf. It's been two days since the first good shot of tea. No signs of bugs and the plant seems to be comfortable in its new home.   Sunday, June 7 View Page ALWAYS two hands on the handles!!! Megan is loving driving the old AMT 600. She has become real handy running to the shed to get something for me or even going to the house to get a cool drink!!   Tuesday, June 9 View Page A view of the back yard and garden during a HEAVY downpour (no hail). Rained closed to 2 in in about 1 1/2 hrs. Hope everything makes it thru!   Wednesday, June 10 View Page Dumped nearly 2 inches of rain out of the gauge and we are expecting more today. Very mild temps in the 70's and lows in the upper 50's. Garden looks great!!   Thursday, June 11 View Page View from atop kids playhouse. After 2 in of rain a couple of days ago and 2 solid days of cool cloudy weather, garden is still too wet to walk into. UGH!!! Looks like everything is happy and growing. The corn I planted is just poking thru and looks like a good solid stand.   Thursday, June 11 View Page Pic of SKOCH#1. Plant has really started to establish itself and is changing daily. Hit is with some insecticide yesterday after seeing a few buggies on it. No sign of anything on it this evening. GROW BABY GROW!!!   Friday, June 12 View Page The FIRST beet of the season!!! Time to wrap it up and throw it on the grill.   Friday, June 12 View Page The second group of sweet corn that was planted one week a go today is poppin thru, just as planned!! I modified the insecticide boxes to drop starter fertilizer down with this planting. Be interesting to see if this will change the growth pattern much. I like sweet corn every 8-10 inches and looks like almost every one of them has got a good start.   Friday, June 12 View Page Picture of the raised strawberry bed I built this spring. Just now have started letting blossoms stay on and we all look forward to some ice cream topped with fresh strawberries!! nothing better than that!!   Friday, June 12 View Page Shoeless Megan finishing off the last 15 hills of late zuchini. The kid will not wear shoes in the garden......."it's a big sponge" she says. I have never tried this late zuchini before, hope it works.   Sunday, June 14 View Page Got the results from Kansas State University on my soil test. PH was 6.9, phosphate was 32 (a little low for me) and potash was 288 which is high. Make a note to self to stop with the ashes out of the wood stove for a while.   Sunday, June 14 View Page SKOCH#1 is changing daily.   Monday, June 15 View Page SKOCH#1 It's really starting to develop. A mere 13 days has changed it a bunch!   Monday, June 15 View Page SKOCH#2 First pic of this plant. It started off slower, but has recently really started to come on.   Saturday, June 20 View Page SKOCH#2 really starting to take off. Concerned about how the main is forming. Any suggestions?   Saturday, June 20 View Page SKOCH#1 Very concerned right now how the main is forming on this plant. Seems to be growing up and not out. Hope is doesn't break off.   Sunday, June 21 View Page FATHERS DAY 2009. That's me showing off my presents. New Kansas gear and a new step for my John Deere 790. Great day to be a Dad!!!   Monday, June 22 View Page Me and the kids on Fathers Day. Logan 16, Savannah 14 and Megan is 8. Wouldn't trade em for all the tea in China.   Thursday, June 25 View Page SKOCH#1 is really getting defined. Missed a real bad storm last night. I was afraid the garden was gonna get hailed out. I have removed 5 females from this plant already. 3 on the main vine and 2 on the secondaries. Several male blossoms have set on. Got a big decision to make. I can't decide if these two plants are too close together. See the next two pics.   Thursday, June 25 View Page SKOCH#2 is growing like crazy. It's main vine still hasn't seemed to settle down, the tip of it still seems like it wants to grow up and not out. I did pump sum extra juice on this one. It has some male blossoms but I have not found any females just yet. Main is close to 6 feet long and is growing every day. ARE THEY TOO CLOSE???   Thursday, June 25 View Page Here is a picture of the 3 growing punkins. The nearest one is by far the smallest but appears to be healthy. The storm last night blew off the plywood cover I had on it and broke one of the storm windows. (note to self,,don't use glass again next year for wind break). Do I remove the center plant and keep the 2 outside plants or leave all 3 knowing they will grow into each other????   Monday, June 29 View Page SKOCH#2 the main vine is at 9 ft. starting to see the first male blooms. hoping for a female to set now   Monday, June 29 View Page SKOCH#1 main is almost 10 feet. I see the first 2 male blossoms on this plant opening today. I have removed 6 females already and will start letting the next one on the main go. Sprayed for bugs on everything in the garden this evening. Highs in the upper 80's to low 90's with no rain in sight. Better bust out the sprinklers.   Monday, June 29 View Page SKOCH#3 is the backup plant and it's main is now almost 6 feet. Good healthly plant that is now showing some male blossoms.   Thursday, July 9 View Page View of the patch tonight. Since my last post I have installed a new wind fence and as you can see, we have babies now. Any suggestions on how I have installed the sun shields is appreciated. The punkins do have some direct evening sun right now, is that OK? This is getting interesting.....   Thursday, July 9 View Page Picture of Lindy. She was pollinated yesterday 7-8. Has some stripes on her and started as a green punkin. She is a different variety than the other two. Nice shape and has doubled in size in one day.   Thursday, July 9 View Page Picture of Roxie. By far the most correctly shaped plant of the 3. Currently the main vine is 16 feet and Roxie is sitting at about 13 ft. Was pollinated yesterday and appears to be situated nicely in proportion to the plant. Started picking the male blossoms and the other females off tonight. Again, has doubled her size in one day.   Thursday, July 9 View Page This is April. I've named the punkins after my neighbor and her two daughters. April was pollinated 2 days ago and is a longer, more slender shaped punkin than the other two. I've had to direct the main on this plant into almost a U shape to avoid interfering with Roxie in the middle of the patch. Seems to be doing fine but hasn't grown quite as quickly as the other two. THE RACE IS ON!!   Thursday, July 9 View Page Another view from the opposite side of the patch. Still wondering how wild this ride is gonna get. Haven't had any problems to speak relating to bugs or fungus or pests. Knock on wood, I hope the luck continues.   Friday, July 10 View Page Getting ready to leave for vacation tomorrow morning and will be gone until next Wednesday the 15th. Apprehensive about leaving for that long but I am also looking forward to getting away for alittle while. I'm ssure the garden will still be here when we get back. Will be interesting to see how big the punkins get in 5 days.   Saturday, July 11 View Page We'll I'm "ALL IN" with Roxie and April. I removed both main vines beyond the fruits this morning. I also removed all remaining female and male blossoms that were visible. Both fruits are baseball size and appear to be doing great. I will leave the main on Lindy for awhile. Had a nice shower about .30 thru the night and it is a nice cool morning and over cast. This will be my last post until we get back from vacation next wed. Hope everything continues to progress!!!   Wednesday, July 15 View Page 7 day old Lindy. Got home from vacation tonite to see the 3 punkins for the first time in 5 days. What a change!!! Glad to see that they are all in good shape and growin like crazy.   Wednesday, July 15 View Page 7 day old Roxie. The plant and this fruit continue to lead the way. Very comfortable placement on the plant. I dead ended the main on this plant and need to remove some more blooms tomorrow. The race is on for my first giant punkin. Need to figure out the process for estimating weight.   Wednesday, July 15 View Page 8 day old April. Noticed a few rollie pollies around her tonight so spraying is on the agenda for first thing tomorrow. Growing well but I think at this point she may be behind the other two just a tad. Still a very healthy start to a biggin.   Saturday, July 18 View Page OK drum role please.... first measurement at 10 days is 33 inches. Watch out DUCHESS......there's a monster growing in Shawnee county.... I'm not sure how big they are supposed to be at 10 days, but this thing is flat out growin like a WEED. Sprayed for bugs this morning.   Saturday, July 18 View Page OK drum roll please.... first measurement at 10 days is 33 inches. Watch out DUCHESS......there's a monster growing in Shawnee county.... I'm not sure how big they are supposed to be at 10 days, but this thing is flat out growin like a WEED. Sprayed for bugs this morning.   Saturday, July 18 View Page Picture of ROXIE at 10 days. Measured 33 inches. WATCH OUT "DUCHESS" AND "KANSASPUMPKINS".   Saturday, July 18 View Page Picture of LINDY at 10 days. She measured 27 inches. Gotta learn how to figure weight.   Saturday, July 18 View Page Opened the garden stand officially this morning. This is our 9th year of selling fresh vegetables to the area. Sweet corn, peppers, onions, zuchini, squash, and tomatoes so far. We will add watermelon and cantaloupe shortly. I love this time of year. Set a record low last night, 57 degrees. Very mild in the low 80's today. feels more like october weather.   Sunday, July 19 View Page Measured the 3 babies this morning, Roxie on her 11th day went to 36.5 cc gain of 3.5 inches in one day. Lindy went from 27 to 30cc and April went from 29 to 33. All healthy gains for one day. Looks like I'm gonna start carrying a tape with me to the garden from now on.! Had a good opening weekend with the garden stand, had more than 20 visitors since friday eve. Will have to stock the stand each morning from here on out before leaving for work. It's a great time of year. Ooops... I think I got a deer munching on the sweet potatoes. Any suggestions???   Monday, July 20 View Page Measured Roxie this morning. She went to 41 inches cc, a gain of 4 inches since yesterday. Her OTT was 94, good enough to say she weighs 24.5 lbs at 12 days old!!! Pics later.   Monday, July 20 View Page Picture of 24.5lb Roxie. She is 12 days old today. Was a high in the low 80's today and is currently raining a steady rain. Great day for my birthday. Plan on having sweet corn and BLT's with tomatoes out of the garden for supper. Life is good   Thursday, July 23 View Page 15 day old Roxie. 50+32+34=116OTT That means she weighs 41.8 lbs at this point in time. Plants look very healthy. GROW ROXIE GROW!!!!   Thursday, July 23 View Page 15 day old Lindy. Nicely formed fruit and growing very steady. OTT is 101 making her 29.4lbs at this point in time.   Tuesday, July 28 View Page 20 day old Lindy. Continues her steady gains. Is in the low 70's today and rain, This is not typical Kansas July weather. Her ott is 132 this morning. She weighs 58.3 lbs. All the punkins have slowed down in gains. I think I need to spray for bugs again soon.   Tuesday, July 28 View Page 20 day old Roxie. She has alot of color already which concerns me. I think her gains have slowed quite a bit in the last week. Her ott is 144 making her 73.3 lbs this morning. I guess we will wait and see if she keeps going. My EBAY seed choice may be catching up to me.   Tuesday, July 28 View Page 21 day old April. She is on the edge of the patch and the grass is growing up around her. I have left another punkin on this vine to grow as well. It is about like a basketball right now. Just wanted another nice halloween carver. April's ott is 137 making her 64.3 lbs. She is also changing color more. I think Lindy is my best shot for a big one this year. She has different characteristics than April and Roxie at this point. I guess time will tell. I am already happy with the results of this adventure, anything bigger will be icing on the cake.   Tuesday, July 28 View Page A view of the patch this morning showing Lindy and Roxie. Seems like the leaves closest to the stumps are really turning brown. I think I may have to hit the patch with some more bug juice. It's raining like crazy right now. Will wait and see if the bunch of punkins survive.